Brooklyn Museum
200 Eastern Parkway
Brooklyn, NY
$16/adults, $10/seniors & students, free/ages 19 & under
This encyclopedic, community focused museum in on the edge of Prospect Park hosts a huge, diverse permanent collection, as well as immersive temporary exhibitions. Lots of room to roam among gorgeous Beaux-Arts architecture, and always something exciting to discover.
HIGHLIGHTS:
𓂀 A world-renowned collection of Ancient Egyptian Art & Assyrian Art.
🦅 Reimagined American Art galleries addressing differing visions of land, abolition, labor, and identity with works from 4000 B.C.E. to the present.
🍽 Judy Chicago’s The Dinner Party, a triangular table with 39 place settings, each commemorating an important woman from history (closed on weekdays).
CURRENT EXHIBITS:
🖼 Ninety works by Monet, Courbet, Matisse, Picasso, Kandinsky and others in are thoughtfully arranged in Monet to Morisot: The Real and Imagined in European Art.
🎟 The Mugler exhibits require separate timed tickets (additional $4-$9/adults, $2-$6/students & seniors, $8-$10/ages 4-12). Tickets are higher on weekends and sometimes sell out.
⭐️ See the helpful Tips for Families and look for upcoming programs.
🍽 Stop by the Café for pre-packaged locally sourced sandwiches, salads, snacks, and beverages or dine at The Norm restaurant, inspired by the diversity of Brooklyn and exhibitions on view. Get burgers, salads and more at nearby couter-service cafe Lincoln Station.
🛍 Lots of cool finds from local artists at the gift shop including colorful kids books, toys, accessories and chocolate.
🌳 Next door, find the Brooklyn Botanic Garden and the many attractions of Prospect Park.
Kobra Street Art Gandhi & Mother Teresa Mural
Humanitarians Mother Teresa and Mahatma Gandhi Brazilian are depicted facing each other in street artist Eduardo Kobra’s colorful harlequin-pattern mural.
Kobra Street Art Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein is a NY-loving graffitist in street artist Eduardo Kobra’s colorful harlequin-pattern mural.
imagiNATIONS Activity Center
Solve puzzles, perform experiments, play state-of-the-art computer simulations and find out how corn is like a dog in this interactive, family-friendly space. Explore scientific principles behind Native innovations and technologies that are so ingenious, many remain a part of our daily lives.
Krispy Kreme Times Square Flagship
Get hot, fresh addictively delicious doughnuts 24/7 at Krispy Kreme’s Times Square Flagship store. The 4,500 square-foot shop features a doughnut-making theater, a Glazed Waterfall with digital projection, a giant conveyor belt that runs throughout the store and and a doughnut themed seating area. Choose from a variety of flavors, including an exclusive Big Apple Doughnut, filled with a Red Delicious flavored cream and dipped in a sweet, shiny red shimmer mirror glaze.
Strawberry Fields
Visit a unique memorial to the British rock musician and peace activist John Lennon, across from the ornate Dakota building where he lived. His wife, artist Yoko Ono, invited countries from all over the world to contribute plants as well as stones to create an international garden of peace with small meadows lined with trees and shrubs plus a path that winds through a small, wooded area.
Look for flowers and musicians paying tribute at an Imagine mosaic, donated by the city of Naples, Italy and a plaque inset into a rock outcrop acknowledging the countries that made contributions.
Other memorials to musicians in Central Park include statues of Duke Ellington, Victor Herbert, and Beethoven.
Levain Bakery
Everything is baked on-site throughout the day at this legendary bakery, from an array of rustic breads to the world-famous, super-gooey, six-ounce cookies in five flavors: Two Chip Chocolate Chip, Walnut Chocolate Chip, Dark Chocolate Chocolate Chip, Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip & Oatmeal Raisin (plus a gluten-free chocolate chip option).
Other options include sour cream coffee cake, brioches, whole wheat walnut raisin rolls are also yummy (and a little healthier).
