With 2.6 million people living in the borough, to say Brooklyn is a vast cultural mecca seems to simplistic. The best way to discover the borough are walking tours, and there are plenty of quirky, under-the-radar tours for locals and visitors.
Here are five interesting walking tours in Brooklyn that will have you texting your group chat, “We are so doing this next weekend.”
🕍 1. The Hasidic Brooklyn Experience
You’ll swap yoga pants for a headscarf (literally) as you step into a completely different world, one where modesty reigns, challah is gold, and every corner tells a tale of deep-rooted tradition.
Expect: Wig shops, kosher bakeries, Shabbat prep, and the kind of cultural insights that spark dinner-table conversations with your kids.
Try: Tours By Frieda
🐱 2. Cats About Town
You’ll be purring with delight on this feline-fueled history stroll. It’s equal parts charming and educational—and yes, you’ll end at a cat café. It’s like storytime, but with tales of tails.
Expect: Historical feline heroes, local legends, and some seriously Instagrammable cat content.
🎨 3. Bushwick Street Art
Because sometimes, we trade finger paint for spray paint. This tour through Bushwick’s mural-filled streets is like walking through a rainbow with a rebellious soul.
Expect: Bold art, artist backstories, graffiti legends—and probably a “Hey! I’ve seen that on Instagram!”
Try: Graff Tours
🏡 4. Victorian Flatbush
Toward the end of the 19th century, the heart of central Brooklyn was transforming from farmland to a Gilded Age suburb designed for high-class professionals. Today, Flatbush still contains one of the largest collections of Victorian houses in the United States.
Expect: Tree-lined streets, movie-worthy mansions, and tidbits about immigrant life and architecture so charming it may cause Zillow binges.
Try: The Bowery Boys Walking History Tours
☕ 5. Tastes of Brooklyn
Eat, sip and do good across Brooklyn, walking and exploring culinary gems in neighborhoods like Bed-Stuy, Red Hook and Crown Heights through a food and drink crawl. All proceeds from the tours go to the nonprofit Seeds in the Middle.
Expect: Hidden gems and small businesses in culturally-rich, trendy, diverse artistic corners of Brooklyn.
Try: Tastes of Brooklyn
