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Condé Nast Traveler picks
 Best of Baltimore
In the beginning, there was the water. Since its founding in the 1600s, Baltimore's fortunes have been tied to its harborside location, near Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic. From early on, Maryland's largest city was a powerhouse for cargo, shipbuilding, and the military (it was during 1814's Battle of Baltimore that the British attack at Fort McHenry inspired Francis Scott Key to pen his famed poem "The Star-Spangled Banner"), but in recent decades, the tides turned. The Great Depression and World War II slowly sapped the town's lifeblood, and in the 1960s, suburbs sprouted around the city, seducing many Baltimoreans with the promise of more space and more affordable housing and leaving its once-vibrant neighborhoods floundering. In the 1970s, though, city officials, looking to reverse the trend, began the Inner Harbor project, creating a clutch of shops, restaurants, condominiums, and tourist attractions on the southern edge of downtown. The scheme has been such a success that its effects have spread to the newly revitalized nearby districts of Federal Hill, Fell's Point, and Canton, all worth exploring.
Attractions & Activities The Inner Harbor has remained a hotbed of activity since its inception in the '70s, when the area was nothing but decrepit wharves and crumbling warehouses. Today, the numerous construction projects here are a testament to the burgeoning demand for hotels, condominiums, restaurants, and boutiques. The Inner Harbor's five fingerlike piers are the nexus from which the city fans out, but they are also a big draw for visitors. Their first stop: the acclaimed National Aquarium, a two-wing complex that has an astonishing variety of marine life, huge circular tanks in which sharks roam, and a slick, surprisingly educational dolphin show (410-576-3800; aqua.org). The confusingly named Baltimore Maritime Museum actually comprises a few ships and a submarine peppered throughout the Inner Harbor. Descend below the deck of the 1937 Coast Guard ship Taney or inside the 1944 submarine Torsk, whose cramped quarters, musty air, and coffinlike sleeping quarters are eye-opening—you'll have a newfound respect for the crews that took to sea aboard these vessels (410-396-3453; baltomaritimemuseum.org). The most scenic way to experience the Inner Harbor is by boat. Water taxis run most of the day, shuttling passengers between 17 harbor points. Although the service caters largely to tourists—stops include numerous points in the Inner Harbor—locals use it to avoid the nuisance of driving and parking in Federal Hill, Fell's Point, and Canton, which are also on the route (thewatertaxi.com; $8 per day). A water taxi is also the easiest way to get to Fort McHenry National Monument, which has restored barracks, historical and military memorabilia, and daily ranger talks (410-962-4290; nps.gov/fomc). It is difficult not to be awed by the Baltimore Museum of Art, three miles north of downtown in Charles Village, by the Johns Hopkins University campus. The sheer breadth of exhibits is impressive, touching on numerous parts of the globe—from rudimentary Congolese masks and Melanesian carvings to intricate miniatures of a 17th-century English silver shop, stately Chinese earthenware horses, and the airy paintings of French Impressionists (410-573-1700; artbma.org). The work at the American Visionary Art Museum, in Federal Hill, is a little more difficult to categorize. A forum for self-taught artists, it has such diverse exhibits as a winged angel made with mirrors and stained glass, a replica of the Lusitania built with 193,000 matchsticks (construction took two and a half years), and a giant pink poodle buggy. Not surprisingly, the gift shop is full of fun, kitschy toys (410-244-1900; avam.org). A ten-minute walk south, the Baltimore Museum of Industry, in a former cannery, offers a fascinating snapshot of the city's business heritage, with displays that include old machine works, bakeries, moving trucks, printing presses, a bank, and vintage soda vending machines (410-727-4808; thebmiorg). West of the Inner Harbor, Federal Hill is a district of 19th-century brick houses that feels like a small village. It has a tight-knit, activist community—residents successfully blocked a plan to run a highway through the neighborhood in the 1960s. The top of Federal Hill Park, just behind the American Visionary Art Museum, has fine views of the Inner Harbor and the skyline. Very near the harbor is Camden Yards, once a run-down railroad and warehouse district that today is home to the Baltimore Orioles and the Baltimore Ravens stadiums as well as the Sports Legends Museum. On the other side of the Inner Harbor, Fell's Point is a neighborhood with a strong maritime history. During colonial times, it was a separate town that later became a shipbuilding