What To Know About Visiting Brooklyn (aka "Top Misconceptions")

The satirical #AirBnBodega.

(Updated January 2026) Beyond the very comprehensive FAQ about my tour business, I here address some broader questions about how to visit Brooklyn.

It should be useful to both my tour clients as well as many others new to Brooklyn. 

1) We can see "Brooklyn" in a few hours, or a day, right?

Well, some of Brooklyn. Remember, Brooklyn's bigger than Paris (within the peripherique), both in population and in area.

My Brooklyn 101 tour covers pieces of four or five neighborhoods, but only pieces, in 3 hours. My Brooklyn 202 tour adds two neighborhoods and 2 hours. 

Both are significant introductions, but just that. The longest tour I've led has been nine hours, but even that was limited.

A vehicle can cover more ground, but that sacrifices time walking around. (Even those "Brooklyn Loop" bus tours are pretty limited.)

Please recognize that the best way to see Brooklyn is to visit adjacent or nearby neighborhoods, not to hopscotch among neighborhoods in a short time.

Also, some neighborhoods are so large that they have distinct sub-sections.

2) "Brooklyn" is... rich, poor, cool, uncool, ethnic nostalgia, classic row-house streets, hipsters, striving immigrants, hip-hop authenticity, artisanal "makers."

Brooklyn would be the country's fourth-largest city by population. So it "contains multitudes," as Walt Whitman might say.

Embrace the diversity, embrace the opportunity. (And recognize that gentrification tensions can promote satire, as in the #AirBnBodega pictured above.)

3) What's the best way to see Brooklyn? Will we fail unless we take your tour/read this book/use this app?

There are many ways to experience Brooklyn, and each has trade-offs in terms of cost, time, and insight. You can take the subway and just wander. You can take a tour bus.

Maybe your friend's cousin can take you around, or you can join a large-group scheduled walking tour. You can use an app, a web site, or a guidebook. Or you can hire a private guide like me and get more personalized attention and specialized knowledge.

4)  If it's a "Brooklyn pizza" or a "Brooklyn bagel," it must be good.

No, not necessarily. Not everything made/bought here has special magic "Brooklyn" pixie dust.

You might (sorry) get better quality in Manhattan or elsewhere. Ask around, or do some research. That said, competition means the baseline should be relatively high.

5) Brooklyn has "a Jewish neighborhood," right?

Brooklyn has many Jewish neighborhoods. Some are Hasidic, some are Modern Orthodox. Most are Ashkenazi, but one is Sephardic.

And those are the visibly religious Jewish neighborhoods. Other mixed neighborhoods have Jewish institutions and populations, while others may have former Jewish institutions transformed into churches or other functions.

6) Brooklyn has some "ethnic neighborhoods," right?

Brooklyn has and had many "ethnic neighborhoods." It has neighborhoods with multiple ethnic groups, some aligned by language, some very different. We might just call them "neighborhoods."

For example, the western part of Sunset Park is significantly Spanish-speaking, thanks to the migration (not immigration) of Americans from Puerto Rico, and the subsequent immigration of people from Mexico and Central America.

The eastern part of Sunset Park is today significantly Chinese, moving into a neighborhood with Norwegian, Finnish, and Polish roots. Bensonhurst has Italian roots, but now is significantly Chinese and "Russian" (which is a shorthand for "Former Soviet Union"). 

7) If we visit Brooklyn, it's easy to see Coney Island.

Well, Coney Island's well worth a visit, at least in decent weather, but it's a long trip--the end of four subway lines and a lengthy vehicle ride from many places in Brooklyn.

It's terrific in summer. It's easy to get to, but you must factor in travel time, if you want to see other neighborhoods.

8) We only want to see one neighborhood (say, East Flatbush, or Bensonhurst), because that's where Aunt Bea grew up.

Unless you're really tight on time, that's unwise. Most destinations in Brooklyn have a lot of interesting things we can see along the way, or via a brief diversion.

9) We can see all of "Brooklyn"--classic brownstone streets, hipsters, hip-hop, ethnic variety, new retail--in just one neighborhood.

Not exactly. (Remember those "trade-offs" I mentioned.) Sometimes the most settled, classic neighborhoods (here's looking at you, Brooklyn Heights) don't have cutting-edge shopping or ethnic variety.

You have to put a couple of neighborhoods together. A place like Williamsburg has a lot of the (now blunted) cutting-edge, but almost no classic streets. 

10) We can see "ethnic Brooklyn" and "hipster Brooklyn" in just one neighborhood.

Maybe, but only if you define "ethnic Brooklyn" narrowly. Greenpoint has a significant Polish community and an influx of newbies.

The western part of Williamsburg has a Satmar Hasidic enclave and, north of it, the epicenter of gentrification. (There are Latino and Italian communities to the east.)

Crown Heights has a Lubavitcher Hasidic enclave and a longstanding West Indian community, plus a "hipster" influx. So these are partially "ethnic neighborhoods."

11) If we get a hotel (or room) in Brooklyn, it's easier to explore Brooklyn.

That depends. Some hotels are way off the beaten track. Others are deep in one corner of Brooklyn, and position you best for certain neighborhoods, but not all. (Here's my general advice on hotels.)

Neighborhoods like Williamsburg and Bedford-Stuyvesant are huge, so a hotel there may be far from area attractions. Location matters for transit, safety, and amenities.

Even learning--say, via AirBnB--that you'd be on a specific street may not be helpful without a cross street, since some avenues are very long. 

12) Neighborhood XYZ  is "dangerous."

Brooklyn, especially the areas most visitors go, is generally safe, and has been getting safer. Avoid generalizations.
 
​That said, everyone has a different threshold. One buzzy retail strip is Franklin Avenue in western Crown Heights. It's also had a couple of daytime shootings. 

Do check Spotcrime (and also recognize that many incidents happen in overnight hours, and among acquaintances). 

13) We don't want to take the subway because it looked scary in the movie we saw or when we visited in the 1980s.

Most New Yorkers take the subway. It's usually the fastest, cheapest way to get around, and it's full of people. So the small but not unknown chance of problems--some fraction of people are crazy/angry/smelly, so avoid confrontations--is generally outweighed by expediency.

14) We didn't think of taking the bus.
You should. That opens up a whole new universe of travel.

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