Baltimore, Maryland

Baltimore
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Baltimore_Inner_Harbor_Panorama.jpg
Author: Jawed Karim


Baltimore is the biggest city (but not the capital) in Maryland, USA. It has a population of over 600,000 people, within a metropolitan area of 2.7 million people. The city is location along the bank of the Patapsco River, which is part of Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is an important seaport - in fact, it was the second biggest port of entry for immigrants in the early 20th century.

Downtown Baltimore
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Baltimore_City_Hall_from_Northeast.jpg
Author: Steelplug


The port of Baltimore was established in 1706 to facilitate the tobacco trade. The town itself was founded in 1729 and named after the first proprietary governor of Maryland, Cecilius Calvert, Lord Baltimore.

A massive fire, known today as the Great Baltimore Fire, destroyed much of the city in 1904, forcing a rebuild. In 1968 it was rocked by rioting in the wake of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.

By the 1970's the Inner Harbor area of Baltimore has become derelict. Revitalization of the city took place towards the end of the 70's with the construction of the Baltimore Convention Center.

Today Baltimore has several new tourist attractions at the waterfront. It is a popular tourist destination, and is perhaps best known as the city where the US national anthem, Star Spangled Banner, was written in 1814 by 35-year-old amateur poet Francis Scott Key.

Enoch Pratt Free Library, Baltimore, Maryland
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Enoch_pratt_library.jpg
Author: nf utvol

Travel to Baltimore

By Bus
Getting to Baltimore by bus is the most economical option. There are several bus companies with services to Baltimore including Greyhound Bus, Apex Bus, MVP Bus and Megabus.

By Train
The Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) has train services connecting Baltimore with Washington DC

Amtrak also has a service to Baltimore's Penn Station, which is quite a distance from the Harbor area. There is however a light rail system from the station operated by MTA.

By Plane
The Baltimore-Washington International Airport (BWI) gets mostly domestic flights. If you arrive by plane, you can take the MTA's light rail train to the city. The airport's car rental facility is located away from the airport terminal, connected by the airport shuttle bus, so you have to add an additional half an hour to rent a car out of the airport.

Travel within Baltimore

The most convenient form of budget transport in Baltimore is the MTA's light rail trains, along with its buses and subway. For just $3.50, you can buy an unlimited ride day-pass, available from the bus operator or the vending machines.

Baltimore Inner Harbor
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bmoreharbor.jpg
Author: Oldlinestate

Places of Interest in Baltimore

Here are some of the sights in Baltimore which you might want to visit when you're there.

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Dear visitor, thank you so much for reading this page. My name is Timothy Tye and my hobby is to find out about places, write about them and share the information with you on this website. I have been writing this site since 5 January 2003. Originally (from 2003 until 2009, the site was called AsiaExplorers. I changed the name to Penang Travel Tips in 2009, even though I describe more than just Penang but everywhere I go (I often need to tell people that "Penang Travel Tips" is not just information about Penang, but information written in Penang), especially places in Malaysia and Singapore, and in all the years since 2003, I have described over 20,000 places.

While I try my best to provide you information as accurate as I can get it to be, I do apologize for any errors and for outdated information which I am unaware. Nevertheless, I hope that what I have described here will be useful to you.