Brooklyn Navy Yard Tours

Tours begin and end at the Brooklyn Navy Yard’s Building 77, located at 141 Flushing Ave, at the corner of Flushing Ave and Vanderbilt Ave in the Fort Greene section of Brooklyn. Click here for Google Maps directions or view our neighborhood map.

SUBWAY: The nearest subway stations are at York St (F), High St-Brooklyn Bridge (A,C), and Clinton-Washington Av (G), and each is about a 15-minute walk from Building 77. These are NOT wheelchair-accessible stations; the nearest is DeKalb Ave (B,Q,R), which is slightly farther than the other stations. View our map for walking directions from each of these stations, and visit mta.info for maps and service alerts.

FERRY: NYC Ferry provides service directly to the Brooklyn Navy Yard on the Astoria Route, with a non-stop connection from Wall St-Pier 11 and East 34th St. When you disembark, follow signs to Building 77. NYC Ferry does not accept MetroCards or OMNY. All ferries are wheelchair accessible. Visit ferry.nyc for schedules and info and download the NYC Ferry app.

BUS: The B57 and B69 travel along Flushing Ave and stop at Building 77. You may also take the B62, which stops on Park Ave, one block south of the Brooklyn Navy Yard. All NYC MTA buses are wheelchair accessible, and all accept OMNY with a contactless bank card or smartphone. If traveling by bus, be sure to allow plenty of extra time for your trip, as weekend schedules can be unreliable (visit mta.info for maps and service alerts). Do not take the B67, as this will take your through the Yard, but you will not be able to get off inside the Yard.

DRIVING & PARKING: The Brooklyn Navy Yard is easily accessible from the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway (I-278), either via the exits for Tillary St (exit 29B), Flushing Ave (exit 30 eastbound), or Wythe Ave/Kent Ave (exit 31 westbound). On the weekends, it is usually not difficult to find street parking in the immediate vicinity of the Yard. There is also a free public parking lot one block south of the yard on Park Ave, underneath the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway. Parking within the gates of the Brooklyn Navy Yard is only available for drivers with an accessible parking sticker – please contact us for directions to the accessible parking.

BICYCLE: There is a bicycle lane along Flushing Ave, and Building 77 offers plenty of racks to park your bike. If you would like to use a Citi Bike, there is a station at Building 77, and stations in close proximity to the York St, High St-Brooklyn Bridge, and Clinton-Washington subway stations.

IMPORTANT TIPS:

• If using a GPS or mobile app to reach Building 77, enter “141 Flushing Ave, Brooklyn.”  Do not enter “63 Flushing Ave” or “Brooklyn Navy Yard” – this is the address for the entire 300-acre Navy Yard, and it will not bring you to the correct location.
• The Brooklyn Navy Yard is a secure industrial park. Do not attempt to enter the Yard through any entrances other than Building 77, as you will be turned away.
• The Brooklyn Navy Yard shuttle runs on weekdays only, and it is not available to the public

We currently offer several different theme-based tours of the Brooklyn Navy Yard by foot and bicycle. Each of these tours visits different sites and explores different content and themes, so we encourage you to visit the Yard with us more than once. Please visit our tour calendar for a complete schedule, and all of these tours can be offered for private groups – please visit our Group Tours page or contact us for more information.

• Past, Present & Future Tour, Saturdays, 2pm
• Architecture & Infrastucture Tour, last Sunday of the month, 11am
• Urban Ecology Tour, select Sundays, 10:30am
• World War II Tour, first Sunday of the month, 11am

Each walking tour covers approximately two miles of walking over the course of two hours, and the tour may involve climbing stairs and walking over uneven ground, and across dirt and mud, so we recommend wearing a good pair of walking shoes. Our guides strive to make everyone as comfortable as possible, so we try to provide places to sit or stand in the shade during the tour stops.

For our bicycle tours, we will travel approximately three miles at a leisurely pace. We may cross uneven pavement, cobblestones, and railroad tracks, and please remain alert when riding, as we may encounter hazardous road conditions or debris.

