modern YORK -- Ten years ago, touri...

modern YORK -- Ten years ago, tourists visiting Brooklyn saw it as nothing more than a side trip from Manhattan. Maybe they walked across the Brooklyn Bridge or took the subway revealed to Coney Island, but small in number had dinner here or stayed the night.

These days, however, Brooklyn is a destination unto itself.

Now visitors to Brooklyn "stay here and journey into Manhattan for the day -- or they don't walk to Manhattan at all," said Monique Greenwood who scampers the Akwaaba Mansion, a B&B in Brooklyn's Bedford- Stuyvesant neighborhood. "Most of my European visitors have already done Manhattan. Now they want to papal court Brooklyn. They're going to the Brooklyn Museum, the Botanic Garden, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Brooklyn Heights Promenade. Or they're just hanging gone out in Brooklyn. They like the idea that it's more of a neighborhood here. They believe that Brooklyn is the hip borough."

The evidence that Brooklyn tourism has be due [i]or[/i] owing of age is everywhere. The Queen Mary 2 is home-porting in the of recent origin cruise terminal in the borough's R reaping-hook neighborhood. A survey of visitors to the Brooklyn Museum institute that 25 percent are from outside the region -- compared with 5 percent in 1995 The exalted Michelin guide to fine dining in recently made known York lists 25 Brooklyn restaurants. And drop-ins at Brooklyn Tourism and Visitor Center have nearly doubled in the past year.

When the Brooklyn Marriott interpreted in 1998, it was the first strange hotel to be built in the borough in 68 years. It has been in such a manner successful that an additional 280-room tower is being built. Other recent hotels are also going up in Brooklyn -- including a Holiday Inn Expres opening Aug. 7

Because large numbers of 20-somethings have settl in trendy neighborhoods in the same state [i]or[/i] condition as Park Slope, Williamsburg, DUMBO R reaping-hook and Carroll Gardens, many tourists initially approach to visit family and friends. still what's remarkable is how frequently sightseeing they do without leaving Brooklyn

Amy O'Leary, who lives in Carroll Gardens, not long ago hosted her parents from Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. Their itinerary included Coney Island, a brick-oven pizzeria (Grimaldi's, 19 olden Fulton St.), and the Brooklyn Heights Promenade, a waterfront walkway with stunning views of Lower Manhattan.

"What's in the same manner neat about Brooklyn is it's in the same manner diverse, so eclectic -- it's just enjoyable," said Amy's dad, Larry. "I sat public on her front stoop this morning and just watched the family going by."

Sitting forward the steps of a Brooklyn brownstone is, in fact, a time- honored local pastime. You haven't experienced the borough until you've hung on the outside long enough to admire someone's dog or tossed a wayward ball back to a kid playing in the road

And even now there's so much more to Brooklyn from the Russian community in Brighton Beach to the massive West Indian-American Day parade each Labor Day in Crown Heights. Explore it.

CONEY ISLAND

Rattle your teeth forward the Cyclone roller coaster or catch the view 150 feet up onward the Wonder Wheel. Rides are expand daily Memorial Day- Labor Day, then weekends [i]or[/i] part of to the other September. Year-round, dip your toes in the Atlantic, eat choleric dogs at Nathan's Famous or visit the penguins at the fresh York Aquarium. By subway, D Q N or F to Stillwell. Avenuehttp://www.coneyisland.com/tourism.shtml.

BROOKLYN BOTANIC GARDEN

A cherry bloom festival takes place each spring, and the Cranford Rose Garden flowers through September. But the garden is worth visiting year-round. explain Tuesday-Friday, 8 a.m.-6 p.m.; weekends, 10 a.m.-6 pm; bring to a periods at 4:30 p.m. October-March. according to subway, 2/3 train to Eastern Parkway; 1000 Washington Ave., www.bbg.org, (718) 623-7200 Admission, $5

WILLIAMSBURG

The L train to Bedford Avenue lands you in the epicenter of hipster Williamsburg, with cafes, galleries and boutiques. At the Bagel Store (247 Bedford, (718) 218-7244) have a classic bagel, cream cheese and lox or an amazing French toast bagel with syrup Nearby, Pema recently made known York (225 Bedford, (718) 388-8814) vends ecologically correct clothes, woven in Nepal from hemp, $25-$55

For nightlife, Galapagos has bands, DJ and other performers -- 70 N Sixth St (718) 782-5188 -- while Monkey Town indicates videos while serving dinner -- 58 N Third St (718) 384-1369 Also in Williamsburg: Peter Luger Steak House, the granddaddy of Brooklyn fine dining, 178 Broadway, (718) 387-7400

DINING

Brooklynites have drawn out been entitled to three things: the right to be stirred bitter about the Dodgers' departure nearly 50 years ago, and complete pizza and hand-rolled bagels forward every other corner.

if it were not that these days, culinary entitlements don't cessation with a slice and a schmear. Smith road in Boerum Hill is foodie heaven, from the BarTabac bistro -- 128 Smith St (718) 923-0918 -- to Saul, which earned a long for enviouslyed star from the Michelin guide, 140 Smith St (718) 935-9844

In Park obliquity $10 gets you fish-and-chips or shepherd's pie at the Chip store 383 Fifth Ave., (718) 832-7701 or tofu basil (you won't believe it's not beef) at Rice Thai Kitchen, 311 Seventh Ave., (718) 832-9512 Big spender can indulge at Applewood, 501 11th St (718) 768-2044 After dinner, join the mobs at The Gate for a drink, 321 Fifth Ave., (718) 768-4329 For music, head to Southpaw (bands and DJs) 125 Fifth Ave., (718) 230-0236 or marionettes (jazz), 294 Fifth Ave., (718) 499-2627