center: Baltimore Clippers were launched from the end of Broadway, the main drag, to raid British merchant ships. Nowadays its nexus of restaurants, pubs and bars, boutiques, art galleries, and coffee shops, encircled by row houses and condo developments, lures locals and students from Johns Hopkins University. Southeast of here is Canton, traditionally a working-class stronghold, where young professionals are moving in to the brick town houses and unloading their cash at the taverns and pubs around O'Donnell Square. It would be a shame to visit Baltimore without partaking in the native recreation of duckpin bowling—a variation on the standard ten-pin variety that's played with shorter, squatter pins and smaller, holeless balls. The low-key Patterson Bowling, between Canton and Fell's Point, claims to be the country's oldest operating duckpin bowling center and attracts friendly twenty- and thirtysomethings, who bring their own drinks and joyously cheer on the rare occasion when one of them gets a strike (410-675-1011; pattersonbowl.com). Lodging The brick InterContinental Harbor Court, which has appeared on Condé Nast Traveler's Gold List, so resembles a modern-day citadel that it is a little foreboding. The interior, though—all marble, gold, and crystal chandeliers—is welcoming. Hallways are flanked by Early American portrait and landscape paintings, and rooms have flat-screen TVs in bathrooms and firm, plush beds. The Marriott Waterfront has hands-down the most striking water vistas. It really is worth booking a room with a harbor view even if the run-of-the mill accommodations—worn carpets and walls so thin you can hear neighboring guests' showers—pale in comparison. Use your imagination and the Hyatt Regency looks like a giant glass butterfly, with elevators that zip up and down the exterior and provide glimpses of the harbor. Its newly renovated guest rooms have soothing gold and cream tones as well as colorful abstract geometric paintings on the walls, and tennis courts and a seasonal outdoor pool are on the sixth floor. Color schemes of yellow and purple at Pier 5 Hotel are reminiscent of a cruise ship's gaudy tones, but since it's just a three-minute walk from the aquarium, guests don't seem to mind. Scarborough Fair, a Federal Hill B&B, has country-style decor and a breakfast spread of eggs, pancakes, and waffles. In Fell's Point, the Admiral Fell Inn has rooms filled with reproduction antiques and chintz. At afternoon tea, employees occasionally dress in Victorian garb and pretend to be ghosts, sharing tales about the spooky comings and goings, and entertainingly delivering etiquette lessons in faux English accents. Dining The Inner Harbor is nirvana for lovers of chain-food franchises, but its northern part does have the unique Uncle Lee's, a Szechuan restaurant inside a former bank, with 40-foot-ceilings and classical music playing as diners huddle under dim chandeliers. The menu is almost too long, but anything with garlic sauce is a winner (44 South St.; 410-727-6666; entrées, $9–$15). The all-day breakfast at the nearby Bohème Café is a welcome break from the buffets at Inner Harbor hotels. The bagels would even get a stamp of approval from a picky New Yorker (400 East Pratt St.; 410-347-9898; entrées, $5–$7). El Taquito Mexicano, in Fell's Point, is an authentic boîte where Coke comes in glass bottles, Mexican flags cover the walls, and soap operas in Spanish play on the small TV. The burritos are deep-fried and filled with beans, shredded meat, and fragrant cilantro (1744 Eastern Ave.; 410-563-7840; entrées, $7). Vegetarians extol Fell's Point's Liquid Earth, where plates such as the Philly cheese phake and meatless muffaletta are served under a pressed-tin ceiling (1626 Aliceanna St.; 410-276-6606; entrées, $6–$10). Crab lovers scuttle over to Upper Fell's Point and Obrycki's, whose brick arches, polished tile floors, and the subtle smell of the sea set the scene for tables that end up covered in mounds of crustacean detritus (1727 E. Pratt St.; 410-732-6399; entrées, $15–$30). The city's small Little Italy, just outside the Inner Harbor, has a large concentration of good restaurants, including La Scala, which has candlelit tables, Italian tenor music, friendly waiters, and an outstanding Caprese salad with fresh basil (1012 Eastern Ave.; 410-783-9209; lascaladining.com; entrées, $14–$32). Truth in Travel is the guiding principle for all content published in Condé Nast Traveler. Other travel publications often accept free travel and accommodations. Condé Nast Traveler does not. It is independent of the travel industry. The magazine always pays its way, and, as far as possible, its correspondents travel anonymously. By doing so, they experience the world—both the good and the bad—as other travelers do, and their reports and recommendations are fair, impartial, and authoritative.
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