Neighborhoods in Brief

Baltimore has always been a hardworking town, home to fiercely loyal Orioles fans, with close-knit neighborhoods and families. Below are some neighborhoods you may wish to visit, along with a few of the characteristics that make them unique.

Baltimore's Inner Harbor is the starting point for most visitors, the focal point of the town's turnaround in the late 1970s. Visitors can get a feel for the city's seafaring days through its attractions on the Inner Harbor, its harbor cruises, and even its water taxis.

The National Aquarium is filled with fish, sharks, and dolphins, and topped with a rainforest. The Maryland Science Center offers an IMAX theater and planetarium. Harborplace and the Gallery are shopping and dining extravaganzas that draw thousands every weekend.

Baltimore has become a destination for pleasure boaters, tall ships, and, more recently, high-tech racing sailboats. The Volvo Ocean Race sailors stopped here in 2002 and 2006.

Just past the Inner Harbor are some of Baltimore's oldest neighborhoods:

Little Italy has been home to Italian immigrants and their descendants since the mid-1800s, when they first opened the restaurants that continue to anchor the neighborhood. Some of the city's oldest buildings line the charming, narrow streets -- these survived the 1905 fire that destroyed downtown. Before or after dinner, take a walk to see the rowhouses and their famous marble steps, which dominate the Baltimore streetscape -- and notice the shrines with flowers and statues that grace windows here and there.

Harbor East, formerly an industrial area, now boasts the city's newest hotels and condos, some fine restaurants, and a branch of Whole Foods. Young adults moving to Baltimore want to live in this area, which is quite convenient to the other harborside neighborhoods.

Fells Point was Baltimore's original seaport and home to the first shipyards. Baltimore clippers, a swift and elegant topsail schooner, were made here. For many years, immigrants to the U.S. arrived in Fells Point and settled this area as well as the surrounding neighborhoods of Highlandtown and Canton.

Fells Point has long been known as a rowdy part of town. Restaurants and entertainment venues keep this neighborhood hopping all night. But don't miss the history: A maritime museum and walking tours bring the past (and a few ghosts) to life.

The Recreation Pier will be familiar to TV viewers as the site of police headquarters in the series Homicide.

Canton is one of Baltimore's newest hot spots. Long a working-class neighborhood, it was once home to families whose breadwinners worked at nearby factories, canneries, and breweries. Today, technology firms rent office space here, while families are moving in to rehab the old brick and Formstone rowhouses. O'Donnell Square is surrounded by bars and eateries, and the Can Company has transformed an abandoned can-making operation into a mixed-use space with offices, a few shops, and restaurants with outdoor patios.

All of the above neighborhoods are connected by a waterfront promenade as well as water taxis.

Mount Vernon, the blocks surrounding the Washington Monument (which, as Baltimoreans will remind you, pre-dates the one in D.C.), offers a collection of beautiful buildings from its heyday as the city's toniest neighborhood. It's home to the Walters Art Museum.

Northern Baltimore City is mostly residential, though Hampden and Mount Washington offer their own charms, with interesting shopping and some good restaurants. If you happen to be in town during December, visit Hampden's 34th Street to see how the neighbors dress up their rowhouses for the holidays; people come from all over the city to view the thousands of lights, model trains, and Santas. Mount Washington is a short Light Rail trip from downtown, a good side trip if the glitz of the Inner Harbor is too much for you. It's small, but offers a handful of fun eateries, as well as some nice shops and a pottery studio.