What NOT to Do in Baltimore, Maryland 

Pro tip: If you visit on a weekday, there are 3 completely free water taxi routes subsidized by the city. They're called the Harbor Connector routes, considered an extension of the Charm City Circulator, which is a modest network of free downtown bus routes run by the city.

I have traveled my share, I love Baltimore more than anywhere else because of the people. It’s the only city I have been to where people are 100% authentically them. No pretentiousness , no snobbery, what you see is what you get.

If you start seeing a bunch of abandoned houses, that is *definitely* a part of the city that you want to avoid. That’s my number one safety tip.

In Baltimore, a person definitely can’t skip a visit to Fort McHenry. The birthplace of the Star Spangled Banner 🇺🇸

Been waiting for this video for a while. Spent the first 9 years of my life in Baltimore before moving to FL. Thanks for talking about being safe in the city, but not harping on it. People should also check out the Zoo and Druid Hill Park and maybe Hampden.

Im from Baltimore and this video sums it up in a nutshell! Old bay is good on everything!!

Don't forget the Zoo, if it's still open. When I lived in Maryland I took my children there. It was great! They are now adults (almost 30's).❤️❤️❤️

Great video and awesome seeing Rob with you. I definitely recommend also taking a short 35 min south to Annapolis. Very beautiful historic city on the water with lots of shops and restaurants. The Naval Academy is there and has a great gift shop and museum open to the public.

One I have is don’t pass up the Guinness Open Gate brewery. It may not be the one in Dublin but it’s a super cool building with lots of historic brewing artifacts, with some good beer on top of it. It has a unique vibe which I really like. The people working there have a passion for the beer and loved to answer questions and tell stories. For being a “touristy” place,I had a really fun time. I live in Chicago where the Guinness brewery that opened up out here is pathetic in comparison to the Baltimore one.

Love it! It's a little surreal to see you in my backyard. :) Baltimore has a really bad reputation, but it has its gems too.

TriphacksDC and Wolters World, what a great combo!

Aww as a Marylander who hasn’t been home in years, you’ve got me homesick! Love Camden Yards! Fort McHenry!! And Phillips crab cakes ♥️♥️♥️

I'm from outside of Baltimore and I think you guys did a pretty good job with this video Thumbs up. Just a little note about crabs, unlike other areas, we refer to them as crabs not crab. So we say "we're having crabs" Do you want to get some crabs?" I have no idea why we say it that way when other states say crab lol but if you want to fit in, you say "how are the crabs?" I would also suggest checking out Arundel Mills which is just outside of Baltimore. There is a casino, theatre, huge mall, movies and lots of restaurants/shopping. There are also nice hotels there so if you don't want to stay downtown, this is an option as well. There are also lot of other places to check out outside of baltimore if you have the time and transportation. Annapolis, Naval Academy, Ocean City, Assateague Island National Seashore, Historic Frederick, Great Falls Park outside DC where you can ride a historic Canal boat, Blackwater National Refuge with site of Harriet Tubman's childhood home, Deep Creek Lake, Antietam National Battlefiel and more! :)

25 yrs n Baltimore… 1. Fav Botanical garden @ Druid hill park. 2. Chill @ Lake Montebello up the hill by the pine trees. 3. Korean War memorial…take FREE water taxi to Under Armour, 4. Visit the Padoga…concer schedule. 5. Hang out @ White Marsh the “Avenue, concert schedule! Great grub..@ Thai Rainbow..concourse ln, Broadway dinner..Fogo de Chao…

Love playing indoor bocce in the Little Italy cafes. Harborplace is being reimagined and will hopefully give the inner harbor a much needed update. Did you know that the PowerPlant was once an indoor Six Flags amusement park?! One more don't: dont fall into a meat induced coma at Fogo (Brazilian Steakhouse) 😂Thanks, Mark!

Fells Point is rowdy over the weekends but very fun and of course the annual Fells Point Festival is incredible.

The neighborhoods of Hampden & Canton & Federal Hill are great with interesting shops and good food. . Downtown is very limited after hours- Baltimoreans actually spend very little time there unless their working or going to the stadiums!

The Walters Museum is wonderful as is the gorgeous PeabodyLibrary! And some great restaurants.

