48 Hours in Brooklyn

WHY GO NOW?

Fares across the Atlantic have fallen so low that you can barely afford to stay at home. Even if you've already been to New York, you may not have explored its most populous and multicultural borough: Brooklyn is America's hidden city. One in three New Yorkers is a Brooklynite. If you like your corner of the city gritty, forsake high-visibility Manhattan for Brooklyn.

BEAM DOWN

Kennedy airport is 10 miles from the centre of Brooklyn. London Heathrow to JFK is the world's busiest international air route; you can fly on Air India, American Airlines, British Airways, Kuwait Airways, United and Virgin Atlantic. BA and Pakistan International also serve JFK from Manchester. For the next three months you should not have to pay more than £200 return; through www.opodo.co.uk, BA's lowest fare from Heathrow or Manchester is just £166 return. From the airport, a free bus (marked "Long-Term Parking Lot") connects the arrivals area of each terminal with Howard Beach subway station. Pay $1.50 (£1) and take the A-train to Jay Street-Borough Hall station, at the hub of Brooklyn.

GET YOUR BEARINGS

Brooklyn occupies the south-west tip of Long Island; the area was named Breukelen, meaning "broken land", by the early Dutch settlers, who first arrived here in 1636. The historic neighbourhood of Brooklyn Heights faces Manhattan across the East River; just to the east is downtown Brooklyn. For maps and guides, call in at the Brooklyn Tourism Council, 647 Fulton Street (001 718 855 7882 extension 42, www.brooklynX.org/tourism). Most of the subways that slice through Broadway run east-west towards Manhattan. A more useful way to get around is the comprehensive network of buses; subway stations give away bus maps. A "Fun Pass", price $4 (£2.60), is valid all day on all New York City subways and buses.

CHECK IN

Absurdly for a place of its size, Brooklyn has hardly anywhere to stay. By far the largest hotel is the New York Marriott Brooklyn at 333 Adams Street (001 718 246 7000. www.marriott.com), which advertises itself as "minutes from Manhattan". For a weekend night in January, you can expect to pay $227 (£150) a night including breakfast. I paid $18 (£12) a night at the comfortable and jolly New York Connection hostel at 187 Humboldt Street (001 718 386 5539) in Williamsburg. Even if you stay across in Manhattan, Brooklyn is easy to reach – notably by walking across Brooklyn Bridge.

TAKE A VIEW

The best place to take stock of the borough and its more celebrated rival is the middle of the Brooklyn Bridge, the elegant link between the two. When it opened in 1883, the bridge's 1,596-foot span was the longest in the world. The pedestrian entrance from Brooklyn is at the point the approach road crosses Prospect Street.

TAKE A HIKE

Start at the Brooklyn Bridge pedestrian access point, but head west to the top of Henry Street and into Brooklyn Heights – a Historic District that occupies 50 blocks between State and Cranberry Streets, close to the East River. Turn right along Orange Street, and admire the handsome Plymouth Church of the Pilgrims, built in 1849. Turn left along Hicks Street for a block, and you will see the vast bulk of the Hotel St George . Go right then left into Willow Street, with some European touches at 102 (the Danish Seaman's Church) and 128 (English emblems). At the foot of Willow Street, turn right along Pierrepont Street and follow it to the end for a famous sight of Manhattan. "There may be finer views than this in the world," said Abraham Lincoln, "but I don't believe it." Then make your way past the flagpole to the start of Montague Street, one of Brooklyn's many Greenwich Village-like thoroughfares; as you walk east you can enjoy a $15 massage or have your clothes refreshed at the Chinese Hand Laundry. The walk ends at the junction of Montague and Clinton Streets, where grand buildings such as St Ann's Church and the former Brooklyn Trust Company crowd in; the nearest subway station is at Court Street, which also has plenty of eating, drinking and shopping.

LUNCH ON THE RUN

On a cold, crisp winter's day, the branch of Hale & Hearty Soups at the corner of Court and Remsen Streets (001 718 596 5600) is a good place to refuel. Or head for one of the many multicultural options on Atlantic Avenue, such as the Fountain Café at number 183 (001 718 624 6764), where you can pick up an overflowing chicken wrap for $7 (£4.50).

