Brooklyn is the first district of New York by number of inhabitants and with its 180 square kilometers, the second by size, so creating an itinerary that shows all its aspects is not easy. For this reason, the proposed one is an indicative track that can vary according to personal curiosity and to facilitate the choice, along the route are marked some metro stops from which to start.
Summary sheet
Places to Visit
First of all, Brooklyn Bridge and Manhattan Bridge.
There are also some historic houses in various architectural styles such as the Old Stone House, the Park Slope Historic District houses and the Tudor Revival terraced houses of Chester Court, but also the modern condominium On Prospect Park designed by Richard Meier. And then there are the parks, such as the large Prospect Park and McCarren Park or those overlooking the East River such as Brooklyn Bridge Park, Main Street Park and East River State Park. If you want to have fun and then go to the beach, there is the Coney Island Beach & Boardwalk area, with Luna Park and the beach.
Culture
The Schomburg Center and Studio Museum in Harlem are dedicated to black art and culture. In the Upper Manhattan area are the Hispanic Society of America and The Met Cloisters, a branch of the Metropolitan Museum of Art dedicated to medieval art.
Food & shopping
There's a Macy's department store location, while the shopping malls include the Kings Plaza Mall with over 100 stores, and the Brooklyn's Gateway Center Mall with about 50 stores.
The Rough Trade record and music store, opened in 1976, was the first of this UK chain to open outside the UK. There are then the independent bookstore Books Are Magic and Middle Eastern food store Sahadi's.
Flea markets include the Brooklyn Flea, with clothes, vintage furniture and fancy food, and the PS 321 Flea Market which takes place every weekend in the schoolyard of the PS 321.
For quick snacks there are the Shake Shack chains, a fast food restaurant that offers good burgers, and Chipotle Mexican Grill, which prepares sandwiches.
Length and Visit Time (without visits)
13 km - 2h45'-3h30'
Map
Map created with Google Maps
Itinerary
Subway: Q (Parkside Ave.)
Exit from the subway and turn left onto Parkside Ave. and left again onto Flatbush Ave., reaching
Chester Court. Turn left for a small detour to see some early 20th century Tudor revival terraced houses. Back on Flatbush Ave., left and left again on Lincoln Rd. to enter
Prospect Park.
Subway: B,
Q, S (Prospect Park)
You enter the park and head towards
Prospect Park Audubon Center which overlooks the narrowest part of Prospect Park Lake, and then head towards the
Lefferts Historic House and
Prospect Park Zoo. If you want to visit the
Brooklyn Botanic Garden from here you can use the entrance at 455 Flatbush Avenue. If you continue inside the park you will pass behind the zoo to go to the exit of Grand Army Plaza.
Subway: 2, 3 (Grand Army Plaza);
2, 3 (Eastern Parkway Brooklyn Museum); B,
Q (7th Ave.)
Leaving the park on the right, at about 500 m, there is the
Brooklyn Museum and on the square on the right there is the condominium designed by the architect Richard Meier. At the end of the square, turn left into St Johns Pl. and then right onto 6th Ave. Along these streets are some beautiful houses in the
Park Slope Historic District. Once you reach Flatbush Ave. you go left to
Barclays Center, where the Brooklyn Nets basketball team plays.
Subway: B,
Q, 2, 3, 4, 5,
D, N, R, LIRR (Atlantic Avenue/Barclays Center)
Again ahead and then left on Atlantic Ave., right on Bond St. and left on Livingston St. In this area there are some shops and on this last street the Brooklyn headquarters of the Macy's department store. Here on the left there is the
New York Transit Museum, while on the right you quickly reach the square overlooking
Borough Hall, the town hall of Brooklyn.
Subway: 2, 3, 4, 5 (Borough Hall)
The route continues along the
Brooklyn Bridge route.
THE GUIDE
ITA