Walking the Brooklyn Bridge
Thirty minutes, no ticket, and the best hour in New York — provided you start on the Manhattan side and go early enough to have the walkway to yourself.
- What it costs
- Free.
- Best in
- Any season
- Where
- Brooklyn Bridge pedestrian walkway, entrance at Centre Street & Park Row, New York, NY
- Official site
- nyc.gov
Manhattan to Brooklyn, not the other way
Walk from Manhattan toward Brooklyn and the skyline is in front of you the whole way, getting better as you go. Walk the other direction and it is behind you, and you spend the trip turning round.
Everyone tells you this and half of visitors still do it backwards because they happened to be in Brooklyn.
Go early
Before 8am the walkway is nearly empty, the light is on the skyline, and you can stop where you like. By midday in summer it is a slow-moving crowd and the cyclists — who now have their own separate lane, though not everyone respects it — are irritated with all of you.
Sunset is spectacular and extremely busy. Sunrise is spectacular and empty. Pick your trade.
Allow 30 to 40 minutes at a walking pace, an hour if you're stopping for photographs.
What to do at the far end
You come down into DUMBO. Turn toward the water for Brooklyn Bridge Park, the Jane's Carousel, and the Washington Street view with the Manhattan Bridge framed between the buildings.
Walk up the hill instead for the Brooklyn Heights Promenade — a cantilevered walkway over the expressway with the best straight-on view of Lower Manhattan in the city, and far fewer people than the bridge itself.
Getting there
For the Manhattan entrance: 4, 5 or 6 to Brooklyn Bridge–City Hall, or the J or Z to Chambers Street. The walkway starts across from City Hall Park.
Coming back, or starting from Brooklyn: A or C to High Street, or the F to York Street, both in DUMBO.
The 2 or 3 to Clark Street puts you in Brooklyn Heights near the Promenade if you want to add that.
Getting around once you're there
The Manhattan approach has a step-free ramp; the Brooklyn end has stairs on some exits with a step-free route down to Washington Street. The deck itself is a continuous gentle grade with no steps. It is exposed — no shade, no shelter, no toilets on the bridge.