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Lovely Brooklyn

Brooklyn, a city of its own

Brooklyn was its own city until 1898, and it still acts like one. It has its own great park, its own grand museum and its own boardwalk, and if it broke away tomorrow it would rank among the largest cities in the country. Every corner of it feels different: cobblestones and bridge views in DUMBO, brownstone stoops in Park Slope, bakeries and rooftop bars in Williamsburg, Caribbean Flatbush, Russian Brighton Beach and, at the end of the line, Coney Island.

This is our guide to all of it: 253 places to eat and drink, the neighborhoods we know well enough to write about, what's on this week and how to spend a perfect day.

The Brooklyn Bridge, Jane's Carousel and Lower Manhattan seen from the shore of Brooklyn Bridge Park
Alexa Hoyer, courtesy of Brooklyn Bridge Park

The neighborhoods

Under the bridges

Cobblestones, waterfront parks and the views of Manhattan everyone comes for.

Dumbo lit up at night between the Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges, seen across the East River

Brooklyn

Dumbo

Two bridges overhead, Belgian block underfoot, and the skyline across the water.

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Brownstone rowhouses with stoops and shade trees on a quiet Brooklyn Heights street

Brooklyn

Brooklyn Heights

America's first suburb, a promenade, and the skyline arranged just for you.

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The railed walkway of Valentino Pier leading back toward Red Hook's red-brick waterfront warehouses in warm late-afternoon light.

Brooklyn

Red Hook

Cobblestones, warehouse barbecue, key lime pie, and Lady Liberty at the end of the pier.

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North Brooklyn

Warehouses turned bakeries, rooftop bars and the city's best nights out.

The Williamsburg Bridge at dusk with the Manhattan skyline across the East River

Brooklyn

Williamsburg

Factories turned dance floors, a sugar refinery turned park, and Brooklyn's loudest waterfront.

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The vintage mint-green counter of a Greenpoint doughnut shop on Manhattan Avenue, trays of glazed doughnuts behind it

Brooklyn

Greenpoint

Kielbasa counters, a doughnut shop that never changed, and sunsets over the East River.

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A Bushwick street lined with graffiti-covered warehouse walls, with industrial silos rising behind

Brooklyn

Bushwick

Warehouse walls painted top to bottom, wood-fired pizza, and tortillas still warm from the press.

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Brownstone Brooklyn

Stoops, leafy blocks and neighborhood restaurants worth crossing the river for.

A row of Park Slope brownstones with high stoops under mature street trees in afternoon light

Brooklyn

Park Slope

Brownstone rows on a long hill, with Prospect Park waiting at the top.

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Brownstone rowhouses on a tree-lined Fort Greene street sloping toward Fort Greene Park

Brooklyn

Fort Greene

A hilltop park, a nineteenth-century opera house, and dinner waiting on DeKalb.

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Flower-filled front gardens behind iron fences along a sunny block of brick and brownstone row houses in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn.

Brooklyn

Carroll Gardens

Deep front gardens, a pastry case on Court Street, and pizza worth the wait on Henry.

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Brick and brownstone row houses at the corner of Henry and Congress Streets under leafy trees in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn.

Brooklyn

Cobble Hill

A small park that beat a supermarket, Henry Street stoops, and Atlantic Avenue's spice shops.

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A row of brick and brownstone Romanesque Revival row houses with arched windows on Decatur Street in Bedford-Stuyvesant's Stuyvesant Heights.

Brooklyn

Bedford–Stuyvesant

Brownstone blocks, Trinidadian doubles on Fulton Street, and Southern plates on Lewis Avenue.

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A row of red-brick Romanesque Revival row houses with arched doorways and stoops on Park Place in Crown Heights.

Brooklyn

Crown Heights

Roti shops on Nostrand Avenue, a Labor Day carnival on Eastern Parkway, and brownstones in between.

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South and the shore

Caribbean Flatbush, Bangladeshi Kensington, Russian Brighton Beach and the boardwalk.

The ornate gilded auditorium of the Kings Theatre in Flatbush, seen from the balcony toward the red stage curtain under a pink-lit domed ceiling.

Brooklyn

Flatbush

Little Caribbean and Little Haiti around a 1929 movie palace on Flatbush Avenue.

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Tree-lined Ocean Parkway in Kensington on a sunny winter afternoon, looking north from Beverley Road

Brooklyn

Kensington

Little Bangladesh at Church and McDonald, with fuchka, sweets, and chai by the plaza.

