Best Family Hotels in Brooklyn
1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge is the best family hotel in Brooklyn and one of the best in New York, mainly because Brooklyn Bridge Park is directly outside it and that park is the single most useful thing in the city if you are traveling with children. The William Vale in Williamsburg has the largest hotel pool in New York and its own park, which solves a hot afternoon completely. Ace Hotel Brooklyn is the design-led pick with genuinely larger rooms. The trade across all of them is that you will take the subway into Manhattan for the big attractions, and in exchange you get more space, lower rates, and actual neighborhoods. Expect $300 to $700 a night, roughly 30 percent below equivalent Manhattan rooms.
Brooklyn with kids is a genuinely different calculation from Manhattan with kids (read best family hotels in Manhattan here), and the honest version is this. You get more room, you pay less, and you sleep somewhere that feels like a place people live. You also spend forty minutes a day on the subway getting to the things your children want to see. Whether that trade works depends almost entirely on how old they are. With a four-year-old who melts down on the third train of the day, Manhattan is easier. With an eight-year-old who finds the subway itself exciting, Brooklyn is better in almost every way.
The other thing to know is that Brooklyn Bridge Park changes the equation. It runs along the waterfront under the bridges with playgrounds, a carousel, water play in summer, and the best view of Manhattan anywhere. If you stay within walking distance of it you have solved several afternoons before you have booked a single activity.
Choosing a neighborhood
DUMBO and Brooklyn Heights are the family answer. Directly on Brooklyn Bridge Park, walkable, safe, quiet at night, and one subway stop from Manhattan. The most expensive part of Brooklyn and worth it if the park is going to be central to your week.
Boerum Hill and Downtown Brooklyn are ten minutes further out, cheaper, with excellent subway access and a short walk or ride to the park. The practical middle.
Williamsburg is the other option and it is a different trip. More restaurants, more nightlife, better shopping, a longer ride into Manhattan on the L. Better with older children than with toddlers.
1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge
The best family hotel in the borough. It sits at the edge of Brooklyn Bridge Park in DUMBO, which means the playgrounds, the carousel, and the water are a two-minute walk from the lobby.
Rooms are larger than the New York average and the reclaimed-wood, heavily planted aesthetic is calming in a way that matters more with children than it sounds. There is a rooftop pool with a Manhattan view, which is seasonal, and the ground-floor restaurant handles families without making you feel apologetic.
The location does a lot of work. You are one stop from Manhattan on the A or C, walking distance to the Brooklyn Bridge itself, and near the New York Transit Museum, which is far better than the name suggests and is one of the few museums in New York where children are actively encouraged to climb on the exhibits.
Roughly $400 to $700, higher in autumn.
Arlo Williamsburg
Arlo Williamsburg 147 rooms, all individually decorated, with ten-foot windows looking at either the Manhattan skyline or Brooklyn. A lot of rooms have private balconies, which is unusual in New York and genuinely useful when you've got kids and need somewhere to stand that isn't the room. Bathrooms are marble and brass with Waterworks fixtures and Apotheke toiletries made in Brooklyn. The hotel keeps complimentary bikes, and there's a seasonal outdoor pool on the roof with a poolside bar.
Two things to know before you book with children. Rooms are small, and reviews return to that point often enough that you should take it seriously if you're four people in one room. And the rooftop operates as a nightclub in the evenings, with noise complaints from guests on higher floors. If your kids go to bed at eight, request a lower floor away from the roof and ask about event nights when you book.
Best for families with one or two older kids who want to be in the middle of Williamsburg.
The Hoxton, Williamsburg
The Hoxton is directly across from the Arlo, so you're choosing between neighbors here. It was the brand's first US property and it reads as more grown-up and less club-adjacent than what's across the street.
There are 175 rooms in four categories: Cosy, Cosy with a Brooklyn View, Cosy with a Manhattan View, and Roomy. The Roomy category is the one to book with kids. It's 240 square feet, takes two adults and one child, and the hotel itself flags it as the family pick. Every room has a king bed, linens by Brooklyn designer Dusen Dusen, a mini-fridge, and the standard Hoxton inclusions of free coffee, tea, water, WiFi, and an hour of calls. Rooms are not large. That's the trade-off for the price and the location.
The food situation is unusually good for a hotel with kids in tow. Klein's runs all day downstairs, which solves the night you land and nobody wants to walk. Laser Wolf is on the roof from Michael Solomonov and Steven Cook, and Summerly opens seasonally. The lobby is a genuinely nice place to sit, with board games around and a retro layout that tolerates a kid sprawled on a couch. Free bikes too.
Best for families of three who want good food downstairs and don't need much room.
The William Vale
Williamsburg, and the pick if a pool is the priority. The Vale has the largest hotel pool in New York, sixty feet on the fourth floor with the Manhattan skyline behind it, and on a hot August afternoon that is worth more than any amount of sightseeing.
