New York City has various picnic spots, lush green spaces, amusement parks, and public parks. People can enjoy the fresh vibes, morning walks, yoga and workouts at the NYC public parks. Manhattan has the most famous parks that offer various fun and entertainment for kids, teens, and families.
Brooklyn is a peaceful borough that has various attractions for everyone. The borough offers various entertainment and fun activities, events, and festivals, public parks, great picnic places and fun things to do.
Visitors and locals can enjoy fun and picnics in the best parks in Brooklyn. This borough has great public parks, and visitors can enjoy sunny days, relax sunbathing, scenic waterfront views of the city skyline, practice yoga and meditation, and enjoy picnics with kids and family.
Exciting Fun Spots and the Best Parks in Brooklyn, New York
In this guide, we have shared the best fun spots and public parks that offer various attractions and free things to do in Brooklyn. Explore the waterfront scene and incredible skyline views in the best parks in Brooklyn.
1. Sunset Park in Sunset Neighborhood, Brooklyn
Sunset Park is a local gem and one of the best public parks in Brooklyn, New York in the Sunset neighborhood. The park offers iconic views of Manhattan’s great skyline. Visitors can enjoy a stunning waterfront scene, views of Staten Island, the Statue of Lady Liberty, and other waterfront places in Brooklyn. Get a great glimpse of the sunset scene and enjoy the awe-inspiring views of the illuminating Manhattan skyline at this waterfront park.
Kids and teens can have more fun at the kid’s playground, enjoy water splashes at a large swimming pool, recreational activities, and various interesting things to do in Brooklyn. You can have some tasty Chinese meals at the nearest Chinese restaurants in Chinatown.
2. Brooklyn Botanic Garden in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn
Brooklyn Botanic Garden is the green urban oasis near Prospect Park. It has small entry charges for the public and free entry on weekends and Fridays before the afternoon. This botanic garden has several rare plant and flower species. It has a Japanese floral garden, water garden, discovery garden for children's play area, plant exhibitions, cherry blossoms, plant conservatory, and a rock species garden.
This place has a small waterfall in the fascinating Japanese Hill and Pond Garden that offers natural landscapes and scenic views of beautiful woodland.
The best time to visit the botanic garden is the spring season when the cherry blossoms are blooming around the garden. It’s the most fascinating natural scene of the year and one of the coolest things to do in Brooklyn.
3. Prospect Public Park in Park Slope and Prospect Heights, Brooklyn
Prospect Public Park is a popular attraction for locals and tourists in Brooklyn. It’s located in a massive landscape covering the Park Slope, Prospect Heights, Flatbush, Windsor Terrace, and Prospect Lefferts Garden neighborhoods of Brooklyn. Frederick Law and Calvert Vaux designed the structure of Prospect Park and Central Park in NYC. There are striking similar appearances between these two public spaces, like classy stone arches, waterways, ponds or lakes, and ancient-style architecture.
Prospect Park is the most fascinating and expansive green space that offers remarkable fun activities for kids and families. It’s one of the best things to do for first-timers in Brooklyn. This Park in Brooklyn offers various facilities for visitors. It has a great carousel ride for kids, a dog area, and more activities for kids and families. It has a sports and games court, kids’ playground, children's zoo, bird watching, and fascinating woodland.
Prospect Park offers one of the best walks in Brooklyn, and it has various trails, smooth pavements and pathways for morning walks, running, and bike rides. It has various entry gates, but the Grand Army Plaza is the unique entrance. The park has waterfalls, and the hiking trail looks like great waterfalls and landscapes in the Mountain regions of New York. The park has a boathouse restaurant for food and drinks and visitors can enjoy boating and fishing at the boathouse in the park.
4. McCarren Park in Greenpoint and Williamsburg, Brooklyn
McCarren Park is located in Greenpoint and Williamsburg, the famous neighborhoods in Brooklyn. This public park is the ideal sports practice playground for sports lovers and teenagers. The park offers sports venues like running pathways, basketball, soccer, softball, and volleyball playgrounds, and another play area for games and sports.
The park has a historic swimming pool, which was reopened to the public about twelve years ago. This green oasis offers tall green trees and lush green spaces and hosts great festivals and events for the public. The famous events are Free Movies Under the Stars, Skill Development Workshops, and Craft Fair.