Mark, thank you for visiting Baltimore, my hometown. So glad you pointed out many fun to visit places. Here are a few more. Oriole Park at Camden Yards is an old warehouse and a unique ball park. For the “real” B’more, visit Hampden. Also try Federal Hill, Bolton Hill, Mt. Washington, Mt. Vernon, Charles Village, Patterson Park and Canton. Sherwood Gardens is a lovely, free garden to visit in the spring when the tulips are out, located in the upscale neighborhood of Guilford. Folks may not know Baltimore is a college town with gorgeous campuses: Loyola, Johns Hopkins, Notre Dame, University of Maryland in Baltimore. We are a city with world famous teaching hospitals. Foreign dignitaries come to Baltimore for medical treatment. A huge problem with Baltimore is it’s a city that’s been historically red lined and so there are two cities here. Also, we are still dealing with the same strife as any rust belt city. Yet, the people of Baltimore are a resilient lot. Thanks for highlighting the positives in your video!

Like Cleveland and Detroit, Baltimore city proper is also a problematic city that has more going for it than not. All 3 have worldclass features. Perhaps I'm unphased by examples of extreme wealth AND extreme poverty because I have read the context of horrendous, failed policies America has enacted on its own. Redlining, freeway construction really hurt Baltimore. It's an underrated city with amazing architecture. It has artsy quirk and a charming vibe and a unique accent. The vacants come down to this: the city can't tear them down because they are registered to LLCs. This means that until they can obtain information on any real humans behind the LLCs (which country, if the owner is even still alive) they sit. I hope they find a workaround without driving up costs of living. It is an affordable city filled with genuine people. I did see several cranes in the sky. New build is occuring throughout. Just slowly. Slower than Detroit's comeback, and definitely slower than the rapid building happening as I type this across the whole of Philadelphia and Cleveland. So far, Cleveland seems to be the only place trying to build for every income bracket without pricing folks out. Bottom line, too: folks SHOULD see all aspects of America. Folks should witness the results of disinvestment firsthand. We should understand just how widely we have weakened ourselves, our quality of life. Real estate did a lot of it. Now, real estate is mostly controlled by 3 companies. It seems that home ownership is quickly becoming a distant dream. Aren't we better than this? Can't we come together and fix things? Improving our neighbors' quality of life will improve ours in turn. It's a net benefit: figuring out how to keep money staying within and therefore reinvested in a locality. I would recommend people visit all 3 cities I mentioned. I can't wait to go back to all of them. I miss B'more Licks and their cookie butter ice cream. It was so nice on a hot day to sit there gazing out Baltimore Ave into Patterson Park. And, we still haven't even gone to any of the museums (besides Ft McHenry) mentioned in this video.

I am headed to Baltimore in a month for no reason other than to go to Baltimore . Super excited. It seems like a cool city.

Great video. I especially liked the pronunciation lesson. There used to be a shuttle driver at my old uni who was from Baltimore, and it took me a while before I knew what he was talking about when he told me about Balmer and Merlin. lol

BALTIMORE native born and raised. Awesome vid.👍🏾 Love my city.

First comment . . . from Urbana, IL. Thanks for all your videos. You've helped us have a lot of fun and safe travels, really.

What a nice looking city. It's giving me travel ideas... I like this video.😊❤

Mark, thanks for making a video about my hometown of Baltimore! I’ve seen a lot of people mention some of this, but I’ll co-sign that on top of Mt. Vernon and Fells Point, there are a few other great neighborhoods with the city’s best restaurants: Hampden, Harbor East, Canton, Locust Point, Federal Hill. In my opinion, the biggest gem of Mt. Vernon is the Peabody Library - amazing for photos! The Domino Sugar sign is also a symbol of the city and super cool to photograph! Harbor East is the newest and most luxurious part of the city. You’re spot on that Camden Yards is definitely one of the best ballparks in America, and Bmore is absolutely a sports town! Lastly, while the Inner Harbor is nice to walk around, much of those stores at Harborplace are touristy (like you mention) and low-quality chains. I’d say locals don’t really go there other to walk or run on the weekends. Thankfully, there’s a plan to renovate Harborplace and hopefully rejuvenate it to be a popular central space similar to how you describe! Thanks again!

Glad you got to try those Old Bay wings, Mark!

