Travel Hop: 24 Hours in Brooklyn, NY
A rich history, diverse population, and an ultra-hip cultural scene define Brooklyn, New York City’s most populated borough. If you only have 24 hours in Brooklyn, what should your must-see list include? Consider the following itinerary to take advantage of your limited time.
Stay in Downtown Brooklyn
Brooklyn contains over seventy neighborhoods, but for a quick trip, stay in Downtown Brooklyn. In this neighborhood, you enjoy the skyline view and three bridges that connect the borough to Manhattan. In addition to the courthouse and a busy commercial center, hotels at different price points serve tourists well.
Located at Jay, Lawrence and Willoughby Streets in the heart of Downtown Brooklyn, Jay St - MetroTech Station serves the A, C, F and R lines which gets you to Manhattan, Queens, and Coney Island. Ubers are also plentiful in the area. Trips from Amtrak’s Moynihan Station in Manhattan and LaGuardia Airport in Queens took about 30 minutes by car.
Brooklyn Museum of Art
Brooklyn Museum surprised me. First, at how large and grand the building itself stands, and secondly, at the depth of the art collection. McKim, Mead & White designed the original structure that opened in 1897. Renovations and alterations occurred in the last one hundred years to repair the façade, improve galleries, and upgrade systems. (Read all about the building’s architectural history here.)
The art collection spans antiquities to present day artists of all mediums. Most notably, the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art displayed Judy Chicago’s The Dinner Party when I visited. Brooklyn Museum hosts world-class touring exhibits, so check the website and plan before you go.
200 Eastern Parkway
Brooklyn, NY 11238-6052
Prospect Park
Prospect Park is a quick walk from the Brooklyn Museum. (From the museum’s entrance, make a left on Eastern Parkway and walk .3 miles to Flatbush Avenue.) Designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux from 1865-1895, the 526-acre park features wetlands, an indigenous forest, zoo, ice skating rink, and a variety of programming. (Read about the park’s rich history here.)
In 2024, Prospect Park Alliance sponsored its first artist in residence program. Adama Delphine Fawundu’s large-scale, site-specific installation, Ancestral Whispers. Enslaved Africans who worked at Lefferts House inspired her vision.
Visit Ancestral Whispers at Lefferts Historic House June through September 2024 on Thursdays – Sundays at 12 pm to 5 pm or October through December 1, 2024, on Saturdays + Sundays from 12 pm to 4 pm.
Walk the Brooklyn Bridge
Completed in 1883, the iconic Brooklyn Bridge connects Manhattan to Brooklyn Heights over the East River. Over 30,000 people a day cross the structure on foot. Depending on the crowds, it takes about 30 minutes to walk over the bridge without stopping. You will want to pause and take in the sights at the top of the bridge span, so allow about 90 minutes to walk across and back.
On the Brooklyn side of the bridge, check out Brooklyn Bridge Park, which provides sweeping skyline views of Manhattan. The park also promotes a variety of programming throughout the year, from kayaking to bird watching and free movies. Vistas from this park are more postcard-worthy than the bridge itself.
Check Out Brooklyn Heights
Brooklyn Bridge Park places you in the gorgeous Brooklyn Heights neighborhood, New York City’s first historic district. Its boundaries extend south from Old Fulton Street to Atlantic Avenue, and west from Cadman Plaza/Court Street to the Promenade and the East River.
Brooklyn Heights residents fought hard in the 1940s to lobby against expanding highways, successfully detouring the Brooklyn Queens Expressway (BQE) from tearing through the neighborhood. Instead, urban planners created the Brooklyn Heights Promenade on top of the BQE, which skirts the edge of the neighborhood.
The main shopping street centers on Montague Street while stores and restaurants also line Henry Street. Note: if you are a movie fan, try to find the brownstone featured in Moonstruck. Comedian Amy Schumer purchased the home in 2022.
Eat at Diner in Williamsburg
A vacation is not complete without enjoying a fantastic meal. Located in a 90+-year-old Pullman dining car on a corner under the Williamsburg Bridge, you might walk by Diner, not realizing it is a restaurant. Andrew Tarlow’s first establishment, Diner opened in 1998 and still relies on relationships with upstate New York farmers to define the menu, which changes daily. Diner is part of the Marlow Collective hospitality brand. Read more about the restaurant in the photo journal + cookbook Diner: Day for Night.
85 Broadway (south Williamsburg neighborhood)
Brooklyn, NY 11249
718-486-3077
Dinner seven nights 5 pm – 10:30 pm
Brunch Friday - Sunday 10:30 am – 3 pm
That should do it for an overview day in Brooklyn. I made these stops on two quick trips to Brooklyn and these activities provided a strong feel for this complicated borough rich with history and distinction.
Quick History
Settled by the Dutch farmers in 1636, the area was first called Breuckelen. Neighborhood names like Gravesend, Flatlands, Flatbush, New Utrecht, and Bushwick come directly from the original Dutch settlements.
By the 1880s with its bustling port, Brooklyn became an important manufacturing center known for iron works, petroleum refineries, slaughterhouses, and factories. During this time, Brooklyn was its own independent city. After the Brooklyn Bridge opened in 1883 linking the borough directly to Manhattan, sentiments changed. In 1898, residents decided to join "Greater New York" and became part of New York City.
In 1950, Brooklyn (also known as Kings County) reached its record population, but this decade witnessed families move to the suburbs of Long Island. A generation later, Brooklyn (and the rest of New York City) declined as crime rose and properties remained vacant and dilapidated. However, in the late 1990s, a resurgence occurred – young people moved to Brooklyn and built the borough back up. The height of its hipster days occurred in the decade that followed, but evidence of that independent and creative spirit remains. (You can still buy artisanal pickles.)
Brooklyn Community Foundation notes these accomplishments:
First children’s museum in the United States is the Brooklyn Children’s Museum established in 1899.
Invention: Credit cards, air conditioners, teddy bears, and roller coasters began in Brooklyn.
First Black Elected Congresswoman: Bedford-Stuyvesant’s Shirley Chisholm joined the House of Representatives in 1968.
One-Third of Brooklyn Residents Were Born Outside the U.S.: You can hear over two hundred languages in the streets, stores, and subways.
Brooklyn is the third largest "city" in America with a population greater than Boston, Atlanta, Washington D.C., and Minneapolis combined.
A freelance writer and marketing consultant, Elizabeth Tuico owns Rebel Road Creative. Her #1 hobby is travel, and she records her trips on the blog On the Road with Rebel Road Creative.