5. WNYC Transmitter Public Park in Greenpoint, Brooklyn
WNYC Transmitter Public Park is located in the Greenpoint neighborhood in Brooklyn. It’s located in the area where, previously, the WNYC public radio station was operating, and now, it's transformed into a lavish green space for the neighborhood community. Visitors can stay and relax in a calm and peaceful atmosphere, a waterfront lush green park, a large play area for kids, and enjoy various recreational activities in the park. It’s one of the great things to do in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. There’s stunning wall art and giant murals on the walls and excellent views of the city skyline along the East River.
6. Walt Whitman Park in Downtown Brooklyn
Walt Whitman Public Park is located in Downtown Brooklyn. This fascinating green space is created in honor of the most famous and authoritative author and poet in the city Mr. Walt Whitman. The popular author had been used to staying in Brooklyn for a long time.
This park is a calm and quiet spot to enjoy natural scenery and fascinating beauty. However, this park does not have various sports, fun activities, and facilities like other expansive public parks. But it has wooden benches, tall trees, and lush greenery at the waterfront space, and visitors can stay and relax while enjoying the fresh breeze and cool vibes at the park. Authors and artists come to this place to pay tribute and for inspiration and get the beautiful quotes of Walt Whitman around the park.
7. Marsha P Johnson Park in Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Marsha P Johnson Park is located in the famous neighborhood of Williamsburg. It was formerly renowned as East River Estate Park. This park is situated along the East River edge and was renamed Marsha P Jhonson in the name of a transgender woman and famous LGBTQ movement activist in Brooklyn.
This place was formerly a ship dock point, later transformed into a public park that offers awe-inspiring glimpses of the NYC skyline and Williamsburg Bridge view. The park has historical remains of a cobblestone street and railway track.
This park has no bike rides, pathways, games, sports areas, and other recreational activities. However, people can get into the park with their dogs. This park has a small play area for kids, picnic tables, and the famous food festival Smorgasburg is also organized in this park on the weekends. Visiting this famous food festival is one of the best things to do in Brooklyn at weekends.
8. Owl’s Head Park in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn
Owl’s Head Park is located in the Bay Ridge neighborhood of Brooklyn. It’s a local gem and fascinating public park, situated on the hill. It’s a local favorite for its incredible vistas and fascinating sunset scenes from the hill. The Owl’s Head Park offers a walking twisted path, play area, skate area, dog run space, and snow sliding area.
Visitors can enjoy the picnic and peaceful atmosphere at the waterfront park. The park has basketball courts, a skating space, a spray poolside, a kid's play area, and a dog-run space. The most interesting activity is the free camping area, and the free tents and camping gear are also available at this site for families to have fun camping overnight at this hillside park. It’s one of the most exciting things to do in Brooklyn at night.
9. Marine Public Park in Brooklyn
The largest park in Brooklyn is the Marine Public Park situated in the Marine Park neighborhood in Brooklyn. Usually, people think that Prospect Park is the largest park in the borough. But it’s the Marine Public Park, the largest park in the borough. This largest green space is known as a Forever Wild Preserve and has large acres of Salt land, grassland area, and a Salt Marsh Nature Center. They host various fun and learning workshops and activities for the community to learn new things about plantation and growth techniques in the park.
This expansive green space offers various recreational activities for fun and games like baseball courts, cricket ground, golf course, canoe launching space, and playgrounds for other sports and fun activities. Visiting this remarkable green oasis is a fantastic experience and the best thing to do in New York.
10. Calvert Vaux Park in Gravesend Neighborhood, Brooklyn
Calvex Vaux Park, previously known as Dreier Offerman Public Park which is located in the Gravesend neighborhood in Brooklyn, NYC. This park has been renamed after the famous architect’s name Calver Vaux, who designed the most popular Central and Prospect Parks in NYC.
The park offers various recreational and sports activities like a basketball court, bocce courts, a kid’s playground, baseball, football, and soccer grounds, and a relaxing green space where people can stay and enjoy the fresh vibes. People can also watch broken boats in a boat cemetery in the park.
11. Bushwick Inlet Public Park in Williamsburg Neighborhood, Brooklyn
Bushwick Inlet Public Park is located beside the East River in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn. The park offers stunning vistas of city landscapes and skyline and great waterfront views as well. The park has a soccer and football playground with a viewer seating area and a green roof. It has a community center to host sports activities and provides sufficient facilities for sports activities at the playground.
