How to Spend a Day at Baltimore's Inner Harbor

Part of the rejuvenated downtown area that includes a new professional football stadium and Camden Yards, Baltimore’s Inner Harbor is the starting destination for several Chesapeake Bay excursions, including a dinner cruise. There are docked submarines and ships to tour, a lighthouse to visit, and the harbor is home to the National Aquarium. There are also several choices for shopping and dining.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Map of Baltimore
• Good walking shoes
• Sunscreen
• Camera

1. Make hotel reservations at any one of several harbor area hotels. Prices vary from the affordable to the extravagant. Plan, however, to avoid the winter months. Bay weather is cold and unpredictable.

2. Make dinner reservations early with one of the dining cruises based at the harbor. Maryland is famous for blue crab and the Chesapeake Bay has the shellfish in abundance.

3. Fly into Baltimore Washington International Airport and travel north on I-195. Using the Baltimore map as a guide, access I-95 north toward the city. From I-95, take the I-395 exit north to downtown Baltimore. Interstate 395 ends at South Howard Street. Proceed north and turn right on West Pratt. Pratt crosses the Inner Harbor area. Locate the National Aquarium on the right and find parking.

4. Visit the Seven Knolls Lighthouse. Once positioned strategically at the confluence of the Patapsco Inlet and the Chesapeake Bay, Seven Knolls is a stilted lighthouse of circular design. It was hauled to shore several years ago, placed at the Inner Harbor, and is now open daily to visitors. One can’t miss the vibrant red color.

5. Tour the Chesapeake Lightship. This mobile lighthouse served the ships that navigated the bay for several years during the last century. Before unmanned lighthouses became the norm, this ship constituted the next generation in lighthouses.

6. Visit the National Aquarium. Though the neighboring city of Washington has a national aquarium, sadly its display of assorted fish tanks in the basement of the Reagan building leaves a lot to be desired. Baltimore proudly boasts a National Aquarium that has an impressive display of mantas, sharks and turtles, along with other fabulous creatures of the deep. The aquarium is not a commercial enterprise, so don’t expect to see baby orcas and dolphins performing for sardines.

7. Stroll and shop along the harbor, where docks are connected by walking bridges and a skyway connects the harbor with the Gallery: Baltimore’s premiere place to shop and be seen.

Resources

• Official Baltimore Website