Baltimore

Baltimore sits on the Patapsco River near its entry into the Chesapeake Bay, in north-central Maryland — about 40 miles from Washington, D.C. and 100 miles from Philadelphia. Its defining historical moment came during the War of 1812: the British bombardment of Fort McHenry in September 1814 failed to take the city, and Francis Scott Key's account of watching the flag survive the night became the poem that eventually became the national anthem.

The Inner Harbor most visitors see today didn't exist in its current form until the late 20th century. Through the 1970s the city invested in a deliberate downtown rebuild: the Maryland Science Center in 1976, the World Trade Center in 1977, the Convention Center in 1979, then Harborplace in 1980 and the National Aquarium in 1981 — turning a declining industrial waterfront into the commercial and tourist core it is now. Camden Yards, which opened in 1992, is widely credited with starting the modern wave of retro-style ballpark design across American sports.

Baltimore's neighborhoods each have a distinct visitor experience: Fells Point keeps its colonial-era cobblestones and harbor-view bars; Federal Hill offers a public park with a full panoramic view down onto the Inner Harbor; Mount Vernon holds the city's cultural institutions clustered around a historic monument square; Hampden is a walkable strip of independent shops in North Baltimore. Each is worth its own hour or two on foot.

Fort McHenry National Monument is the anchor — the star-shaped fort where the flag survived a full night of British bombardment in September 1814, giving the country its national anthem. The fort sits on its own peninsula at the mouth of the harbor, with the original flagpole site, restored barracks, and a visitor center that walks through the 1814 siege. A full-size replica of the flag flies over the fort today.

Baltimore's signature meal is a dozen steamed blue crabs, dumped on brown paper and seasoned heavily with Old Bay, cracked and picked by hand at any of the city's crab houses. It's a Chesapeake Bay tradition the whole region shares, but Baltimore treats it as close to a civic identity.

For something faster, a crab cake is the everyday version of the same idea, and Visit Baltimore's crab cake guide points to a stall in Lexington Market for some of the most famous crab cakes in Baltimore. Pit beef is a Baltimore-area specialty: roast beef cooked over a charcoal fire, sliced thin and often served on a Kaiser roll with horseradish or tiger sauce and raw onion.

20 breweries within 10 miles of Baltimore, 8 of them brewpubs with a kitchen.

Brewpub locations from Open Brewery DB (MIT)

21 more Highway Heads places lie within about 180 miles of Baltimore in a straight line — far enough that most are a night away rather than an afternoon.

• National Air and Space MuseumDistrict of Columbiaabout 35 mi
• Washington, D.C. — U.S. CapitolDistrict of Columbiaabout 35 mi
• DoverDelawareabout 60 mi
• Harpers FerryWest Virginiaabout 60 mi
• WilmingtonDelawareabout 65 mi
• HarrisburgPennsylvaniaabout 70 mi
• LewesDelawareabout 85 mi
• Independence HallPennsylvaniaabout 90 mi
• PhiladelphiaPennsylvaniaabout 90 mi
• Rehoboth BeachDelawareabout 90 mi
• Cape MayNew Jerseyabout 95 mi
• Ocean CityMarylandabout 110 mi
• Shenandoah CountryVirginiaabout 110 mi
• Atlantic CityNew Jerseyabout 120 mi
• TrentonNew Jerseyabout 120 mi
• RichmondVirginiaabout 130 mi
• NewarkNew Jerseyabout 160 mi
• Museum of Modern Art — MoMANew Yorkabout 170 mi
• New York CityNew Yorkabout 170 mi
• Statue of Liberty National MonumentNew Yorkabout 170 mi
• MorgantownWest Virginiaabout 180 mi

• Witch Board MuseumQuirky museumBaltimore (Hampden)about 3 miles away

  Cost to see it

  Costs something — we did not find the price published

  When you can see it

  Only while it is open, and we did not find its hours published

  Nearest road

  I-83

  Ouija board collection

  • Fine for most children, but look it over before you let them loose

  Read on the page we checked

These are things you can go and look at, not a recommendation of any of them. Oddities move, get sold and quietly disappear more than anything else we list, so check anything you are driving a long way for. Where this list says we did not find a price or opening times published, that is exactly what we mean. A blank is not “free” and not “always open”. Some sit on private land and can only be seen from the road — please do not go onto anyone’s property. Every entry links the page we read it off.

The Inner Harbor is the walkable base. The aquarium, Harborplace, both stadiums and the harbor promenade are all within a 15-minute walk of each other.

Fort McHenry needs a car or rideshare. It's about 10 minutes from downtown but not an easy walk; parking is available on-site.

Game days change downtown parking and crowds significantly. Check the Orioles and Ravens schedules if you're visiting during their seasons.

Neighborhoods reward walking, not driving. Fells Point, Federal Hill and Mount Vernon are each best explored on foot rather than by car.

Fort McHenry National Monument

Address

2400 East Fort Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21230

Hours

Open year-round except Thanksgiving Day, December 25 and January 1. Park registers, where entry passes are sold, are open 9:00 a.m. until 4 p.m., and last entry to the park is 4:45 p.m. The official site has the current closing time.

Price

$15^* per person ages 16 and older to enter the historic zone, where the star fort stands. Visitors 15 and younger are free, and the rest of the grounds, the visitor center and the film are free. Park registers are cashless.

Link

nps.gov/fomc

*Fees subject to change, please check nps.gov for updated information.

We checked operating status, opening hours, closures, seasonal opening and fees on 2026-10-13. These change without notice — confirm with aqua.org, nps.gov, ourharborplace.com and concordpointlighthouse.org the week you travel.

Straight-line distance from Baltimore, not drive time.

• Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall (BWI) — 8 miles
• Martin State (MTN) — 11 miles
• Fort Meade Executive (FME) — 16 miles