Just discovered your channel and I can't tell you how thrilled I was to see someone give this city the love it deserves. I fell in love with this city as a visitor and decided to make it my home for the last 15 years. There's a few tips I would like to add. 1 Don't sleep on Royal Farms (RoFo). It's not just a gas station. Some of the best fried chicken you'll ever have. 2 Patterson Park is an incredible place to spend a day, with nearby Greektown offering incredible food options, and neighboring Canton as another great option for nightlife. 3. While you're visiting the Inner Harbor, don't miss out on the Baltimore World Trade Center building. It's the tallest pentagonal shaped building in the world, and gives a stunning view of the city. 4. Try a day trip to Annapolis to see the State Capital building, the Navy museum, and the Kunta Kinte memorial.

I was thinking about visiting Inner Harbor. Maybe next weekend I will go... thanks for your suggestions

I live in South NJ, less than 2 hrs from Baltimore. Lexington Market is great, Fells Point and of course the Inner Harbor. Make sure you go in April, May, Sept or October. Summer months are so crowded and hotels are much cheaper

Well, who knew? Very informative as always, thanks, Mark!

I’m from Baltimore and this video is amazing.

Hey Mark, great video and thanks for coming to my hometown.

Baltimore also has an extensive and excellent theatre and concert scene. As a Marylander, we go to plays and concerts here all the time. My family used to have a subscription to the Lyric Opera House.

We used to have such good food in the harborplace back on the day! I do miss those days!

Wear your comfy shoes. It is Small-timore but, were the gentleman noted that lovely gothic church is also 'steps' away from The Walters Art Museum, the Washington and Lafayette memorials. The Walters is not to be neglected. The collections & exhibitions are a vast array of impressive curations. And Baltimore has 18th century colonial charm.

Thank you Wolters World!

I grew up in Baltimore area. I never had any issues with safety. You need to be aware of your surroundings. There are so many great neighborhoods.

My late father was born in Frederick County, Maryland (approximately 30 miles northwest of Washington, D.C.); so I have a Maryland connection in my blood. I visited Baltimore in 2012 and had a great time. I did my research about which dangerous neighbourhoods to avoid. The Inner Harbour, B & O Railroad Museum, Fort McHenry: all were terrific. Maryland crabs are delicious! Take home a can of Old Bay seasoning and a bag of Utz crab chips (potato chips coated with Old Bay)!

Thank you for featuring Baltimore, Mark! We do love our Old Bay, our Natty Boh, and our Utz! We have a great art culture and our restaurants are pretty amazing (KoKo’s on Harford road has THEE BEST crab cakes, imo). If you love music, and vintage stuff, visit The Sound Garden in Fells Point. Like Mark mentioned, the inner harbor is very touristy. Don’t get food down there, it’s expensive and not that great. Go around the corner to Fells or up the street to Mount Vernon and visit the local restaurants. You can get a great burger or sushi here! Best time to come to Baltimore is during the fall or springtime. Patterson park has GREAT festivals throughout the year and you can get a delicious scoop of ice cream nearby at B-More Licks. Our city has some neighborhoods that aren’t the greatest, just like any other city in the world! Most people are scared of us based off of what they saw from ‘The Wire’. 😅 B-More Pride is definitely a thing, and we truly take it to heart when people talk bad about us. From Greek Town to Little Italy, make a list, and just take a tour around to see why they call us Charm City! We’d love to have ya, Hon! 🦩🦀☺️

I’ve always wanted to visit Baltimore and catch an O’s game!

6:23 Baltimore gets majority of its crabs from Asia. That said, Koco's Pub on Harford Rd. is the place to get crab cakes.

Right on point! Definitely mentioned Fells, mt. Vernon but don't sleep on Fed Hill neighborhood. One of the best if not the best neighborhood in the city. Cross Street market along with all the restaurants and bars etc., Fed Hill park with the best views of the city, proximity to stadiums, inner harbor and much much more...

Thanks for doing this video on Baltimore. I just went to the annual German Christmas market at the harbor. It's one of my favorites! Like all other major US cities right now, Baltimore has problems but there's a lot of good happening in the city. In most of the city I feel as safe as I would in DC, Philly, or New York. One food tip is to avoid going to touristy places for crabs/crab cakes. Every restaurant in Baltimore claims to have the "best" crab cake, but it's the offbeat places that have the most authentic food. Right now, Harborplace is closed but will be undergoing a major renovation in the coming years. Harbor East has upscale shops, restaurants, and hotels for those looking for that type of experience. There's a free water taxi from near the Maryland Science Center over to Harbor East.