We strive to lead the tour over a physically accessible route, but due to construction, weather, or other unforeseen circumstances, we may encounter uneven paths, obstructions, or steep inclines along the tour route. If you do use a wheelchair or have any other accessibility need, please contact us directly and/or include this information when booking, so that we can offer a fully accessible experience.

Please visit our Accessibility Page for the most up-to-date information on all access accommodations.

From 1801 to 1966, the Brooklyn Navy Yard was a federally-owned naval shipbuilding and repair facility. After it was decommissioned by the US Navy, it was sold to the City of New York, and it has operated as an industrial park ever since. Today, the Yard is owned by the City of New York and operated by the non-profit Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation. It is home to more than 550 businesses that employ 11,000+ people in industry, manufacturing, technology, and creative fields. There is no longer any shipbuilding at the Yard, but there is a thriving commercial ship repair operation, and most of the cranes you see towering over the yard are in fact operational and frequently in use.

Though it is no longer a US Naval Shipyard, the Yard remains a secure industrial site, and much of the 300-acre campus is not open to the public. The 24-hour security that the Yard provides is very important for tenant businesses, many of which have highly valuable equipment, facilities, and inventory. If you are not a tenant or their guest, the only way to enter the core areas of the Yard is on a guided tour or for a special event.

There are several areas of the Yard that are open to the public, and many Yard tenants welcome guests by appointment or for special events. The first floor of Building 77 is public, and the Food Manufacturing Hub houses many eateries, including Russ & Daughters, Transmitter Brewing, and many more. Kings County Distillery and Rooftop Reds welcome guests to their tasting rooms, and the Wegmans grocery store is now open. On the Yard’s east side, the Naval Cemetery Landscape is a public green space operated by the Brooklyn Greenway Initiative that is open seasonally.

The Brooklyn Navy Yard Center at BLDG 92, which is home to the Yard’s visitor and exhibition center, is open Thursday–Sunday, 11am–5pm, an we also visit the exhibits during our guided tours.

All participants must provide their own bicycle. All participants under the age of 16 are required to wear a bicycle helmet, and all others are strongly encouraged to do so.

If you plan to rent a bicycle for the tour, make sure to set up your rental in advance. We recommend the following bicycle rental shops:

• Ride Brooklyn Bike Shop (468 Bergen St, Park Slope)

Citi Bike stations are located nearby the Brooklyn Navy Yard. If you plan to use Citi Bike for a Brooklyn Navy Yard Bicycle Tour, please note the following:

• Check the station map before arriving. There are several Citi Bike stations located nearby the Brooklyn Navy Yard, but we cannot guarantee the availability of bikes or free docking spaces.
• You will incur additional charges. Citi Bike was designed for short trips, so annual Citi Bike members can use the bikes for up to 45 minutes at a time with no additional charge, while daily or weekly pass holders are limited to 30-minute rides. Additional charges can add up (check the Citi Bike pricing page for more details), and we cannot pause or divert the tour so that can swap out your bike at a station partway through the tour. Because the first hour of our Urban Ecology Tour is on foot, you will only need to use a Citi Bike for one hour, so the fees will likely be less. Participants on all other Bicycle Tours will need a bicycle for the full two hours.
• If you’re not a Citi Bike member, please arrive early and have you day passes ready before the tour starts. Turnstile Tours staff members will not be available before the tour to help you with the Citi Bike kiosks, so plan on arriving early if you are unfamiliar with the system.
• Turnstile Tours cannot be held responsible for the availability of Citi Bikes, for open docks to return bicycles, nor for any additional fees that riders incur.
• We strongly recommend that you wear a safety helmet while on the tour, which Citi Bike does not provide.

We encourage people of all ages to visit the Brooklyn Navy Yard, but any activity that lasts two hours can be a bit much for some kids. We have special visual bingo boards of trivia and sites around the Yard that kids (and adults) can play on any of our tours. Tickets for children ages 5–12 are half price, and children under 5 are welcome to join the tour for free. If you’re joining a bicycle tour, all attendees must have their own safety helmet and bicycle, or they must be secured in a seat with proper restraints.