How to Walk Across the Brooklyn Bridge (and make it worthwhile)
(This page is a work in progress. It will be updated with graphics and photos.)
Walking across the Brooklyn Bridge is a requisite for visitors to New York, and it's well worth it. But please recognize some caveats.
Crowds and congestion
First, you're not the only one who wants to walk the bridge. On days with many tourists--summer, and holiday time year-round--the bridge can be enormously crowded. It's not fun, and it can even be hazardous. The walking path is incredibly narrow in places, and it's not uncommon for those walking to step into the bike path and be vulnerable to speeding bicycles. Yes, New York City officials recognize they need to fix things.
In fact, sometimes people have to step into the bike path to get around crowds, or vendors, or cops.
The lesson: the larger the group, the more likely you will be split up.
Some advice: try to go at off-hours, such as early in the morning. I mean early. (That's also good for photography.) Weekends and holidays, obviously, are busier than weekdays. Note: the bridge can be breezy, so cooler than the regular ambient temperature.
Is a tour needed? How long should you allot?
You can walk the bridge (about a mile) in just 30 minutes, but I typically recommend small groups to budget 45 minutes so you can spend time taking photos. Larger groups need more time, because more people will want to do their own thing. But remember: walking the bridge is not a two-hour project.
Lots of tour guides (including me!) offer tours that include the Brooklyn Bridge, usually with an addition to walk in DUMBO and Fulton Ferry near the bridge in Brooklyn. Other tours include sights in Lower Manhattan. But you don't absolutely need a tour to walk the bridge alone! (There, I said it. Maybe that doesn't help my business, but I pride myself on giving helpful advice.)
Tours can offer more value, but the bridge is particularly difficult for large groups; sure, we can talk before and after we get on the bridge, but there are only two places on the bridge--at the two bridge towers-). I can also offer people history and old photos before or after they get on the bridge.
More than just a bridge walk
Also: don't make "walking across the Brooklyn Bridge" your sole goal! You should combine the bridge walk with a visit to adjacent neighborhoods, such as DUMBO and Fulton Ferry at the least, and then Brooklyn Heights and beyond.
Please recognize that Brooklyn is complicated. If you want to visit other neighborhoods, or attractions, such as Williamsburg, or Coney Island, or Prospect Park, please recognize that they are far from each other! You can't always fit it all together. For example, If you walk across the Brooklyn Bridge and end up in DUMBO, you can get to Williamsburg fairly easily, either by ferry (recommended!) or taxi. But that takes you farther from Prospect Park and even farther from Coney Island.
Is there a right way or direction?
I've seen online advisors telling visitors that the "right way" is to travel from Brooklyn to Manhattan so you can see the Manhattan skyline and don't have to turn around. Balderdash.
There's certainly value to walking from Brooklyn to Manhattan. But you can stop at either of the two towers as you walk and get a pretty good sense of the 360-degree skyline.
The value in walking from Manhattan to Brooklyn is not simply that you can meet me in Brooklyn for a tour, it's that walking to Brooklyn offers a decompression of sorts, but also provides a sense of Brooklyn's urban scale.
Walking directions from Manhattan
I generally advise people to walk from Manhattan to Brooklyn, not vice versa, though both are of course possible. The entrance to the bridge for pedestrians is just across the street from City Hall in Manhattan.
The two places to pause are the two grand gothic towers. In the perimeter around each tower, there are metal plaques affixed with information about the history of the bridge, its construction, and the skyline visible in Brooklyn and Manhattan. (This is when a guide can be helpful, because the skyline has changed.)
As you walk, you're looking for the first exit toward the street, just past the words in the pavement "Welcome to Brooklyn." That is the first path available, once you've crossed the river, that leads to the left, and slopes down. That will lead to steps that will take you to the edge of DUMBO. If you instead continue, and the path loops to the right, you'll end up in the civic center of Downtown Brooklyn. Unwise.
That path connects to stairs near Cadman Plaza *East* (aka Washington Street) and Prospect Street. Once you go down the stairs to the street, directly adjacent you should see a map on the wall. I sometimes meet people at that map. Or you can turn left from the stairs and walk down Washington Street into DUMBO.
There are several places to stop for a drink or snack, for example Peas & Pickles (grocery with seating area, and bathroom), at 55 Washington Street (at Front Street), and Brooklyn Roasting Company, at 45 Washington Street. Of course, no snacks, and no bathrooms on the bridge, so be prepared.
Walking directions from Brooklyn
It can be a little tricky to enter the Brooklyn Bridge from Brooklyn, since the paths are not so clearly marked.
For people in DUMBO, the easiest thing is to find Washington Street--that's where everyone gathers for a photo of the Empire State Building framed by the Manhattan Bridge (hint: I can recommend a better photo op)--and walk away from the waterfront up the sloping hill. After two blocks, and after you go under the highway, you'll see stairs on the right. Get on the bridge and keep walking straight.
For people coming from deeper in Brooklyn, there's a path to those Washington Street stairs from Cadman Plaza, near several subway stops. The closest stop is the High Street, for the A or C trains, but really, there are multiple options. I recommend, however, to first walk around in the area--there's a lot to see!
