A quintessential beach town, Ocean City in Maryland boasts a century-old boardwalk lined with restaurants, shops, hotels, and amusement park rides. The wooden walkway welcomes joggers and bikers in the morning, beachgoers in the afternoons, and folks looking for dinner and a fun nightlife scene in the evenings. A tram transports you up and down the boards day and night.
Home to the Baltimore Orioles Major League Baseball (MLB) team since 1992, Oriole Park at Camden Yards is one of Baltimore’s major sporting venues. Situated in a historic former railyard right next to the Inner Harbor, Oriole Park was modeled after retro stadiums like Chicago’s Wrigley Field and Boston’s Fenway Park and is considered one of the league’s best.
Knights, horses, swords, and falcons: these are just some of the thrilling features of the action-packed and family-friendly Medieval Times Dinner and Tournament in Baltimore. Journey back to the 11th century to cheer for jousting knights as you take in the show as a guest of the King in his lavish castle.
Home to more than 1,500 well-preserved and restored buildings, Annapolis Historic District offers a glimpse into the Maryland capital’s rich heritage. Visitors can immerse themselves in the district’s past by wandering along cobblestone streets and admiring 18th-century architecture.
Established in 1845, the United States Naval Academy is the undergraduate college of the naval service and trains men and women to become officers in the Navy and Marines. Located along the Chesapeake Bay in the heart of Annapolis, it boasts a beautiful campus and chapel, in addition to the oldest naval museum in the country.
One of Baltimore’s top cultural destinations, the Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) was founded more than 100 years ago with just a single painting. Today, its sprawling collections encompass more than 97,000 works, including artworks and antiquities from cultures around the world. It also has 3 acres (1.2 hectares) of sculpture gardens and the most extensive collection of Matisse’s works on public view.
Located in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, the Port Discovery Children’s Museum is one of the best places in town for kids to play, explore, and get creative. Featuring a wide range of interactive play areas and immersive environments located across three floors, the family-oriented museum also offers a range of entertaining programming.
A must-see for fans of Jane Austen, this elegant public park—known as a “pleasure garden”—opened back in 1795 and encapsulates the Georgian style for which Bath is known. With tranquil paths and elegant views overlooking the Kennet and Avon Canal, it is easy to imagine Austen heroines like Anne Elliot or Catherine Morland having a stroll here.
A National Historic Landmark, the Maryland State House is an Annapolis gem—and a popular attraction for anyone interested in political history on a state or national level. The building is open to the public and guided tours let you learn about the legislative process and how the state house has featured prominently in the history of the United States.
One of Baltimore’s most historic, grand performance spaces, the Hippodrome Theatre was built over 100 years ago. Originally designed as a vaudeville theater and movie palace, the 3,000-seat venue gradually declined before being revived. Today, the theater is part of the France-Merrick Performing Arts Center and hosts touring Broadway shows, Cirque du Soleil, live comedy, and more.
Encompassing five historic buildings and 36,000 art objects, the Walters Art Museum began as an eclectic private collection donated to the city of Baltimore. It has grown into one of the city’s most impressive cultural institutions, featuring a permanent exhibit ranging from ancient Roman sarcophagi, illuminated Korans, Egyptian mummies, European landscape paintings, and a German Wunderkammer, or curiosity cabinet. Best of all, admission is always free.
The National Museum of Civil War Medicine (NMCWM) tells the story of America’s deadliest war from a medical perspective. Exhibitions provide insights into how Civil War-era advances in science, medical logistics, nursing, and civilian medical relief have left a lasting impact on modern medical care.
Baltimore is known for its offbeat attractions, and the American Visionary Art Museum is one of its most idiosyncratic. The museum specializes in showing the work of outsider artists, those who typically have had no formal art education and work outside the mainstream art world. The museum taps guest curators for all its shows.
Officially the William Preston Lane Jr. Memorial Bay Bridge, the Chesapeake Bay Bridge connects the Baltimore-Washington metro area with Maryland’s Eastern Shore. With two spans that stretch for 4.3 miles (6.9 kilometers), it’s a large and impressive bridge that can prove daunting for anyone scared of heights; it’s actually been ranked as one of the scariest bridges in the US.
After escaping slavery herself, abolitionist Harriet Tubman led dozens of enslaved people to freedom as a “conductor” on the Underground Railroad. Tubman's namesake park commemorates her legacy with a preserved landscape of marshlands, fields, and Chesapeake Bay-adjacent waterways that have remained unchanged since the 19th century.
