Friday

1) 4:30 P.M. Along the Waterfront

For a scenic arrival in Brooklyn from Midtown, take the East River Ferry ($6 on weekends), which skirts the waterfront of Queens and northern Brooklyn before delivering riders to Brooklyn Bridge Park in the Dumbo neighborhood. Then, take a spin on a beautifully restored, colorfully painted wooden horse or chariot. Housed in a glass box with views of the city skyline, Jane’s Carousel ($2) is open year round and lit at night, creating a reverse snow globe effect during winter storms. Walk along the water through Main Street Park to Brooklyn Roasting Company, an industrial space decorated with globes, books and vintage vinyl records. Get a kick of caffeine with a Maple Shay espresso drink or snack on a ham and Cheddar croissant ($5) or one of the yeast doughnuts from the popular Bedford-Stuyvesant bakery Dough, in flavors like passion fruit and horchata.

2) 5:30 P.M. Get Lit

A former warehouse district, Dumbo — or Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass — houses some of Brooklyn’s most beloved bookstores and art galleries. The neighborhood hosts a gallery walk the first Thursday of each month. But you can design your own art tour by visiting Art in Dumbo’s gallery listing (artindumbo.com). Don’t miss Powerhouse Arena, a bookstore and event space that has hosted readings by authors like Anthony Bourdain, Salman Rushdie and Joyce Carol Oates, and has an excellent children’s book corner.

Housed in a glass box with views of the city skyline, Jane’s Carousel is open year round. Credit Tony Cenicola/The New York Times



3) 7:30 P.M. Move with the Music

Moored at the base of the Brooklyn Bridge, Bargemusic is a 118-year-old, 100-foot-long former coffee barge turned floating concert hall. Celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, the venue presents some 200 annual chamber music concerts; tickets typically from $35. (Free “Music in Motion” family concerts are offered on Saturdays at 4 p.m.)

4) 10 P.M. Only in New York

Go for a Spanish-style late dinner at La Vara. In New York City, it’s wise to seek out meals so exceptional you’re unlikely to find anything like them anywhere else. La Vara is such a restaurant. On an unassuming residential block in brownstone Cobble Hill, a husband-wife team, Eder Montero and Alex Raij, serve regional cuisine that celebrates two cultural and historical influences in Spain: the Jewish and Muslim North African influences of the Moors. Dishes include such offerings as pincho de ceuta (grilled chicken hearts with a salad of fresh herbs and lime-date vinaigrette, $13) and crispy suckling pig, slow-cooked with a rose petal-quince sauce and chimichurri ($30).

5) Midnight; Out With Bang

For a nightcap, walk through the back streets of Brooklyn to Hank’s Saloon, a century-old dive with a sticky wooden bar, a ceiling strung with Christmas lights, and raucous rock shows with free or cheap admission. For a more cerebral evening, try Littlefield, a performance and art space in a 6,200-square-foot 1920s textile warehouse in Gowanus that hosts big-name comedy acts like Wyatt Cenac, live-band karaoke and a cocktail menu by the mixologist Tona Palomino of the Wylie Dufresne restaurant WD-50, which closed in 2014.