Outposts also in Harlem, the UES, NoHo and Williamsburg.
Daily 7 am – 9 pm
Eataly NYC Downtown
The 40,000 square feet outpost of Italian marketplace Eataly is focused on bread, but you can also find delizioso pizza, fresh mozzarella, prosciutto, pasta, rotisserie chicken, chocolate, gelato and (post-pandemic) weekend kids cooking classes.
Choose from five restaurants, nine take-away counters (including gelato), two caffès, and one wine bar. Shop more than 10,000 high-quality imported Italian and local seasonal products spread over the f , including salt, extra virgin olive oil, dried pasta, fresh truffles, aged balsamic vinegar and a mix-and-math Venchi chocolate bar.
Watch fresh pasta shapes, gooey mozzarella cheese and other products being made.
Look for more than 500 signs that tell the story of different products, from ancient tradition to modern place in Italian cuisine, plus a cool pasta shape map of Italy. Shop for kid-friendly kitchenware and books.
Conservatory Gardens
Enter the magnificent 1894 Vanderbilt Gate to Central Park’s only formal garden, a six-acre oasis within an oasis with European charm.
Climb onto the wisteria pergola in the Italianate Center Garden overlooking a yew hedges-bordered large lawn and 12-foot jet fountain. To the north, the French-style garden offers spectacular seasonal displays of tulips and Korean chrysanthemums and a fountain featuring the Three Dancing Maidens sculpture.
In intimate English-style South Garden, Mary and Dickon from Frances Hodgson Burnett’s beloved children’s book The Secret Garden stand at the end of a small waterlily pool, bordered by trees, shrubs, and perennial and annual flower beds.
Friendly gardeners are often planting and happy to chat with young nature lovers.
Cafe Gitane
This bright, friendly French-Moroccan is known for its tasty avocado toast and couscous but we always get the all-day waffles. Table-service, expect waits during peak hours.
Angelina Paris NYC
Travel to Belle Epoque France at an outpost of an iconic Parisian tea room and dessert café founded in 1903.
Get pastries, macarons, the iconic Angelina hot chocolate and the signature Mont-Blanc (meringue, light whipped cream, chestnut cream vermicelli) to go, or sit in the gorgeous dining room for brunch (served all day), afternoon tea, sweet treats and savory brasserie classics: Niçoise salad, Croque-Monsieur, onion soup, or the Angelina Croissant filled with scrambled eggs and cheese, ham, or smoked salmon. Light and modern seasonal dishes, from seasonal vegetable soup to a vegan quinoa salad, include gluten-free and vegetarian options, but the hot chocolate, served in a dramatic presentation, is worth the indulgence.
Keep the Parisian vibes going at Bryant Park across the street.
Monday-Friday 8 am – 8 pm
Saturday-Sunday 9 am – 7 pm
Kitchen closes thirty minutes before close
Alice’s Tea Cup
Enjoy scones in rotating flavors as magical as the decor, sandwiches, salads and treats with optional fairy wings and glitter at a whimsical tea house inspired by Alice in Wonderland. Choose from hundreds of teas served in charming mismatching pots and cups.
Gets crowded on weekends; reservations recommended. Go early to beat the crowds (or take the scones to go for a Central Park picnic).
Also in the East 60s.
Wednesday–Sunday 11 am – 6 pm
Serendipity 3
Get the famous Frrrozen Hot Chocolate, a creamy secret blend of 14 exotic cocoas, and other decadent, over-sized desserts at this legendary restaurant and store with whimsical antique-store-meets-ice-cream-parlor decor. Heraty burgers, foot long hot dogs, mac ‘n’ cheese variations, salads and sandwiches are also available. A favorite of actors, artists and tourists for the last 67-years.
Minimum food or drink purchase of $16.95 per person so bring an appetite – portions are huge.
Daily 11 am – 11 pm