Baltimore Overview

Crab cakes, baseball, the National Aquarium, the Inner Harbor, great museums and lively bars, are all waiting for you. Whether you're here on business or on a day trip up the Chesapeake Bay, enjoy your visit to many people's favorite East Coast city. And wherever you go, be prepared to be called "Hon" (pronounced to rhyme with bun)--it’s the locals’ way of making you feel at home.

Districts

Economically, geographically, and culturally, Baltimore is an amalgam. One of early America's busiest seaports, it was also home to the country’s first important railroad terminal and was a leading manufacturing center, renowned for shipbuilding as well as airplane production.

On the social front, Baltimore established a tradition of cultural diversity early on by passing of the Toleration Act in 1649, which permitted the practice of all religions in Maryland. The area’s air of acceptance inspired waves of Polish, German, Irish, Italian, Greek and other immigrants and the various enclaves these newcomers established made Baltimore a collection of diverse neighborhoods. Notable areas to visit in Baltimore include the Inner Harbor and Downtown in the city center; Mount Vernon, Bolton Hill, Charles Village, Hampden, Guilford, and Mount Washington to the North; Federal Hill in the South; Little Italy, Fells Point, Butcher's Hill, Old Town, Canton, and Greek Town in the East; and, last but not least, Pigtown to the West.

Entertainment

Baltimore offers endless entertainment options, from live music and museums, to stage, screen, and sports events.

Visitors often begin their stay in "Charm City" with a trip to the Inner Harbor, which offers a wonderful preview of all that Baltimore has to offer. The area is home to many restaurants, shops and museums, as well as the waterfront Pier Six Concert Pavilion. In addition, the Baltimore region is home to many museums and art galleries. No matter what your interests—sports, western, Asian or African art, the Civil War or even dentistry—you’re likely to find a museum in or near Charm City that’s dedicated to it.

Baltimore is also a wonderful place to bring the kids for a day of fun. Be sure to visit Port Discovery, where children can climb, crawl and slide through a tree house or learn to make their own jewelry. A trip to the National Aquarium in the Inner Harbor is also sure to be a hit with the young and young at heart, where activities include a simulated rainforest and regularly scheduled dolphin shows. The nearby Maryland Science Center will inspire curious children with interactive exhibits that focus on physics, marine biology, and astronomy.

For sports, the city offers everything from biking and hiking to baseball, football and golf. The Baltimore metropolitan area also has horse racing at Pimlico Race Course on the city’s northwestern border, indoor volleyball courts at Volleyball House in nearby Columbia and swimming at Arundel Olympic Swim Center in Annapolis.

On weekends, the maritime district of Fells Point is swarmed with college students and young professionals looking for fun in the area's many nightclubs. In particular, live music is easy to find in bars and restaurants around town, or on summer nights by the Harbor. For classic rock-n-roll, the most famous room around is Fletcher's, in the historic waterfront neighborhood of Fells Point. This outdoor club plays booming music and attracts a mostly college-age crowd. If Fletcher's is too crowded, or you don't like the music, just walk through Fells Point until you find what you want; it's there somewhere, in one of the many bars along the cobblestones. At Bertha's, in the heart of Fells Point, you’re likely to find a live jazz or folk band playing. There's also plenty of Irish music performed at other restaurants in the neighborhood, if you want something lively but not as loud.

Dining and Drinking

Within the city are fine restaurants representing just about any style food you want, from Italian to Greek to Afghan to the native favorite, crabs. In fact, the Chesapeake Bay takes its name from a Native American phrase for "Great Shellfish Bay." So it's no wonder that Baltimore, nestled along the bay's north shore, developed a hometown cuisine dominated by crustaceans. In Baltimore, you’ll find moist crabmeat stuffed inside Chinese dumplings, sprinkled over linguine and wrapped in fajitas. But perhaps the ultimate crab meat dish, and certainly the one Baltimore is most famous for, is the crab cake. The blue crab, in particular, has become a city staple and you'll find the delightful meat from these crustaceans served as crab cake patties in scores of bars and restaurants all over the city.

If you decide to go for a crab feast while in Baltimore, there are a few terms you should be familiar with. The first is Market Price. Crabs are both seasonal and often in short supply, and thus the (market) price can vary greatly even during the prime crabbing months of June through September. You should also know the terms Special, Backfin, and Jumbo Lump when referring to crabs. These are the three grades of crabmeat, and they rank the size of the pieces from smallest to largest. All three grades have the same flavor, and crab cakes made with Special or Backfin are usually much less expensive than those made with Jumbo Lump.

Once you've sampled the local delicacy, you'll want to take on the rest of the city's culinary treats. A great place to start is the Inner Harbor, which is in many ways Baltimore's showpiece. This dockside expanse is home to numerous educational and tourist attractions, hotels, stores, and enough restaurants to allow you to dine-out happily for weeks.

Beyond the Inner Harbor, many great restaurants are scattered throughout the rest of Baltimore's diverse neighborhoods. Indeed, you can count on always being able to find something good to eat, no matter where you go in Baltimore. And remember, when in doubt: order the crab cakes.

Where To Stay

Once you arrive from Interstate 95 or the Baltimore-Washington International Airport, you'll have your choice of accommodations. In the metropolitan Baltimore area, there are several options, ranging from rural campgrounds to downtown luxury hotels. You can choose to stay in the most convenient, most scenic, or most affordable parts of town.

Did You Know?

Baltimore was established in the early 1700s to serve as an economic hub for Maryland farmers. The pride of Baltimore is its Inner Harbor, which was redeveloped in the 1970s and features an array of dining and entertainment venues. Baltimore was also home to the first American umbrella factory in 1828.

In recent years Baltimore has gained a national and international reputation because of the television shows that are located there such as “Homicide,” “The Wire,” and “The Corner,” along with feature films, notably by directors John Waters (Hairspray), and Berry Levenson (Avalon, Tinmen, Dinner, and Liberty Heights).

Orientation/Geography

Baltimore sits near the Patapsco River estuary and the Chesapeake Bay and is one of the major urban centers of the Northeast. Baltimore is easily accessible to Washington D.C, New York City, and Philadelphia.


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