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Shingled Victorian houses with deep porches lining a wide, tree-lined Midwood street after a light snowfall.

Brooklyn

Midwood

Kosher bakeries on Avenue J, Little Pakistan on Coney Island Avenue, and a slice worth the wait.

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The lower Manhattan skyline seen across the rooftops of Sunset Park, Brooklyn, from the park's broad hilltop lawn ringed with autumn trees.

Brooklyn

Sunset Park

Dim sum on Eighth Avenue, tacos on Fifth, and a hilltop park facing the harbor.

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The Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge stretching across the Narrows beyond the Shore Road shoreline, seen over open water from the 69th Street pier in Bay Ridge.

Brooklyn

Bay Ridge

Palestinian and Yemeni kitchens on Fifth Avenue, and the Verrazzano at the end of the promenade.

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Looking along 18th Avenue in Bensonhurst toward the elevated D train over 86th Street, with storefronts, a cyclist and a yellow taxi.

Brooklyn

Bensonhurst

Sicilian cannoli on 18th Avenue, Cantonese noodles under the D train, and Korean-Uzbek salads off Avenue O.

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Jimmy's Famous Heros, the old sandwich shop on Sheepshead Bay Road, in black and white

Brooklyn

Sheepshead Bay

Fishing boats on Emmons Avenue, fried calamari under hot red sauce, and serious slices inland.

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The wide wooden Riegelmann Boardwalk at Brighton Beach in warm evening light, with brick apartment buildings on one side and a beach pavilion and lamp posts on the other.

Brooklyn

Brighton Beach

Little Odessa by the sea: pelmeni, smoked fish, and borscht one block from the boardwalk.

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Coney Island's Parachute Jump lit up against a sunset sky above the boardwalk

Brooklyn

Coney Island

Coal-oven pizza since 1924, a 1907 dining room with a dice draw for dessert, and the Cyclone overhead.

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What's on in Brooklyn

Dated events in Brooklyn from our What's On calendar, each checked against the organizer's own site.

Sunday, October 25 – Saturday, October 31

Dates to circle · 3

One day only

Sunset Park, BrooklynConfirmed for 2026

Día de los Muertos Celebration, Brooklyn Army Terminal

A community Day of the Dead celebration under the terminal's arches, with a shared ofrenda, crafts, face painting and live music, organized with ArtBuilt and Casa Cultural.

When
Sat Oct 31, 2026
Hours
Times differ by source: the Brooklyn Army Terminal lists 11am–4pm, NYC Tourism lists 2–7pm. Check with the host before you go.
Cost
Free
Where
BAT Arches, Brooklyn Army Terminal, 140 58th St
Subway
R to 59 St, or the NYC Ferry to Brooklyn Army Terminal

Confirm the time on the Brooklyn Army Terminal's events page (brooklynarmyterminal.com/events) on the day.

Source: Official site ↗ · On LovelyNYC →

One day only

Prospect Park, BrooklynConfirmed for 2026

LeFrak Center at Lakeside, Prospect Park

Two rinks — one open-air, one covered — on the lake side of Prospect Park, with walk-up public skating. Opening Saturday has a free Try Hockey session with the NY Rangers in the morning.

When
From Sat Oct 31, 2026; closing date not yet posted (last season ended Mar 8)
Hours
Open-air rink daily 9am–6pm, plus Fri & Sat 7–10pm. Covered rink Mon–Thu noon–4:45pm; Fri noon–5:15pm and 6:30–8:50pm; Sat & Sun noon–4:45pm, plus Sat 8–9:50pm
Cost
$10 Tue–Fri daytime; $15 evenings from 6pm, weekends and holidays; $5 Mondays; seniors $8 weekdays; rental $10 (cash prices, card a few cents more)
Where
171 East Drive, inside Prospect Park
Subway
Q to Parkside Av; B/Q/S to Prospect Park

Monday is $5 skating (except Dec 28 and Jan 18). Online registration opens Oct 26.

Source: Official site ↗ · On LovelyNYC →

One day only

All five boroughsConfirmed for 2026

Trick-or-treat streets (Trick-or-Streets)

The city is closing a record 160 streets and plazas to cars this October for trick-or-treating. West 69th Street's block party, a tradition since 1971, runs 6–8pm. Park Slope's Halloween Parade marches down Seventh Avenue from 3rd to 14th St, 6:30–9pm.