12. Fort Greene Park, a Historical Landmark in Brooklyn
Fort Greene Public Park is a historical landmark and lush green space in the Fort Greene neighborhood of Brooklyn. It’s a one hundred and fifty years old, historical paradise and relaxing green space for the public in this borough. The park was named after the historical Fort Putnam, and after the Revolutionary War, it changed the name to Fort Greene located in this area. This park has a kids' play area and hosts community events to learn about history.
13. Commodore Barry Park in Fort Greene, Brooklyn
Commodore Barry Park is also known as City Public Park, the oldest public park in the borough. It’s located in the Fort Greene neighborhood of Brooklyn. This park has various activities for games and sports and playgrounds for basketball, baseball, football, and a swimming pool. The park also hosts musical concerts and fun events in which rising artists can perform in public to represent their talent.
14. Brooklyn Bridge Park Under the Bridge
Brooklyn Bridge Park is in Dumbo, the most popular park in the borough. The park offers glorious waterfront views at the edge of the river. The park offers various calm and quiet corners to stay and relax, and visitors can enjoy stunning views of the city skyline.
It has walking and bike riding pathways, green space, a kid's play area, art collectives, a carousel ride, a sports area, a picnic spot, a restaurant, food stalls, drinks, and great things to do with kids. This park offers several fun activities and organizes a summer festival for free movie nights, yoga and fitness classes, art and cultural events, and other seasonal activities for kids and families.
15. Domino Public Park in Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Domino Public Park is another waterfront lush green area that offers sweeping views of the city skyline in the Williamsburg neighborhood, Brooklyn. The park is at the edge of the East River and offers a calm and peaceful atmosphere, relaxing vibes across the refreshing water waves. The park has huge sculptures and artifacts representing the Brooklyn industry, art and culture. It has a water fountain, a bridge, a bocce court, volleyball courts, and a play area for kids. It has a great walkway known as Hello Highline to enjoy the incredible views and illuminating lights of the skyscrapers of NYC.
16. Louis Valentino Park and Pier in Red Hook Neighborhood, Brooklyn
Louis Valentino Park and Pier is an under the radar park located in the Red Hook neighborhood in Brooklyn. The park offers iconic waterfront views of Staten Island, Governor’s Island, Manhattan Skyline, and the Statue of Lady Liberty. The park is named after the honorable firefighter Louis Valentino. This park has a waterfront museum, Beard Street pier, and a recreation area for other activities. It’s one of the best things to do in Red Hook, Brooklyn.
17. John Paul Jones Park in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn
John Paul Jones Park is located in the Bay Ridge neighborhood of Brooklyn. This park is named in honor of Naval Commander John Paul in the Revolutionary American War. This park offers closer looks at Verrazano Bridge and has various artifacts from past revolutionary wars, guns, cannonballs, and navy ship remains to represent the past wars and weapons.
18. Dead Horse Bay Park in Brooklyn
Dead Horse Bay Park, or Glass Bottle Beach, is located in Floyd Bennett Field, Brooklyn. It’s one of the most unique locations in the borough and the most curious spot in Brooklyn. This place was formerly used for the dead horse rendering process, and later, it was transformed into a trash disposal site at the beach. You will find broken pieces of vintage glass bottles and junk metals. It’s really interesting to move to this bay and find something unique. But keep in mind that it’s dangerous to walk bare feet and you need extra thick sole footwear or boots for feet protection. This beach is prohibited for swimming, and you can explore the scenery but can’t go to the ocean.
Conclusion
Brooklyn is a borough that offers everything for fun activities and visitors can have more interesting things to do in this place. This borough has various green spaces and lush green parks for recreational activities, sports practices, playgrounds, relaxing spots, fun, food, and coffee shops at the parks for picnics and parties with friends and family.
These parks host various seasonal events and festivals like food markets, musical concerts, open-air theaters, movie screenings, puppet shows, book fairs, shopping festivals, vintage shopping and flea markets, and more.
In this guide, you will find a list of the most interesting public parks in Brooklyn. You can enjoy a picnic, morning walk, yoga and exercise, bike rides, boating, snacks, and kids can play around and have multiple fun activities in the parks. Some of these parks are massive spaces with several activities, and some of them are small spaces with limited things to do. But all the parks in Brooklyn are cool and calm places to relax and enjoy the fresh vibes with kids and families.
