Brooklyn

I think walking around the different neighborhoods in Brooklyn is an incredible way to spend a Saturday or Sunday or any day. If you don't mind walking 3-5 miles and don't mind walking through some neighborhoods that aren't bad at all but might seem bad to a wide-eyed tourist who's never been to NYC (not sure if you have or not but I'm just saying...), here's one where you'll see a lot of different things and can stop in to different places. You can do what you want but if I wanted to see a bunch of different neighborhoods this is what I'd do:

Start in GREENPOINT, which used to be a very Polish immigrant neighborhood but is changing a lot. Lot of artists, musicians, etc have been moving in there the past 3-7 years. You can get there by taking the E/R/V train over to Queens Plaza in Queens then transferring to the G Train towards Brooklyn. Take the G train into Brooklyn and get off at the Greenpoint Avenue/Manhattan Ave stop.

Walk down Manhattan Ave South until you get to/near McCarren Park. This is a huge open park area. It's not a direct thing but from Manhattan Ave (have to jig over on Nassau Ave for like 50 yards), make your way onto Bedford Avenue. Go SW on Bedford Ave through WILLIAMSBURG, which is "hipster central". To it benefit, Billyburg does have a ton of restaurants art galleries, etc. Walk on Bedford Ave for quite a while through South Williamsburg, which is a combination of million dollar lofts and Hasidic Jewish people. There are a lot of other streets in Williamsburg that you could spend hours walking around on but I'm moving you through neighborhoods.

Continue on Bedford Avenue into the CLINTON HILL area, where you will find food from pretty much every country you've ever heard of (and some you haven't). In Clinton Hill, when you're on Bedford, you'll finally change to a different street when you get to Lafayette. Turn right on Lafayette, unless you want to go hang out in Bed-Stuy (which is changing but would probably scare a lot of people).

Walk on Lafayette from Clinton Hill to FORT GREENE, another area that's become much less diverse than it used to be but has great food selections. Take Lafayette for a while. You'll be in the midst of a mall in the middle of Brooklyn that buts up against the rail yards. I think this is going to be the site of a huge development including the New Jersey>Brooklyn Nets stadium but might be off.

At Ashland Place, turn left unless you want to walk for another 100 yards to visit the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) which is quite cool. Turning left on Ashland Place, this street turns from Ashland into 5th Avenue in PARK SLOPE, which is where a lot of young couples (both straight and gay) live and go out. Walk down 5th Avenue until you hit 9th Street. (unless you feel like walking around Park Slope- if you do, 5th avenue is known for bars/restaurants/coffee shops and 7th avenue is known for shopping)

Turn right on 9th Street and walk through the mainly industrialized GOWANUS section. It's a nice contrast after the yuppified area of Park Slope. Walk under huge highway overpasses until you get to Smith Street in CARROLL GARDENS. Turn right on Smith Street and walk up this street which may feel similar to 5th Avenue in Park slope. Lots of young families (and some singles) live in Carroll Gardens.

In Carroll Gardens, you can pick up the F Train back to NYC (You'll have had many other chances to pick up the train throughout the walk if you get tired or bored- just carry a subway map with you) or you can soldier on and walk through COBBLE HILL (go up Smith Street to Atlantic and take a left).

My recommendation if you keep walking on would be to walk over to the BROOKLYN HEIGHTS PRomenade, as it offers incredible views of NYC. You could also walk around Downtown Brooklyn but to me there's not a lot to see there.

Enjoy!

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