Hey Mark, you should put up your own Wolters museum. Don’t wait for them to make one slightly named after you, lol 😂🤣

I’m definitely going to make plans to come to Baltimore always wanted to because of the crabs 🦀 and other delicious seafood, I love seafood❤

Glad to see Fels Point is still a place to be.

Try the Charm City Circulator, Bmore's free, clean bus service, goes to major attractions. You can take the light rail or train to downtown.

Baltimore has it’s problems, HOWEVER, I LOVED living in Baltimore. There is a vibe there that is like no other.

I'm friends with plenty of Marylanders, and I can confirm they do not shut up about Old Bay seasoning! It seems to be some sort of religion over there haha, will be sure to try it if I ever get to travel there

Fun fact about Fort McHenry. If you purchase a flag from the gift shop, they will let you fly it on the mast. They even let you hoist it!

Baltimore can be a lot of fun! There are several cool things to do. He’s right, the better restaurants are outside the harbor. There are also really cool and family friendly things. The famous black persons wax museum, graffiti alley, shops around 36th street, 32nd street farmers market (seasonal). Just like DC, Philly and other large cities it has issues with crime. You should always practice being safe wherever you go, but that’s no need to pass up on a fun city

Don’t forget that MD is not just B-more city. The state fair grounds is worth going to if there’s an activity there. Don’t forget to go to Annapolis and Frederick. Don’t forget that Columbia and Ellicott City are not far from the city. Don’t forget to enjoy your visit 😊 welcome ❤

Thank you for a positive spin on Baltimore. I have been looking for an inner harbor hotel before my cruise. Some say it’s too unsafe but all we want to do is get to the hotel two nights earlier and spend one day walking around the inner harbor. We are not night owls so we will be cozy in our room come sunset. The Aquarium looks fantastic. Is most of the inner harbor walkable from Sonesta or close hotels?

I went to Baltimore a few years ago. It was a few nice things surrounded by horrible neighborhoods. Took the free tourist bus (rolling homeless shelter) to one museum. Neighborhood was bud but oddly desolate. I felt safe because there were no people. Went to Some "historic" market, not sure if it was Lexington or not, it was filthy and one store had bullet proof glass in front of the register. Stayed at a cool historic hotel, had fun at the railroad museum. By far the worst thing was being unable to get a taxi. Tried to go to a site far away. No taxis on the street. Visitor center sugfested Uber. Went to a hotel, bellman said they would call, gave up after half an hour. Missed two tours we were supposed to take. Leaving our hotel for the train station had to use a car service because of thenlack of taxis, although there were a lot stopped at the train station when we got there. Very weird.

Went there for the first time this past May and was severely underwhelmed. The inner harbor felt dead, and I have a pretty high tolerance for being unsafe environments, but didn’t feel great. It was 6pm by the time I got there on Memorial Day so couldn’t go to attractions like the aquarium, or fort McHenry. I have little desire to go back

Just a heads up if you come to Baltimore via uber from DC. Rush hour can turn a 45 minute trip into an hour and 45 minutes. There are multiple routes and waze can be a lifesaver. Even if it's not rush hour there are often accidents causing delays. Maybe best just to take the marc train from union station.

Orioles are 95% of why I want to visit baltimore. Camden yards looks amazing! 😊

Lived the first 30 years of my life there. I only wish you could’ve seen it in the 80s, 90s and early 2000s when it was thriving and safe.

Honey Old Bay wings 😋 been here 4 years and I like Baltimore.

The inner harbor is fun, especially Christmas market time. The railroad museum is fun. The food is good. Visit Fort McHenry to visit the site that gave America its strange national anthem (the one that deals with a battle survived in a war that was lost - yes the USA lost! The war of 1812 is known to historians as the one Americans think they won, the ones Canadians know they won and the one the British don’t care about - remember the USA invaded Canada trying to drive the British out of North America. If you check the maps, Canada is still there and still has the King as head of state).

I love the video but it’s funny how the cop and ambulance sirens in the background lol

baltimore has 2 different accents, baldimore/bawlmer and murlin/marilyn.. also the film maker john waters is from baltimore and people love to go see locations from his movies

Ya, don’t walk to Lexington market VERY unsafe!

When they offer “imperial sauce” on crab cakes you gotta go for that. It turns it up to 11

Don't eat crab cake at any tourist trap that serves it with that white goop on the side. Crab cake+lemon wedge+saltines. Don't miss out on the corned beef at the Lombard Street Attman's. Walk in to the shop and say exactly what the Repeat After Me sign says. Don't worry about what exactly lake trout is or which brand of hot sauce is on the table. It'll be good.

