Best Things to Do in Baltimore

A laid-back shack with a rep for serving fresh steamed crabs without pretense. 

For a second, let’s press pause on their crabs and consider this: Bo Brooks is right on the Canton waterfront and has a tiki bar up front. Sure, it’s a tad touristy, but to recap: on the water, tiki bar plus steamed crabs.

They’re brand new but serve up classic snowballs using a New Orleans-style ice machine. 

Founded in 1782, this local food hub is America’s oldest market and almost as old as the United States itself. Today, it’s the best place to sample Baltimore’s local flavors — everything from BBQ to baked goods to breakfasts to farm-fresh fruits and meats. But if there’s one area where the market excels, it’s seafood. Pick up some crab cakes or fish that were swimming in the Atlantic just days before.

This is not your grandmother’s art collection. It’s not Rembrandts and Van Goghs gazing at each other across stark white hallways. Instead, it showcases extraordinary pieces from people in the periphery of the mainstream art world.

Ottobar’s been a wild anchor to the Baltimore music scene since 1997, when it was in the heart of downtown. Located on Howard Street since 2001, it’s still a place to find an eclectic lineup of local artists intermixed with headliners like the White Stripes and Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

Tucked in among some of Federal Hill’s most popular bars, the 8×10 Club has been rocking for decades. They book emerging local artists as well as national tours. The 400-person venue has an upstairs with a cool U-shaped balcony. Check it.

This waterfront neighborhood has accumulated more bars, pubs and restaurants per square foot than anywhere else in America. It’s arguably Baltimore’s best neighborhood for nightlife. Beer aficionados, don’t miss Max’s Taphouse, while whiskey fans should hit Birds of a Feather. For an authentic Fell’s Point nautical experience, try the Cat’s Eye Pub, which has live music every day (yep, all 365). 

While Baltimore produces great beer, its first love is rye whiskey, and very few (if any) make it better than Sagamore. Book a tour to sample award-winning whiskeys and discover Baltimore’s distilling history. 

Since 1996, this brewpub has been doling out Belgian-style beers and creative meals to accompany them. They run their operation out of an elegant Mount Vernon townhouse that offers top-quality drinks and a laid-back vibe.

This is where the amphibious sculptures take to the water, testing their seafaring capabilities. Whether they sink or float, it’s a great place to spectate. 

When Francis Scott Key penned “O say can you see, by the dawn’s early light,” he was watching the British bombardment of Fort McHenry during the Battle of Baltimore. Visit the fort and you’ll be standing in the spot where the broad stripes and bright stars waved through the perilous fight, now immortalized in a national monument and historic shrine. 

Here, you can see Poe’s personal possessions alongside exhibits on his life and death. Then, visit The Horse You Came In On Saloon, where he downed his last drink before his mysteriously unsolved death (how fitting). True Poe fanatics should also visit his grave and emulate the famous masked “Poe Toaster,” who for 75 years visited Poe’s headstone on the writer’s birthday and drank a glass of cognac.  

It’s got 17,000+ specimens and exhibits featuring the tropical rainforest, Atlantic coral reefs, sharks, dolphins and jellyfish.

One of Baltimore’s famed historic ships, and the only Civil War ship still floating.

Yep, the Orioles play right near the water. It’s often considered a must-visit by ballpark enthusiasts, up there with popular list-toppers like Fenway Park, Wrigley Field and Yankee Stadium.