Things to Do in Brooklyn Heights: Your Local Guide

Brooklyn Heights is one of those Brooklyn neighborhoods on the banks of the East River that's well worth a visit. From its lookout, the Brooklyn Heights Promenade, you get one of the best views of the Manhattan skyline anywhere.

Besides having one of the best viewpoints in New York, it's a historic district considered the most elegant neighborhood outside Manhattan. Best of all, it's just a couple of subway stops from Lower Manhattan and steps from the Brooklyn Bridge and the fantastic Brooklyn Bridge Park!

What to see in Brooklyn Heights

The first thing to do when you get to the neighborhood is go chase that view, but don't stop there, because there's a lot more 🙂

1. Brooklyn Heights Promenade

The Brooklyn Heights Promenade is a long lookout where you can take in the full length of the Brooklyn Bridge and the Lower Manhattan skyline.

It's a good idea to stick around for sunset so you can watch the lights come on little by little.

2. Brownstones and mansions

Then it's time to walk the quiet streets of Brooklyn Heights. Doing so will transport you to a stately New York of the late 19th century.

The neighborhood has plenty of historic brownstones, those distinctive Federal-style row houses clad in reddish-brown sandstone with the classic stoops out front.

You'll also come across several Civil War-era mansions, particularly along Pierrepont Street and Pierrepont Place.

For literature buffs, this is where you remember Tom Wolfe, Arthur Miller, and Truman Capote, who lived in and loved this corner of Brooklyn with one of the most privileged views of Lower Manhattan.

In the middle of all this wonderful architecture, which many say shows what New York looked like before the skyscrapers, you'll find small shops, secondhand bookstores, and plenty of cafes with pleasant terraces that are perfect for a Sunday morning.

3. Nearby attractions

You have to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge, either before or after exploring Brooklyn Heights. If you set out from the neighborhood, you'll see how it turns industrial as you get closer to DUMBO, another of the well-known Brooklyn neighborhoods at the foot of the bridge.

If you're traveling with kids or you love the New York subway, from Brooklyn Heights you're a 15-minute walk from the New York Transit Museum.

This terrific museum sits inside an abandoned subway station, and on its platform you'll find train cars from different eras that you can step into.

A writers' neighborhood

Thomas Wolfe, the American journalist and writer considered the father of new journalism, wrote Of Time and the River at his home at 5 Montague Terrace.

Truman Capote, for his part, wrote Breakfast at Tiffany's at his residence at 70 Willow Street.

Capote also wrote his essay A House on the Heights, set in this Brooklyn neighborhood, which he considered «the only place to live in New York,» as he once told a reporter.

And to close with a pop reference, Brooklyn Heights is where the Huxtable family home was supposedly located, at 10 Stigwood Avenue, on the 1980s classic The Cosby Show.

Address

Brooklyn Heights runs from Old Fulton Street in the north down to Atlantic Avenue in the south, and from the East River on the east to Court Street and Cadman Plaza on the west.

How to get there

Subway lines 2, 3. Clark Street station

Map

Save