Walking across the Brooklyn Bridge is a requisite for visitors to New York, and it's well worth it. But please recognize some caveats.
Crowds and congestion
First, you're not the only one who wants to walk the bridge. On days with many tourists--summer, and holiday time year-round--the bridge can be enormously crowded. It's not fun, and it can even be hazardous. The walking path is incredibly narrow in places, and it's not uncommon for those walking to step into the bike path and be vulnerable to speeding bicycles. Yes, New York City officials recognize they need to fix things.
In fact, sometimes people have to step into the bike path to get around crowds, or vendors, or cops.
The lesson: the larger the group, the more likely you will be split up.
Some advice: try to go at off-hours, such as early in the morning. I mean early. (That's also good for photography.) Weekends and holidays, obviously, are busier than weekdays. Note: the bridge can be breezy, so cooler than the regular ambient temperature.
Is a tour needed? How long should you allot?
You can walk the bridge (about a mile) in just 30 minutes, but I typically recommend small groups to budget 45 minutes so you can spend time taking photos. Larger groups need more time, because more people will want to do their own thing. But remember: walking the bridge is not a two-hour project.
Lots of tour guides (including me!) offer tours that include the Brooklyn Bridge, usually with an addition to walk in DUMBO and Fulton Ferry near the bridge in Brooklyn. Other tours include sights in Lower Manhattan. But you don't absolutely need a tour to walk the bridge alone! (There, I said it. Maybe that doesn't help my business, but I pride myself on giving helpful advice.)
Tours can offer more value, but the bridge is particularly difficult for large groups; sure, we can talk before and after we get on the bridge, but there are only two places on the bridge--at the two bridge towers-). I can also offer people history and old photos before or after they get on the bridge.
More than just a bridge walk
Also: don't make "walking across the Brooklyn Bridge" your sole goal! You should combine the bridge walk with a visit to adjacent neighborhoods, such as DUMBO and Fulton Ferry at the least, and then Brooklyn Heights and beyond.
Please recognize that Brooklyn is complicated. If you want to visit other neighborhoods, or attractions, such as Williamsburg, or Coney Island, or Prospect Park, please recognize that they are far from each other! You can't always fit it all together. For example, If you walk across the Brooklyn Bridge and end up in DUMBO, you can get to Williamsburg fairly easily, either by ferry (recommended!) or taxi. But that takes you farther from Prospect Park and even farther from Coney Island.
Is there a right way or direction?
I've seen online advisors telling visitors that the "right way" is to travel from Brooklyn to Manhattan so you can see the Manhattan skyline and don't have to turn around. Balderdash.
There's certainly value to walking from Brooklyn to Manhattan. But you can stop at either of the two towers as you walk and get a pretty good sense of the 360-degree skyline.
The value in walking from Manhattan to Brooklyn is not simply that you can meet me in Brooklyn for a tour, it's that walking to Brooklyn offers a decompression of sorts, but also provides a sense of Brooklyn's urban scale.
Walking directions from Manhattan
I generally advise people to walk from Manhattan to Brooklyn, not vice versa, though both are of course possible. The entrance to the bridge for pedestrians is just across the street from City Hall in Manhattan.
The two places to pause are the two grand gothic towers. In the perimeter around each tower, there are metal plaques affixed with information about the history of the bridge, its construction, and the skyline visible in Brooklyn and Manhattan. (This is when a guide can be helpful, because the skyline has changed.)
As you walk, you're looking for the first exit toward the street, just past the words in the pavement "Welcome to Brooklyn." That is the first path available, once you've crossed the river, that leads to the left, and slopes down. That will lead to steps that will take you to the edge of DUMBO. If you instead continue, and the path loops to the right, you'll end up in the civic center of Downtown Brooklyn. Unwise.
That path connects to stairs near Cadman Plaza *East* (aka Washington Street) and Prospect Street. Once you go down the stairs to the street, directly adjacent you should see a map on the wall. I sometimes meet people at that map. Or you can turn left from the stairs and walk down Washington Street into DUMBO.
There are several places to stop for a drink or snack, for example Peas & Pickles (grocery with seating area, and bathroom), at 55 Washington Street (at Front Street), and Brooklyn Roasting Company, at 45 Washington Street. Of course, no snacks, and no bathrooms on the bridge, so be prepared.
Walking directions from Brooklyn
It can be a little tricky to enter the Brooklyn Bridge from Brooklyn, since the paths are not so clearly marked.
For people in DUMBO, the easiest thing is to find Washington Street--that's where everyone gathers for a photo of the Empire State Building framed by the Manhattan Bridge (hint: I can recommend a better photo op)--and walk away from the waterfront up the sloping hill. After two blocks, and after you go under the highway, you'll see stairs on the right. Get on the bridge and keep walking straight.
For people coming from deeper in Brooklyn, there's a path to those Washington Street stairs from Cadman Plaza, near several subway stops. The closest stop is the High Street, for the A or C trains, but really, there are multiple options. I recommend, however, to first walk around in the area--there's a lot to see!