Brooklyn Navy Yard Tours

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A tour guide points at a black and white photo of two ships as guests look on. They are on a platform that looks out onto a water-filled dry dock that has a red rusty crane next to it.

For 165 years, the Brooklyn Navy Yard built some of America’s most famous fighting ships, from sailing frigates to aircraft carriers. Today, the Yard is home to hundreds manufacturing, technology, and creative businesses, providing thousands of jobs to New Yorkers across a wide range of industries. We offer a variety of theme-based tours about history, architecture, industry, and more, so there are many ways to discover what’s behind the walls of the Brooklyn Navy Yard by bicycle, bus, and on foot. All tours are offered in partnership with the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation.

Food Cart Tours

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Try some of New York City’s best street food, and learn how food offers an amazing window into the life of a city and its neighborhoods and people. On our Food Cart Tours of Manhattan’s Financial District and Midtown, we introduce visitors and lifelong New Yorkers alike to the amazing tastes and stories of the city’s street vendor community, offering the opportunity to not only taste amazing dishes from all over the world cooked up on the sidewalk, but also to get an insider’s perspective on the industry. 5% of all Food Cart Tour ticket sales are donated to the Street Vendor Project.

Public Tours

icon-calendar  WED 12pm / FRI 2pm / SAT 1pm
icon-clock-o  2 hours
icon-male  Walking tour
icon-cutlery  5–6 generous tastings included
icon-map-marker  Financial District or Midtown, Manhattan

Public Market Tours

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The first and second floors of the Essex Market with a historic neon sign from the Orchard Essex Meat Market

New York City boasts a network of public markets that provide fresh, diverse food to neighborhoods and create opportunities for culinary entrepreneurs. These tours highlight the history of these markets, the vendors, and the food they serve.  Essex Street Market Tours showcase the butchers, bakers, fishmongers, cheese purveyors, and more that make this market a cornerstone of the Lower East Side. In Williamsburg, Brooklyn, our Immigrant Foodways Tour of the Moore Street Market offers cuisine from Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, and Mexico from the market and nearby eateries, highlighting the connections between immigrant communities and local food systems.

Public Tours

icon-calendar  SUN 11:30am / TUE 11:30am
icon-clock-o  1.5 hours
icon-male  Walking tour
icon-cutlery  5–6 generous tastings included
icon-map-marker  Lower East Side, Manhattan

Wafels and Dinges Factory Tour

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Waffles on display through a window

Have you ever wanted to see what it takes to run a successful street food business behind the scenes? This tour will take you inside de Royal Dinges Factory, the commissary, production space, and headquarters of one of New York City’s most popular street food brands, Wafels & Dinges. On this guided tour, we will show you how they make their spectacular Liège wafel dough and delicious ice cream to supply their constellation of carts, trucks, kiosks, and cafés; you will learn how those carts and trucks are stored, supplied, and maintained; and you will get an insider’s look at this dynamic and growing business. You will even get the chance to put your hands in some dough, and cook your own fresh-made wafel in their custom-made irons. This tour is a great complement to our Food Cart Tours of Manhattan that explores NYC’s food systems, manufacturing, and entrepreneurship.

Public Tours

icon-calendar  TUE 10am / FRI 10am
icon-clock-o  1.25 hours
icon-male  Walking tour
icon-cutlery  Fresh-baked wafel and coffee included
icon-map-marker  Gowanus, Brooklyn

Brooklyn Army Terminal Tour

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View of the metal frames that span the two sides of Building B, a massive concrete industrial building with an atrium at the center that opens to the sky.

Step inside an engineering marvel that is today a center of manufacturing and innovation. Built in 1918-1919, this enormous Cass Gilbert-designed complex served as a supply base for the American military for nearly 50 years. Today, this thriving industrial park is home to over 100 companies in industries ranging from precision manufacturers to biotech researchers, online retailers to chocolatiers. Our walking tours explore how this teeming military transportation hub operated, and how these facilities are put to use today. All tours are offered in partnership with the New York City Economic Development Corporation.

Tour Info

Walking the Waterfront: DUMBO Neighborhood Tour

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Join us for a walk through the historic streets of DUMBO as we explore how the water has shaped Brooklyn, and vice versa. DUMBO’s history encapsulates the history of the borough’s 131-mile shoreline – once an agricultural hinterland, this area became America’s first suburb after the introduction of steam ferries, then emerged as a shipping and manufacturing powerhouse rivaling the city across the river. The landscape of DUMBO was built on innovation and hard labor, and we will hear stories of both the captains of industry and ordinary workers who built Brooklyn. We will also explore the deindustrialization of Brooklyn, and the remaking of DUMBO into one of New York City’s most desirable neighborhoods, a commercial and residential district ringed by parkland where piers and factories once stood.

Health and Safety: These in-person tours are now being offered again, but with modifications to protect the health and safety of our visitors, staff, and the public. Before booking, please review our full statement and guidelines on COVID-19 health and safety.

Tours Info

icon-calendar  Available for Private Tours
icon-clock-o  1.5 hours
   Walking tour
icon-map-marker  Empire Stores, Brooklyn

Harbor Tours

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Step aboard a beautiful Classic Harbor Line vessel and explore New York Harbor in comfort as our knowledgeable guides discuss the past and present of the military and industrial waterfront. Our Brooklyn Industrial Waterfront Tour gives visitors the opportunity to see another side of the fast-changing borough, visiting container ports, recycling facilities, and shipyards that are vital to the daily operations of the city. Or you can explore the military and naval history of the harbor, as our Military History Harbor Tour takes you back to World War II, when nearly every inch of shoreline was taken up by shipyards, warehouses, and piers sending troops and supplies across the globe for the war effort.


Private Tours & Special Events

icon-calendar  Fleet Week NYC and other special holidays
icon-clock-o  2–2.5 hours
icon-anchor  Boat cruise
icon-map-marker  Chelsea Piers, Manhattan

Cass Gilbert’s New York: Explore the Woolworth Building & Brooklyn Army Terminal

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Mosaic in Woolworth Lobby showing figure of Commerce holding a globe

Join us for this special exploration of two of renowned architect Cass Gilbert’s most impressive works: the Woolworth Building and the Brooklyn Army Terminal. This 3-hour guided experience includes a tour led by the experts at Woolworth Tours of the building’s stunning lobby, with its soaring mosaic ceiling, intricate stained glass, and amusing corbel characters. We will then walk through the heart of the Financial District to Pier 11 to board the NYC Ferry to the Brooklyn Army Terminal to explore a building radically different in appearance, design, and function.  This engineering marvel on Brooklyn’s Sunset Park waterfront was built in 1918-1919, serving as a supply base for the American military for nearly 50 years. Today it is home to over 100 companies in industries ranging from precision manufacturers to biotech researchers, online retailers to chocolatiers. 

Public Tours

icon-calendar  Select SAT, 1:15pm
  3 hours
icon-male  icon-anchor  Walking & Ferry
  Woolworth Building, Lower Manhattan