Built in 1774, the Hammond-Harwood house is a National Historic Landmark, which is noted for its architecture and collection of fine and decorative arts. A visit to this Annapolis site also provides insights into the lives of the people who once built and lived in it.
Located in the Parole area of Annapolis, Annapolis Harbour Center is a popular shopping and lifestyle center. Spanning 292,000 square feet (27,128 square meters), you’ll find plenty to explore, including a variety of retail stores, specialty boutiques, lifestyle destinations, restaurants, markets, and a movie theater.
Located on Harness Creek Vineyards in south Annapolis, Great Frogs Winery is charmingly rustic. Featuring a converted tobacco barn tasting room, outdoor patio and lawn, and rolling vineyards, it produces a variety of wines using an artisanal approach from grapes grown on its own farms.
This scenic island off the coast of Maryland—where the Patuxent River meets the Chesapeake Bay—is home to fewer than 3,000 people and is a popular destination for Baltimore and Washington DC residents looking for a weekend escape. An expansive boardwalk, easy boat access, and plenty of fresh seafood restaurants make this an idyllic spot. Once a bustling oystering and shipbuilding center, Solomons maintains its maritime heritage.
One of Frederick’s most-loved attractions, Carroll Creek Park stretches 1.5 miles (two kilometers) through historic Downtown Frederick above the waters of Carroll Creek. The park is a prime spot for walking, shopping, dining, and enjoying public art and festivals.
An easy drive from Annapolis, Washington D.C., or Baltimore, this outlet shopping center promises savings of up to 65 percent on clothing, household supplies, accessories, and much more. Find big-name brands like Michael Kors, Under Armour, Coach, and Polo Ralph Lauren at discounted prices in a convenient outdoor complex in Maryland’s Eastern Shore.
Popular with locals, this 58-acre (23-hectare) community park in Frederick has bike paths, a lake, and multiple children’s playgrounds, among other recreational spots. Its most distinctive feature, though, is the granite tower with a 49-bell carillon inside, which you can hear during the weekly Sunday recital. Each Independence Day, the park also plays host to Frederick’s biggest celebrations.
The Kunta Kinte-Alex Haley Memorial in Annapolis serves as a reminder of the transatlantic slave trade in Maryland and is a tribute to African heritage in America. The memorial honors people who were enslaved, as well as their descendants, and carries a poignant message about reconciliation and honoring ancestral history.
Housed within a historic former oyster cannery, the Baltimore Museum of Industry is dedicated to the city's industrial history (and to the workers who powered that history). Featuring an array of permanent and temporary exhibitions—as well as weekend demonstrations of forges, Linotype machines, and other tools—the museum offers an interactive experience for visitors of all ages.
In the summer of 1864, toward the end of the Civil War, the Confederacy hatched a plan to capture Washington DC. At the Monocacy National Battlefields, visitors can learn how their defeat unfolded and see where the fiercest fighting took place. The site is also a national park, with nature to explore across 1,647 acres (667 hectares).
The Calvert Marine Museum explores regional paleontology, the local estuarine life, and the maritime history of the Chesapeake Bay area. Here, in the riverfront town of Solomons, Maryland, visitors can learn about coastal species such as skates, otters, and rays via an outdoor habitat. The main draw is the historic Drum Point Lighthouse—a screwpile, cottage-type lighthouse that’s one of only three remaining from the 45 that once served the bay.
The Smithsonian-affiliated Annmarie Sculpture Garden & Arts Center is the perfect meditative blend of natural forest, manicured landscape, and human-sculpted abstract art. Set in a leafy peninsular nook between the Patuxent River and the Chesapeake Bay, the 30-acre (12-hectare) center contains dozens of permanent fixtures as well as installations on loan from the National Gallery of Art and the Smithsonian Institution.
One of Frederick’s most eye-catching landmarks, this downtown church was constructed in a Gothic Revival style back in 1854, and was founded over a century earlier, in 1738. Today, the Evangelical Lutheran Church is still an active site of worship, and also presents organ concerts and other events.
The Frederick Heritage Society has been documenting the town’s history for well over a century. At the Museum of Frederick County History, visitors can learn more about the picturesque, colonial-era Maryland town through multiple temporary exhibits. Shows focus on everything from local artists (including America’s first Black portrait artist), the county’s traditional decorative arts, and the Maryland families who helped shape generations of Frederick history.
Spanning 184 miles (297 kilometers) from Washington DC through Virginia and Maryland, the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park was created in 1961 as a way to preserve the once-bustling Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. Active from 1831 to 1924, the canal was a major industrial route used to transport coal and timber.
