8 Great Brooklyn Travel Guides for Natives and Tourists Alike

Whether you’re new to Brooklyn or you’ve lived here all your life, these Brooklyn travel guides are an indispensable resource for finding the borough’s lesser-known treasures as well as the cultural gems that are hidden in plain sight.

Not even natives can be expected to keep up with all the changes happening in Kings County, and these guidebooks break down the best spots, outings and eats in a highly accessible format that’ll entice even the borough’s homebodies to seek out a few new restaurants and clubs.

Brooklyn Travel Guide for the Young, Sexy, and Broke
Aimed at 20- and 30-somethings looking to explore the borough’s best nightspots and restaurants, Off Track Planet’s Brooklyn-only reference book includes two parts: what to expect and where to stay in the first section, and a neighborhood-by-neighborhood guide on what to do in the second section. From a lowdown on health and safety when traveling in Brooklyn to a selection of illustrated neighborhood maps, this guide is best for the young adventurer looking for a hand-holding breakdown on borough travel.

Fodor’s Brooklyn
However quickly things may change, Fodor’s Brooklyn guide definitely features an impressive mix of trendy, new (for now) places and old standbys, including many in more-residential neighborhoods that don’t tend to draw too many tourists. Along with the expected food, drink and shopping recommendations, there are also suggestions for must-see architecture, such as in Victorian Flatbush or Park Slope.

Not For Tourists Guide to Brooklyn 2016
Covering 16 neighborhoods, Not For Tourists’ Brooklyn guide is map based, providing details on the best in entertainment and services, including movie theaters, bagel shops, landmarks and parks. Not For Tourists has been publishing its Brooklyn-specific guide for the better part of the decade, and is time tested for being extensive and in good taste.

Walking Brooklyn: 30 Tours Exploring Historical Legacies, Neighborhood Culture, Side Streets and Waterways
This guide stands out due to its focus on walking tours. Author Adrienne Onofri offers 30 mapped routes in locations as varied as Brighton Beach to Prospect Park and Red Hook in this pedestrian-friendly Brooklyn itinerary. In addition to hyper-specific instructions and directions, the tours also include trivia, historical information and “points of interest,” or good area restaurants, museums, shopping and more.

Brooklyn Travel Guide 2016: Shops, Restaurants, Arts, Entertainment and Nightlife
A people’s choice–style guide, Robert D. Goldstein’s Brooklyn Travel Guide 2016 consists of the shops, restaurants, arts, entertainment and nightlife most positively reviewed by locals and out-of-towners alike. The paperback includes a total of 1,950 places, including the top 500 shops and top 500 restaurants, as well as landmarks, historical buildings and museums.

Food Lovers’ Guide to Brooklyn: The Best Restaurants, Markets & Local Culinary Offerings (Food Lovers’ Series)
For traveling and resident foodies, this is the guidebook for you. Written by food writer Sherri Eisenberg, Food Lovers’ Guide to Brooklyn includes both a curated selection of the borough’s best restaurants and eateries as well as a variety of recipes from some of the borough’s landmark kitchens. The guide also local food lore and information regarding food festivals and culinary events.

The Brooklyn Experience
This fresh-off-the-press guidebook includes the usual neighborhood tours as well as pithy essays and exclusive interviews from the borough’s cultural leaders. There’s a walking tour of Woody Allen’s childhood neighborhood, lists of indie shops and greenmarkets, and neighborhood profiles.

Insider Brooklyn
A curated guide suited for natives and tourists alike, Rachel Felder’s recently released Insider Brooklyn provides a selection of Kings County’s eating and shopping highlights. Aesthetically pleasing, the book contains large-format closeups of venues and brief but refreshingly intimate descriptions of locations.

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