Brooklyn
Bigger than most American cities, and it behaves like one.
Brooklyn is not a neighborhood, it's 2.6 million people across an area you cannot walk in a day. Treat it like a separate city and pick one or two districts rather than trying to do "Brooklyn".
The waterfront from Brooklyn Bridge Park down to Red Hook gives you the skyline view everyone comes for. Prospect Park and the Botanic Garden are the green heart. Coney Island is the beach and the boardwalk. Bushwick and Williamsburg are where the nightlife and the street art are.
Summer here is the best free-culture season in the city — BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! runs free outdoor concerts at the Prospect Park bandshell from June into September, and Brooklyn Bridge Park programs the waterfront all season.
Brooklyn by season
Where to go changes with the weather. All four are here; the one you're in is marked.
Spring
March – MayThe Botanic Garden's cherry esplanade is the reason to be here in late April and early May, and it gets genuinely crowded for it. Prospect Park comes alive. Coney Island reopens for the season but the water is still too cold.
Worth walking: Prospect Heights · Park Slope · Brooklyn Heights
Summer
June – AugustPeak Brooklyn. Free concerts at the Prospect Park bandshell, free programming across Brooklyn Bridge Park's piers, outdoor films, Coney Island and the boardwalk in full swing, Smorgasburg every weekend. Almost all of it is free or nearly free.
Worth walking: Coney Island · Williamsburg · DUMBO
Fall
September – NovemberThe best walking weather of the year and the crowds drop off after Labor Day. Prospect Park's ravine turns. Brooklyn's street-fair and food-festival season runs through October.
Worth walking: Park Slope · Bushwick · Fort Greene
Winter
December – FebruaryQuiet and cheap. The Botanic Garden's conservatory and the Brooklyn Museum carry the season indoors. The waterfront is bracing but the skyline view is at its sharpest in cold air, and DUMBO is empty enough to photograph.
Worth walking: DUMBO · Brooklyn Heights · Prospect Heights
Free
Under $25
Guides for Brooklyn
A day here, the free list, and the neighborhoods worth an afternoon.
- One day in Brooklyn
- Three days in New York beyond Manhattan
- Free things to do in New York City
- Free things to do in Brooklyn
- Prospect Heights: the Brooklyn Museum, the Botanic Garden and the park
- New York in spring: what's actually good in March, April and May
- New York in summer: beaches, free concerts and how to survive the heat
- New York in fall: the best season, and what to do with it
- New York in winter: the museums, the free skating and the empty parks
- Watching the New York City Marathon: where to stand and how to get around
Getting to Brooklyn
Almost every subway line runs into Brooklyn. From Midtown the A, C and F get you downtown Brooklyn in about 20 minutes; the 2 and 3 reach Prospect Park in about 30; the L takes 15 minutes to Williamsburg.
For the waterfront, walk across the Brooklyn Bridge from Manhattan — 30 minutes, free, and the single best-value hour in New York. Start on the Manhattan side so the skyline is in front of you.
The NYC Ferry East River route is the scenic alternative and costs the same as a subway ride.