When
Sat Oct 31, 2026 (times vary by street)
Cost
Free
Where
Car-free blocks across the city, including W 69th St (Broadway to Central Park West), Montgomery Pl in Park Slope, Strivers' Row (W 139th St) in Harlem, W 11th St in the Village and Joralemon St in Brooklyn Heights

The DOT's Trick-or-Streets page lists every block with its exact hours. Many start in the early afternoon, so small children can be home before dark.

Source: Official site ↗ · On LovelyNYC →

On now · 1

Exhibitions, rinks and seasonal runs open during these dates, ending soonest first.

Greenwood Heights, BrooklynConfirmed for 2026

Día de los Muertos at Green-Wood Cemetery

An altar by artist Laura Anderson Barbata in Green-Wood's Gothic chapel, and a free evening celebration on the Main Entrance Meadow on November 2. Come early to walk the hills of the 1838 cemetery in autumn light.

When
Altar Oct 9 – Nov 15, 2026; family celebration Mon Nov 2, 4–7pm
Hours
Altar in the Historic Chapel daily 10am–5pm
Cost
Free
Where
Green-Wood Cemetery, 500 25th St (main entrance at Fifth Ave)
Subway
R to 25 St

Source: Official site ↗ · On LovelyNYC →

Where to eat

All 253 in Brooklyn →

Things to do

All experiences →

Plus 8 Brooklyn landmarks and views in Places, from the Promenade to Domino Park.

Where to stay

The brick facade and factory windows of the Wythe Hotel with Manhattan across the river

WILLIAMSBURG, BROOKLYN · $$$

Wythe Hotel

The 1901 factory that invented the Brooklyn hotel — timber ceilings and a skyline in every west window.

The planted timber-and-glass facade of 1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge at Pier 1, Brooklyn Bridge Park

DUMBO, BROOKLYN · $$$$

1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge

A hotel grown inside Brooklyn Bridge Park — reclaimed timber, harbor light, skyline windows.

A guest room at The William Vale with a balcony view over Williamsburg

WILLIAMSBURG, BROOKLYN · $$$

The William Vale

A Williamsburg tower where every room has a private balcony, crowned by the Westlight rooftop bar.

FORT GREENE, BROOKLYN · $$

Ace Hotel Brooklyn

Downtown Brooklyn's creative living room: custom textile art, an artist residency and windows framing the skyline.

A perfect Brooklyn day

  1. 1. Morning

    Walk the Brooklyn Bridge, Manhattan to Brooklyn

    Start early on the Manhattan side, before the crowds, so the skyline is behind you and Brooklyn is ahead. Come down into DUMBO and find the Washington Street view of the Manhattan Bridge.

  2. 2. Late morning

    Along the water

    Wander Brooklyn Bridge Park past Jane's Carousel, then climb to the Brooklyn Heights Promenade for the classic view back across the river.

  3. 3. Afternoon

    Brownstones and the park

    Take the subway out to Park Slope for its brownstone blocks, then walk into Prospect Park and down the Ravine, the park's hidden forest.

  4. 4. Evening

    North Brooklyn for the night

    Finish in Williamsburg: watch the sun drop behind Manhattan from Domino Park, then go to dinner at Le Crocodile or Laser Wolf.

Brooklyn stories

Good to know

How do I get to Brooklyn from Manhattan?
Walk it, ride it or float it. The Brooklyn Bridge walkway lands you in DUMBO in about half an hour on foot. Many subway lines cross the East River, and the NYC Ferry's East River route stops at DUMBO, Williamsburg and Greenpoint, with the skyline in view the whole way.
Which Brooklyn neighborhood is best for a first visit?
Start with DUMBO and Brooklyn Heights, side by side under the bridges, for the views and the historic streets. If you're coming for food and nightlife, go to Williamsburg; for brownstones and Prospect Park, Park Slope.
Can you see Brooklyn in a day?
You can see a good slice of it. The perfect day above covers the bridges, the waterfront, a brownstone neighborhood and a night out in Williamsburg. The far south, Brighton Beach and Coney Island, deserves its own day.
Is Brooklyn part of New York City?
Yes. Brooklyn is one of New York City's five boroughs. It was an independent city until 1898, when it joined Manhattan, Queens, the Bronx and Staten Island to form greater New York, and it's still the most populous of the five.