Townhouse Tours is based right in Brooklyn, and we love to show visitors our home town -- or more accurately, home towns. From elegant townhouses to a legendary seaside resort, from colorful ethnic communities to industrial landscapes reborn as centers for the arts, Brooklyn boasts an amazingly diverse array of communities. You can see Orthodox Jews observing centuries-old traditions, America's largest celebration of Caribbean culture, a Russian-speaking "Little Odessa" overlooking the sea, a world-class art museum, beautiful parks, and, of course, the Brooklyn Bridge.
Whether you're making your first visit or planning a nostalgic tour of "the old neighborhood," please contact us by e-mail or phone (347) 693-1484 and we'd be happy to work out a custom tour for you. Here are some samples of the tours we conduct.
A Brooklyn Cross-Section
Our most popular bus tour offers a wide-ranging introduction to the borough , with short walks at key points. Highlights include Brooklyn Bridge and the view of Manhattan, the lively brownstone neighborhoods, Prospect Park, Green-Wood Cemetery, permanent home of many celebrities, the Orthodox Jews of Borough Park, the Italians of Bensonhurst, Coney Island and the Boardwalk, Brighton Beach, the Russians' "Little Odessa," the ethnic smorgasbord of Coney Island Avenue, Victorian Flatbush, with glorious houses and a historic high school, the site of Ebbets Field, the resurgent Brooklyn Museum and more. Alternate routings are possible, following your wishes.
4-6 hour tour by limousine or coach. Longer tours includes lunch.
Crossing Brooklyn Bridge
Our most popular walking tour offers one of the world’s great views from the elevated boardwalk of the celebrated span: the Manhattan skyline, the Statue of Liberty, four great bridges, and other landmarks of New York and Brooklyn. Hear the extraordinary story of the bridge and its builders, see the transformations the past century has brought to the port, and conclude the excursion with a visit to Wall Street or Chinatown.
3-hour walking tour.
Brooklyn Heights
Spend a few hours in the 19th century, touring New York City’s oldest historic district. On blocks little changed since before the Civil War, stroll past rows of elegant Greek Revival houses, the church where Henry Ward Beecher fired abolitionist sentiments, the house where Truman Capote wrote In Cold Blood, a transplanted Italian palazzo, and more -- plus spectacular views of the Manhattan skyline, from a location beloved by filmmakers. The tour can begin or end with refreshments in one of the neighborhood's many cafes.
3-hour walking tour.
Prospect Park and Park Slope
An introduction to one of Brooklyn's most beautiful assets, Prospect Park, and its charming neighbor, Park Slope. Designed by Frederick Law Olmstead a decade after Central Park, Prospect Park is paradoxically smaller than its Manhattan sister, but designed on a grander scale, with a neo-classical entrance, dramatic vistas, and historic sites. Across the street, Park Slope boasts townhouses in the eclectic Queen Anne style, a colorful architectural bouquet of arches, gables, stoops and balconies in brick, stone, terra cotta and slate. We'll visit the prime blocks and conclude among the boutiques and cafés that have made this one of the city's most desirable neighborhoods.
3-hour walking tour.
The Epitome of Industrial Chic
In the long-neglected lofts, factories, and tenements of Brooklyn's East River waterfront, scores of painters, sculptors, poets, and performance artists have created a fascinating new community, part gritty New York, part visionary community. In recent years, affluent and fashionable young professionals have joined them, enriching the mix of architecture, shops, and services. This tour will feature a selection of art galleries, new institutions, and the Brooklyn Brewery, which has revived one of the neighborhood’s oldest and tastiest traditions. Free samples are included!
3-hour walking tour.
Coney Island, Resort in Flux
This five-mile long sandbar on Brooklyn's southern shore was the birthplace of the modern amusement park. As entrepreneurs built hotels, rides, and other attractions, as well as the railroads that made them easily accessible, Coney Island became "the working man's Riviera," with hundreds of thousands of visitors every weekend. While the great parks are gone, the beach, the boardwalk, Nathan's hot dogs, the parachute jump tower, a classic roller coaster, and a unique ferris wheel remain. The neighborhood faces dramatic changes, but these legends are joined by the New York Aquarium and a well-stocked shop with baseball memorabilia round out the attractions for visitors.
2-3 hour walking tour.
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