Baltimore Hotels

Casual, spontaneous and full of energy, Maryland's biggest city combines northern Yankee style with southern belle charm. Curved around a sheltered harbour are individual neighbourhoods of red-brick row houses, marble mansions, dockside warehouses and modern skyscrapers. These document its four centuries of history better than any book.

Lively street artists perform against the backdrop of the glass pyramid-topped National Aquarium in the Inner Harbor. Tear yourself away to explore the city's cultural centre of Mount Vernon, and check out painted window screens at the American Visionary Arts Museum, at the base of Federal Hill. Take a trip down pop culture’s memory lane at Geppi's Entertainment Museum. Wander the cobbled streets of quirky, eclectic Fell's Point and dip into the Historic Ships of Baltimore (formerly the Maritime Museum).

Get beyond the stereotype malls to the Village of Cross Keys – a collection of local independent shops at Roland Park. Pick up ship memorabilia at Fell's Point, or a 17th-century Chinese snuff bottle at Howard Street's Antique Row. Posh Mount Vernon satisfies a taste for couture design as well as vintage clothes and jewellery – as does the university district of Hampden, though in a more thrifty way.

Get your bearings in Federal Hill Park, from where you can see the whole layout of the city, or in April see what 80,000 tulips look like at Sherwood Gardens. Take a swim at Patterson Park's public pool or join in a volleyball game on Baltimore Beach. Water features a great deal in Baltimore, and the Inner Harbor is quay to all kinds of boat rides from dragon-shaped pedal boats to schooners.

The level of your brow is of no concern to Baltimoreans who may check out the opera one night and laugh their socks off at the Baltimore Comedy Factory the next. They can opt for Shakespeare, a symphony or visit the more off-beat multi-purpose arts centre, The Patterson, in trendy Canton. There's an African-American community theatre and umpteen bars with live music or comedy acts, and you'll be tripping over outdoor festivals during the summer.

Crabs rule Baltimore and crab houses abound, particularly in the Inner Harbor and Fell's Point areas. When you're ready to lay down your mallet and bib, stick a pin in a street map of Little Italy for great pasta. But don't stop there – Baltimore is known for its ethnic diversity and has cuisine to match, from Afghan to Thai.

Go and get a 360° view of the Inner Harbor from the 27th-floor of the World Trade Center, the world's tallest pentagonal building. Or you can make like Babe Ruth and feel the cheers in Orioles Park stadium while standing in the dugout on a tour.