Heavy Seas Brewing and Union Craft Brewing Don't forget about the Counties/suburbs.

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Love the pit beef especially from those little tiny huts like the one near Security Mall with horse radish and tiger sauce!

Also, don't miss the American Visionary Art Museum if you enjoy quirky attractions. It's probably the only thing around the Inner Harbor I'd recommend. It's all the way counter-clockwise past the Science Museum in Federal Hill. Also, Federal Hill also has what may be the best small food market in Baltimore. In Fells Point, don't miss Bertha's for mussels. BTW, I wouldn't say we "won" the War of 1812. We started the war by invading Canada. The Brits did try to take the opportunity to re-invade the U.S., and we did stop them. But I'd prefer to say that the Canadians won the war. For us it was more of a stalemate.

I really want to go see Edgar Allen Poe museum.

What to watch out for: scooter gangs, motocross motorcycles racing down sidewalks and squeegee kids… I have encountered them all. Nice upscale restaurants if you can safely get there.

It’s ok. I have lived here for ten years, been wanting to get out for half of those. I mean. I wouldn’t come on vacation to anywhere in the Northeast personally. But if you are here anyways it’s better than DC that’s for sure.

Unless you are ordering whole crabs, you are getting imported Asian or Valenzuelan crab meat. If you order Natty Bo, you might as well wear a T-shirt that says "I'm a tourist" in large print on both the front and back.

Old Bay is very good. Not worth going overboard with it though.

The charmery ice cream shop has old bay Carmel ice cream

Hello, I'm from Maryland. I miss the seafood.

And if a local recommends you visit "Holland-town". Don't look for Holland-town. They're trying to say HIGHlandtown, an East Baltimore neighborhood.

Remember to order True Blue if you want to taste the real Maryland blue crab. It's better than the stuff you get down south, which surprised me when I realized it recently. (I thought it was state pride, but it's not. True Blue just tastes better.)

I miss the Key Bridge.

Baltimore Orioles is by God and Me Natalie Nannybo in 1975. God put in the Ravens too in 1980. There are Sports Fans that come in from New York.

Live there

Baltimore. We have Crabs!

Poe has house's everywhere

I love Old bay on my fried chicken

Baltimore has lot to offer. It's less safe now than in the past.

You really should have mentioned that there is an overwhelming homeless population. Like whole communities of homeless people. Also about the dangers of the squeegee boys and people who will come up to your car window trying to sell you drugs. My husband is from here and when I first went it was a lot of culture shock for me and I grew up and hour north from there.

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last time i was in baltimore inner harbor i enjoyed playing hopscotch ...over human feces inner harbor is dead...the shopping is dead in th water front and that multistorey mall is empty...i remeber inner harbor being full of people and shows but not any more...walt i hope you hit one attraction still worth going to and that is the rail road musem past the basball museum.

Baltimore is probably the only city in the US I actually want to visit, should money and work ever allow me to travel again.

I would rather walk around fells point than the inner harbor.

Sure seems like the National Aquarium and the New England Aquarium were designed by the same person/people

I would not go to the Lexington Market, it's not always safe and it's sometimes a not a great place to be safe..I used to work accross the street from there and there is a lot of drug dealing I saw out the window. I'd go closer to the stadium and find a better place like Cross Street market and Fells Point for good food. If anyone remembers chips and clips you know what I mean

What not to do is visit in the first place

I’ve never been to Baltimore or Maryland. I have never really heard of people visiting Baltimore or anywhere in Maryland in their US trip itinerary. Is it true to say that it’s relatively off the beaten track and not a popular destination for non-American tourists (and possibly even American tourists)?

Who has got the best package?

9:02.... as if Tuesday, January 30th, 2024, the aforementioned owner is gone from owning the Orioles. At least in 40% of the stakes currently.

Mark, you've been to London, I've seen it. Just pronounce Thames the same okay? It was kind of named after the OG one, K? And don't ever try and to compare DC with Baltimore, it's like comparing Edinburgh to Glasgow. 😊 Shouts to Federal Hill and the Outliers Museum. OMG, you called neighborhoods "districts" like the Hunger Games. Soz, not soz. 😂 I'm from Merlynn😂

17:50 17:5

Baltimore is my favorite 3rd world city