Understand
You can visit Baltimore without visiting Midtown, but you will be missing out. Midtown is arguably Baltimore's most beautiful section of town, having housed the city's wealthy and fashionable starting centuries ago. The Mount Vernon neighborhood, especially Mount Vernon Square, is the principal destination for visitors, as it is the lovely setting for the city's Washington Monument, predating the larger obelisk in D.C., as well as the Walters Art Museum and Contemporary Art Museum.
Just north of Mount Vernon is what has become known as Baltimore's Station North Arts District, often known simply as Charles North, which is simply put, the hippest part of town. Great restaurants, great bars and clubs both sophisticated and offbeat, tons of local artists including those at the eccentric Maryland Institute College of the Arts, as well as the prestigious Peabody School of Music, the Lyric Opera House, art galleries, and the beloved art-house film Charles Theatre. This area is also home to Penn Station and the light rail cuts right through it, so you don't have much of an excuse to skip a trip here!
Bolton Hill, to the northwest of Howard St and Martin Luther King Blvd, has far less as far as tourist sights go, but is an absolutely beautiful place for a stroll or driveâstately tall nineteenth century rowhouses and mansions, gilded statues, huge old churches, and so on. It sports a couple nice restaurants as well, and a few houses not open for visitors of famous former residents such as F Scott Fitzgerald.
