Every New York trip eventually hits one: the gray, drizzly day that wrecks whatever outdoor plan you'd made. The good news is that Carroll Gardens handles bad weather better than most neighborhoods, largely because so much of what makes it worth visiting happens indoors anyway. Around for a weekend or staying at a long-term rental in Carroll Gardens?
Here's your backup plan.
Settle In Somewhere With Books
Whether you're curled up on the couch in your Carroll Gardens apartment rental or browsing the shelves for a new read in the local shop, there's nothing quite like a cozy afternoon spent reading.
Books Are Magic
The neighborhood's beloved independent bookstore, opened in 2017 by author Emma Straub, is built for lingering. There are comfortable nooks throughout, handwritten staff recommendation cards on the shelves, and a regular schedule of free author talks and panels. If the rain is set in for the afternoon, check whether an event is happening that evening.
Liz's Book Bar
The ideal rainy day venue, combining a bookstore, café, and wine bar in one room. Coffee and pastries from Bien Cuit during the day, French and Italian wine at night, and shelves of fiction, philosophy, and biography to browse in between.
Carroll Gardens Public Library
A century-old branch offering free programming for all ages, from storytimes and chess club to arts and crafts and readings by Brooklyn authors. Free, warm, and genuinely pleasant.
Long, Unhurried Meals
Rainy days are what leisurely restaurant meals were invented for. If you're in a Carroll Gardens apartment rental, consider a comforting night in. Classic meals with the homemade touch, even when you're far from home. At a hotel? Check out one of our favorite local haunts this evening, and consider a rental next time you're in town!
Frankies 457 Spuntino
Once the garden closes for the season, Frankies' interior dining room comes into its own: warm, low-lit, and perfect for working through a few courses of house-made pasta without watching the clock.
Court Pastry Shop
Duck in for a cannoli and an espresso, watch the rain through the window, and remember why people have been coming to this 1948 shop for generations.
Games, Coffee, and Somewhere to Sit
A warm drink does wonders for the mind, body, and soul. Carroll Gardens has never looked better than it does through the steam of a cup of coffee.
The Brooklyn Strategist
A community board game store and café with a large library of games available to play in-house. It's the single best rainy-day option in the neighborhood if you're traveling with kids, or with adults who are competitive about Settlers of Catan.
Planted Cafe
Part café, part plant shop, with gluten-free and vegan food, beer and wine, and an outdoor sauna, hot tub, and cold plunge setup. It's the rare spot where bad weather almost improves the experience.
D'Amico Coffee
A Court Street institution roasting on-site, good for an hour with a book and a proper cup of coffee.
Cocktails and Live Music
Ready for a nightcap? Stroll out of your Carroll Gardens apartment rental and enjoy a drink at one of the neighborhood's classic cocktail bars.
Barely Disfigured
The dark, cozy interior of this Smith Street bar was made for weather like this, no garden required.
Brooklyn Social
A former Sicilian social club turned speakeasy, rich in local history and low on natural light, in the best possible way.
Jalopy Theatre and School of Music
Tucked into the Columbia Street waterfront edge of the neighborhood, this nonprofit venue has been presenting folk, bluegrass, blues, old-time, and international roots music since 2006, in a chapel-like little theater with an adjoining tavern. A genuinely special way to spend a wet evening.
Worth the Trip in Bad Weather
Feeling particularly brave? Just outside our Cozy Carroll Gardens Apartment, there's a whole world waiting to be explored!
Time Out Market Brooklyn
A food hall in a converted Civil War-era warehouse in DUMBO, entirely indoors, with enough variety to please a group that can't agree on anything.
Brooklyn Museum
About 20 minutes away near Prospect Park, with one of the largest art collections in the country and easily enough to fill a full rainy day.
Powerhouse Arts, Gowanus
A 117-year-old former power plant converted into a creative fabrication hub, with rotating exhibitions and an event calendar worth checking. A short walk from Carroll Gardens.
Cobble Hill Cinema
A neighborhood staple for decades, with five screens showing a mix of blockbusters, indie, and foreign films. Exactly what a rainy afternoon calls for.
Winter in Carroll Gardens
If you're visiting in the colder months rather than just catching a bad day, the neighborhood shifts rather than shuts down. The Carroll Gardens Greenmarket continues year-round with slightly shorter winter hours. Carroll Park hosts a holiday lighting ceremony with Santa. And the neighborhood's restaurants, most of which lean heavily on warm, hearty Italian and comfort cooking, are arguably at their best when it's cold out.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is there to do in Carroll Gardens when it rains?
Plenty of indoor options: Books Are Magic and Liz's Book Bar for browsing, The Brooklyn Strategist for board games, Cobble Hill Cinema for films, and a strong roster of cozy restaurants and cocktail bars.
Is there a movie theater near Carroll Gardens?
Cobble Hill Cinema, a five-screen neighborhood theater showing blockbusters alongside indie and foreign films, is a short walk north.
What's the best indoor activity in Carroll Gardens with kids?
The Brooklyn Strategist, a board game café with a large in-house game library, along with the free programming at the Carroll Gardens Public Library.
The Best Rainy Day Option Is Sometimes Staying In
There's a version of a rainy Brooklyn day that doesn't involve going anywhere at all: pastries from the bakery down the block, a pot of coffee, a book from Books Are Magic, and a long afternoon of doing absolutely nothing. That's a genuinely good day, but only if you have somewhere comfortable to do it.
Our Carroll Gardens rental offers exactly that: a cozy, private one-bedroom apartment with a real kitchen, on a quiet block minutes from everything on this list, for the days you want to go out and the days you'd rather not.
Book your Carroll Gardens stay today and make peace with the forecast. Save up to 20% by booking direct!
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