Six Offbeat Walking Tours of Brooklyn

You can easily spend an entire day taking a self-guided tour through the streets of Brooklyn, but if you’re not a fan of DIY, consider signing up for one these walking tours of Brooklyn. From food themed tours to walks through Brooklyn’s industrial areas, these aren’t your typical touristy walking tours, and can even be enjoyed by locals looking to pick up some facts about their hometown.

A Tour Grows in Brooklyn

Yes, you can just walk into several bars on Smith Street and order drinks, but a Tour Grows in Brooklyn offers a South Brooklyn Bar Crawl. The Bar Crawl stops at many of Brooklyn’s most beloved watering holes while taking you past sights including Al Capone’s childhood home, an authentic Brooklyn social club and many other highlights of South Brooklyn. You’ll definitely have a lot to talk about when you sidle up to the bar for a cold brew.

Timeline Touring

Take a peek inside the life of Hasidic Borough Park.  Timeline Touring offers a walking tour through this Orthodox Jewish section of Brooklyn. Stops include a Matzo Bakery, where you will see matzos still baked by hand as in centuries past.  Hear the stories and learn about the history of the community on a guided walking tour through the atmospheric streets of Borough Park, Brooklyn.

Take the Hipster Safari Tour

Brooklyn Queens Experience Tours launches a new tour this August. The three-hour, Hipster Safari Tour, takes folks through the “trendy enclave that is considered the epicenter and pioneering point of Brooklyn's hip.” The tour gives a historical perspective to the area that was once home to famous writers including Betty Smith and Henry Miller. You'll stop at galleries and other places on this informative and fun tour.   

Rays Tours

Forget making reservations at the newest Brooklyn restaurant and spend the day devouring pizza, bagels, gourmet chocolate, and other great eats on a food tour of Brooklyn. Ray’s Tours aren’t only about the food, you’ll also get the scoop on Brooklyn history. Run by a Brooklyn native, these walking tours will satisfy both your stomach and your mind! Come hungry!

Brooklyn Unplugged Tours

If you think the best art in Brooklyn is housed in museums and galleries, book a graffiti tour with Brooklyn Unplugged Tours. View street art in Williamsburg and the surrounding areas, which are the epicenter of Brooklyn’s graffiti and street art scene. Get the skinny on the artists who create masterpieces on brick walls and have transformed parts of Brooklyn into an open-air museum.

Big Onion Tour

Learn about Brooklyn’s history and architecture on one of the many Brooklyn themed walking tours offered at Big Onion Tours. Brooklyn tours include Park Slope, Fort Greene, Prospect Park, Dumbo and Vinegar Hill. Big Onion partners with the Brooklyn Historical Society for their tour of historic Brooklyn Heights. They also offer a tour of the Brooklyn Bridge, and I promise, they won’t try to sell you a piece of the bridge at the end of the tour.