Best Walking Tours of Brooklyn

Dutch farmers in the mid-1600s first settled Brooklyn. By 1860 it was the third largest populated city in the country. Then, just a few years later the Brooklyn Bridge was opened and the Brooklyn Dodgers were organized as a Major League Baseball team. It is one of the oldest areas of the city of New York. Its numerous historic districts and the rows of landmarked brownstone buildings make it a prime place for historical buffs to learn first-hand about this borough's part in the development of our country's national personality. Brighton Beach is more than just a public beach for sunbathers and swimmers. It is heavily populated with people of Russian heritage and its apartment buildings and the boardwalk here are fascinating. They will take people on walks over the gorgeous riverside and coastal sides of this borough. Park Slope, the Brooklyn Bridge, Brooklyn Heights and Columbia Street are on some of the routes covered.

http://brooklyn.about.com/cs/seventhave/a/brooklynbridge.htm
Any tour of Brooklyn should start with the Brooklyn Bridge. This bridge is known the world over as a symbol of New York and its spirit. It was a first of its time--the world's longest suspension bridge--when it was built in the middle to late 1800s at the cost of 24 lives. A tour of this bridge spanning the East River from Brooklyn to Manhattan is like a walking tour of the development of New York itself. A walk across the bridge takes around 20 minutes and there are plaques all along the way to inform people about the historical events that took place in the building of this beautiful structure. Some plaques guide people to the sights like Ellis Island, which are viewable from that particular vantagepoint. So a tour of the Bridge is also a light introduction to the surrounding islands. This particular walking tour is self-guided, so print out all the pages to take along when visiting this borough and use it while walking the span and reading all the plaques.

http://brooklyn.about.com/od/walkingtour1/ss/bbg_fallfoliage.htm
Another "must see" in Brooklyn is the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. This and the famous Brooklyn Zoo are renowned for their displays and the amenities both offer to the viewing public. This, again, is a self-guided tour that requires printing out the pages displayed on the web site as a walking guide to lead people from area to area in the sites in question.

http://www.nylikeanative.com/
Frommers has called these tours "The city's best guided introduction to Brooklyn." --Frommer's NYC 2004. Run by Norman Older, these are energetic tours geared more toward the independent-minded tourist who is not afraid of public transportation and wants to venture outside the typical tourist walking tours that highlight the most famous sights. He focuses on the historical ups and downs on this huge metropolitan area of New York City. They offer Jewish tours for people interested in that heritage, and there are tours by bus, van and limos for larger groups, mostly on the weekends. Tours concentrate in different neighborhoods, making it possible to hear some really in depth discussions of these places by licensed professionals. One example is a tour through the Coney Island neighborhood of the ghosts of that once thronging summer playground where Amusement Park rides now lie silent. That tour ends at Brighton Beach, where visitors can lunch on some of the favorite foods sold at the local eateries. There's a lot of walking on this 2.5-hr. tour and they advise to bring water. The charge is just $16 but it includes admission to the Coney Island Museum

A last option I'll mention is the Big Onion Tour Group.
476 13th St (Cross Street: 8th Avenue)
Brooklyn, NY 11215
(212) 439-1090
http://newyork.citysearch.com/profile/11349416
Big Onion has a great reputation for putting on affordable and very lively walking tours of many places in this huge, sprawling metropolis. I have included the web site where people can read reviews of their tours by people who have taken them. They go all over the place and have a lot of options.