WINDOW SHOPPING

Brooklyn has two promising areas for shopping. Court Street is the fancier, including the Barnes & Noble bookstore on the corner of State Street with a Starbucks implant; the shop opens 10am-11pm daily (closing an hour earlier on Sundays) and sells souvenirs such as a board game called Brooklyn in a Box, where one of the tricks is to "Sell Brooklyn Bridge to a Tourist". For the visitor, Fulton Street Mall is much more of a spectacle. Unlike most US malls, it is a real street with a rainbow of retail opportunities including one shop offering cellular phones and tattoos. But the highlight is Abraham & Strauss, the original 1893 department store that is now the Brooklyn outpost of Macy's.

AN APERITIF

On these dark winter evenings you can seek refuge early on; at several of the bars on Court Street, happy hour runs 4-7pm. But to find the source of the borough's best beer, seek out the Brooklyn Brewery at 79 North 11th Street in Williamsburg (001 718 486 7422, www.brooklynbrewery.com). On Fridays, its happy hour lasts from 6-9pm. On Saturdays there are free tours every half hour from noon to 4.30pm.

DINNER WITH THE LOCALS

Given the strong Italian connections (Al Capone was from Brooklyn), it has to be pizza. Grimaldi's Pizzeria at 19 Old Fulton Street, underneath the Brooklyn Bridge (001 718 858 4300), will be a highlight of your stay. You may hear locals speak of "Patsy's" as the foremost pizza, but they are referring to Patsy Grimaldi, who discovered that the key to a good New York style pizza is a coal-brick oven. Manhattan does not allow coal-brick ovens, so Manhattanites flock to Brooklyn for the perfection served up by Patsy Grimaldi.Another Italian institution is Sam's at 238 Court Street (001 718 596 3458), whose menu bears the advice "If your wife can't cook, don't divorce her; keep her and eat at Sam's".

SUNDAY MORNING: GO TO CHURCH

You can get a strong sense of Brooklyn's incredibly cosmopolitan make-up by wandering into a gospel church or a synagogue. Implausibly located in the district of Williamsburg is a Russian Orthodox Cathedral at Driggs Avenue and North 13th Street, which would not look out of place in Moscow.

OUT TO BRUNCH

Dumbo: that's where to aim for a New York experience. At the Water Street Bar and Restaurant, down underneath the Manhattan Bridge Overpass at 66 Water Street (001 718 625 9352), the noon-4pm brunch includes a Bloody Mary along with Eggs Benedict or steak and eggs; about $20 all-in. Alternatively, if you plan a walk in Prospect Park, aim for Dizzy's at 511 Ninth Street (corner of Eighth Avenue, 001 718 499 1966). It is in the heart of Park Slope, a fine neighbourhood of Victorian brownstones, and only one block from the park.

A WALK IN THE PARK

The triumphal arch at Grand Army Plaza commemorates the Union victory in the Civil War and provides a suitable prelude for Prospect Park – bigger and bolder than Manhattan's Central Park. The Brooklyn Botanic Gardens (001 718 623 7200, www.bbg.org) are adjacent at 900 Washington Ave; open 10am-4pm daily except Mondays, admission $3 (Tuesdays free).

CULTURAL AFTERNOON

The Brooklyn Museum of Art is a vast, neo-classical building on the edge of Prospect Park at 200 Eastern Parkway (001 718 638 5000, www.brooklynart.org). The structure itself is under wraps, but inside you can see an eclectic range of exhibits, from a community of Rodin sculptures to the reconstruction of an early settler's home. Open 10am-5pm daily except Monday and Tuesday, suggested donation $6.

TAKE A RIDE

In Manhattan, the New York subway stays below ground; in Brooklyn, many of the lines are elevated, revealing great cityscapes. In particular, the J/M/Z line from Broadway Junction to Manhattan is a rattling rooftop ride above Brooklyn's Broadway. Or take the F-train, Q-train or W-train along to the seashore; they congregate around the station called Coney Island/Stillwell Avenue – a three-storey steel lattice of tracks, points and platforms. Coney Island is not an island at all, but a spit of land that dangles from Brooklyn into the Atlantic, and is a intriguing mix of Russia-on-Sea and rusting amusement parks.

THE ICING ON THE CAKE

Low-rise Brooklyn has only one skyscraper of note, but what a sight it is: the Williamsburgh Savings Bank, rising majestically from squalid surroundings where Atlantic Avenue meet Flatbush Avenue. It is now a branch of HSBC, but the banking hall (open Mondays-Fridays only) is a dazzling early 20th-century concoction, complete with a mural of the first settlers in Brooklyn.