I’ll be in Baltimore with work for the week and was wanting ideas of stuff to do around the Inner Harbor.
I also plan on spending a day in D.C. going through the Mall. Which of the Smithsonians are a must visit?
The main thing to do in Baltimore is to eat crabs. Crab cakes, stuff crab, crab bisque, steamed crab, if there’s a crab dish it’s made there. The Inner Harbor has some things to do, there are water taxis to take you around. There’s an old sailing ship in the harbor and a few museums. If you have the time and the interest you can see Fort McHenry.
As someone who isn’t from Baltimore originally, I was never impressed with the crabs. Too much work for too little meat for this West Virginia hick. Crab cakes, not so bad.
There’s lots to do around the Inner Harbor. The Aquarium is one of the best aquariums in the world (side note - DO NOT go to the National Aquarium in DC - it’s horrible by comparison). The Science Center is cool, if you are into that sort of thing. If you want something a little quirky and offbeat, the American Visionary Art Museum is right around the corner from the Harbor. For McHenry is great for history buffs. The Constellation (sister ship to the Constitution) and the Tursk (a WWII sub) both have tours. Both are a bit cramped if you are a fairly tall person. If you are short like me, no biggie. If you are a techie nut, there’s the Museum of Industry.
Getting away from the harbor a bit. if you are into trains there’s the B&O museum. There are several great art galleries like the Walters and the Baltimore Museum of Art.
Little Italy is great for Italian food (as you’d expect from the name). Fell’s Point has a lot more variety and a lot of great seafood.
I don’t go down to Baltimore much these days but when I do I tend to park on the south side of the Harbor somewhere around the Rusty Scupper and then take the water taxi around all day long. The water taxi will take you to most points around the Harbor and will also take you out to Fell’s Point.
For the Smithsonians, my personal favorites are the Air and Space Museum and the Natural History Museum. You could spend days just going through all of the museums down there.
Apart from being historic, and free. In any case, it closed in 2013.