Historical Sailors’ Boardinghouse with Modern Updates

With its traditional pubs, cobblestone streets, and old buildings clustered along the waterfront, the Fell’s Point neighborhood in Baltimore looks almost unchanged since the 19th century. This is where you’ll find the red-brick Admiral Fell Inn, which dates back to the 1770s. Parts of the inn’s multibuilding complex have served at various points as a ship’s chandlery, a theater, and a seamen’s YMCA. Inside the lobby, broad wooden slats stretch out before a crackling fire surrounded by high-backed chairs and sprawling couches.

Individually decorated guest rooms feature classic decor and cherry-wood accents. Each room has a different view, whether of Fell’s Point Square, an inner courtyard, or tugboats chugging through the harbor. Just off the lobby, Tapas Adela serves Spanish and South American small plates, complemented by an extensive wine list. Drop by the Tavern at the Admiral to enjoy a cocktail or local brew in a bar that’s been slinging suds since the 18th century.

Baltimore, Maryland: World-Class Museums and Historic Waterfront Neighborhoods

Baltimore’s Inner Harbor—a busy port that was redeveloped as a tourism district in the mid-20th century—has become one of the city’s best-known and most beloved landmarks. Water taxis ferry visitors from one historic, cultural, or family-friendly attraction to another. Sites along the routes include the star-shaped Fort McHenry (where US forces repelled the British during the War of 1812, inspiring Francis Scott Key to write “The Star-Spangled Banner”) and restaurants where you can sample the city’s famous crab cakes.

You’ll find several unique museums here, too, from the National Aquarium—which houses more than 16,000 sea creatures in realistic habitats—to the wonderfully oddball American Visionary Art Museum, one of the country’s leading institutions for outsider art. For a stunning view of the skyline, the Inner Harbor, and Chesapeake Bay, head up to the 27th floor of the Baltimore World Trade Center, where you can see the city from 360 degrees at the observation deck.

Baltimore is made up of many little neighborhoods, each with its own personality. Mount Vernon, one of the oldest, has been a fashionable part of town since one of the country’s first monuments to George Washington was built here in 1829. Today, the neighborhood’s elegant 19th-century townhouses share space with The Walters Art Museum and the Lyric Opera House. In Fell’s Point, lively taverns and restaurants line the cobblestone streets of this waterfront district that was a pit stop for sailors in the 1700s.

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