Things to Do in Brooklyn: The Best of the Borough
Things to Do in Brooklyn: The Best of the Borough
Guía rápida
- Places to see in Brooklyn
- 1. The Brooklyn Bridge
- 2. Brooklyn Bridge Park
- 3. Brooklyn Heights Promenade
- 4. Prospect Park
- 5. Brooklyn Botanic Garden
- 6. Brooklyn Museum
- 7. New York Transit Museum
- 8. Coney Island
- 9. New York City Ferry
- 10. Domino Park
- 11. Green-Wood Cemetery
- Where to eat in Brooklyn
- Where to Stay
- Other New York attractions
- 10 Tips to Save on Your Trips
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- Deals for your getaway
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Crossing the Brooklyn Bridge should only be the start. There's plenty to see in Brooklyn, a borough full of authentic, diverse neighborhoods and far fewer tourists than Manhattan.
If you've already been to New York, it's time to get out of Manhattan and start exploring the sights on the other side of the East River. Here's how to find them…
Places to see in Brooklyn
In Brooklyn you'll find elegant squares, viewpoints over Manhattan, Russian mobsters, an amusement park with a freak show, cherry blossoms, famous pizzerias and Saturday night fever…
As you can see, the borough is packed with pop culture landmarks. To help you plan your exploring, here's a list of the most important places to see in Brooklyn (click on each attraction for the details on visiting):
1. The Brooklyn Bridge
The first image that comes to mind when you hear Brooklyn is, without a doubt, its bridge. And it absolutely earns that fame: it's a New York icon and one of the most famous bridges in the world.
The Brooklyn Bridge is the most popular gateway into this major New York borough.
Our advice: walk across on its wide pedestrian walkway. In about 25 minutes you'll be on the other side, which is the perfect excuse to wander around DUMBO and take in Manhattan from Brooklyn Bridge Park, right on the East River at the foot of the bridge.
2. Brooklyn Bridge Park
Brooklyn Bridge Park has the charm of offering the best views of Manhattan, especially at dusk when the lights of New York start coming on.
Beyond the panoramas, walk toward the southern end of the park and you'll find paths and green lawns. If you're traveling with kids, there's a carousel, Jane's Carousel.
If you need to get back to Manhattan and don't feel like walking, you can hop on the NYC Ferry, which has a landing right in the park.
3. Brooklyn Heights Promenade
Another walk very close to the Brooklyn Bridge is the Brooklyn Heights promenade, another prime spot for taking in the Manhattan skyline. You'll see dozens of people showing up at sunset.
We recommend walking deeper into this neighborhood, one of the most elegant in New York.
4. Prospect Park
Prospect Park is Brooklyn's Central Park. In fact it was designed by the same architects behind Central Park, just in a wilder version.
It sits in Park Slope, one of Brooklyn's prettiest neighborhoods. Very close by are the Botanic Garden and the Brooklyn Museum.
5. Brooklyn Botanic Garden
The Brooklyn Botanic Garden is famous for its cherry tree lawn (the Cherry Esplanade), which fills with visitors during spring in New York.
It also has other gardens and valuable collections, like the Japanese Garden, the Bonsai Museum, and the Tropical and Desert pavilions.
6. Brooklyn Museum
Right next to the Botanic Garden, the imposing Brooklyn Museum building (1897) holds a major collection. The highlights are the Ancient Egypt works, the Assyrian reliefs and an extensive display of Rodin sculptures.
It's the second largest museum in New York, after the Met, and one of the first museums ever founded anywhere.
On the first Saturday of every month, admission is free from 5 pm to 10 pm. Those nights the place comes alive, there are always activities and the cafe is open. Walking through galleries of thousand-year-old pieces at night is quite the experience (mummies included).
You'll probably want to check the schedule for free admission to New York museums.
7. New York Transit Museum
The New York Transit Museum is housed in an abandoned subway station. That detail alone makes it one of the most fun places to see in Brooklyn.
It tells the history of public transportation in New York, and the best part is that historic subway cars (real ones!) line the platform and you can walk right into them, period advertisements and all.
This collection of subway cars is often used to shoot series set in the New York of decades past (no, not Joker, I thought the same thing, that movie was filmed in a disused subway station on Manhattan's Ninth Avenue).
8. Coney Island
Coney Island is a place for the nostalgic. A neighborhood frozen in time.
A wooden boardwalk along the Atlantic, Luna Park, an amusement park from the early 1900s with fortune tellers, little people and bearded ladies, and a museum full of objects from another era, including funhouse mirrors that will make you look like a giant or a shrimp 🙂
Remember the movie Big, where Tom Hanks wished he were grown up? He made that wish to an animatronic fortune teller (Zoltar) at Luna Park… Like that one, plenty of other adventures start at Coney Island (it's also the F-Society neighborhood in Mr. Robot).
If you're traveling with kids, you'll also enjoy the New York Aquarium, right on the Coney boardwalk.
Another great outing is walking the boardwalk all the way to Brighton Beach, the favorite neighborhood of the Ukrainian community. You'll know you've arrived when you see signs in Cyrillic and babushkas sunbathing.
9. New York City Ferry
The New York City Ferry zigzags between Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens.
The ferry line you want for exploring Brooklyn is the East River route, which connects DUMBO, Greenpoint and Williamsburg with Manhattan's Financial District. Very handy for getting to these places in a more original way, or for heading back to Manhattan faster.
It's a ride you shouldn't miss, because you'll sail underneath the Brooklyn, Manhattan and Williamsburg bridges. Impressive stuff.
10. Domino Park
This new Brooklyn park in Williamsburg, right on the East River shore like its neighbor East River Park, is another one of those brilliant New York ideas for giving industrial heritage a new life (the High Line Park, built on abandoned train tracks, is another example).
It was built by reusing structures from the Domino Sugar Refinery, which shut down in 2004.
The park is part of a larger urban development project that will revitalize the East River waterfront and make Williamsburg even more interesting.
It's worth a visit to take photos and rest a while with the Manhattan skyline as your backdrop.
11. Green-Wood Cemetery
If you're looking for a walk off the usual tourist trail, Green-Wood Cemetery is one of them.
This burial ground is known for its sculptures, hundreds of century-old trees and some spectacular panoramic views of Manhattan.
Notable figures rest here, including conductor Leonard Bernstein, the founder of the FAO Schwarz toy store (Frederick August Otto Schwarz) and mobster Joey Gallo.
Where to eat in Brooklyn
Visiting Brooklyn means walking through little pieces of the world, so take the chance to eat the signature dishes of each one as you go. For example:
- In DUMBO you have to hit the pizzerias, several of NYC's most famous are right there
- In Greenpoint, go for Polish delicacies
- In Williamsburg, kosher food and the excellent bagels.
- You can't leave Coney Island without a Nathan's hot dog (the hot dog was invented in this very neighborhood).
Read our recommendations for other classic spots where to eat in New York.
Where to Stay
If you're looking for a place to stay, this list of 5 cheap, well-located hotels in Brooklyn may come in handy.
Other New York attractions
Check out what to see in Manhattan, in Queens and on Staten Island to round out your New York experience.