It also has its own park at ground level, Vale Park, which is small but real and directly outside. Rooms are large by New York standards with private balconies, which is close to unheard of here.
Williamsburg is the trade. It is a good neighborhood with excellent food, and it is further from Manhattan attractions, on the L train, which historically has been the least reliable line in the system for weekend service.
Best for families with children over about six.
Ace Hotel Brooklyn
Boerum Hill, and the design-led option that happens to work well with children. The rooms are genuinely larger than most of New York, the materials are robust rather than precious, and nobody will look at you strangely when your kid touches something.
Continental breakfast is included, which sounds minor and is not when you are feeding a family in New York every morning. Bikes are available. The neighborhood isn’t super family-friendly, but it is walking distance to Brooklyn Bridge Park, a short walk to the Transit Museum, and excellent subway access from Hoyt-Schermerhorn.
Roughly $300 to $550, the best value on this list against what you get.
Wythe Hotel
Williamsburg, in a converted 1901 cooperage on the waterfront, with the best Manhattan views of any hotel in Brooklyn and a rooftop bar to watch the sunset from.
Family rooms exist with bunk beds built in, which children find far more exciting than a rollaway. Rooms have high ceilings and exposed brick and feel like somewhere rather than anywhere.
Better with older children. There is no pool and the neighborhood skews adult in the evenings.
NU Hotel Brooklyn
The other Boerum Hill option, smaller and more modest, with cork floors, a lot of natural light, and included continental breakfast. Bikes available.
This is the practical choice. It is not a luxury hotel and does not pretend to be, but it is well located, well run, and considerably cheaper than everything above it. For a family who intends to be out all day and wants somewhere clean and calm to return to, it does the job.
What you give up staying in Brooklyn
Worth being direct. The Museum of Natural History, the Met, Central Park, the Empire State Building, and most of what a first-time visiting child wants to see are in Manhattan. From DUMBO that is fifteen to twenty minutes each way. From Williamsburg it is thirty to forty.
If this is your family's first trip to New York and your children are young, stay in Manhattan and visit Brooklyn for a day. If you have been before, or your children are older, or you want a trip that feels less like a checklist, Brooklyn is the better week.
BEST TIME TO VISIT AND BOOK
Spring and autumn are the strongest seasons, roughly late April through June and September through early November. Brooklyn Bridge Park is at its best in both, the weather works for a walking trip, and the light in October is extraordinary.
Summer is hot and humid and the city empties of residents, which makes it less crowded than people expect. This is when a pool stops being a luxury and becomes the deciding factor, which is the argument for The William Vale or the Marriott.
Winter is the value window. Rates fall sharply in January and February, museums are quiet, and an indoor pool matters more than ever. If you can handle the cold, this is the cheapest New York gets.
The weeks to avoid are Thanksgiving through New Year, when rates roughly double and the city is at capacity, and any week with a major convention.
On cost: Brooklyn runs roughly 30 percent below equivalent Manhattan rooms and, more importantly, the rooms are larger, which is the thing that actually matters with children. Expect $300 to $700 at the properties above, less in winter.
On getting around: buy unlimited MetroCards or use contactless tap, which caps automatically. Strollers on the subway are a real consideration, since many stations have no elevator. Check station accessibility before you commit to a neighborhood if you are traveling with a stroller.
On booking: October and the spring weekends need six to eight weeks. Christmas through New Year needs three months. January and February can usually be booked inside two weeks.
FAQ
What is the best family hotel in Brooklyn? 1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge, because Brooklyn Bridge Park is directly outside it and the rooms are larger than the New York norm. The William Vale if a pool is the priority.
Should we stay in Brooklyn or Manhattan with kids? Manhattan for a first trip with young children (read our best family hotels in Manhattan here), because you will be closer to the major attractions and take fewer trains. Brooklyn for a repeat visit, for older children, or if space and value matter more than proximity.
Which Brooklyn hotels have pools? The William Vale has the largest hotel pool in New York, seasonal and outdoor. 1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge has a seasonal rooftop pool. New York Marriott at the Brooklyn Bridge has an indoor pool, which is the only year-round option of the three.
What is the best neighborhood in Brooklyn for families? DUMBO and Brooklyn Heights, for Brooklyn Bridge Park and the short ride into Manhattan. Boerum Hill is the cheaper alternative with similar access.
How much do family hotels in Brooklyn cost? Roughly $300 to $700 a night, about 30 percent below equivalent Manhattan rooms and with more space.
How long does it take to get to Manhattan from Brooklyn? Fifteen to twenty minutes from DUMBO, thirty to forty from Williamsburg. Factor that in both directions when planning days with young children.
What is there to do with kids in Brooklyn? Brooklyn Bridge Park, which has playgrounds, a carousel, and summer water play. The New York Transit Museum, the Brooklyn Children's Museum, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, and Prospect Park.
When is the cheapest time to visit? January and February, by a wide margin. Rates fall sharply and the museums are quiet.