My mom, brother, and I are going to Baltimore for the first time! Advice?

Question

My brother and I are teenagers. I'm a girl. We're going mainly for a baseball game, but we'll be there for four days and aren't sure what to do!! Would visiting DC be safe? Should we take trains? I'm really excited! I wanted to visit Hopkins but I heard it was in a bad neigborhood :(

Answer 1

First of all, the tourist areas in both Baltimore and Washington are quite safe.  

In Baltimore, the main tourist area is the Inner Harbor.  That's where the National Aquarium is located, plus many other attractions and shopping.  You can easily spend a day there.

In Washington, DC the main tourist area is the National Mall.  You can easily spend many days there visiting the many Smithsonian museums, going up the Washington Monument, and seeing the dozens of major sites.

The easiest way to get from Baltimore to Washington, DC is to take the train from Baltimore's Penn Station to Washington Union Station.  Both Amtrak and MARC provide regular train service between the two.  MARC is cheaper, but takes a bit longer and doesn't run on weekends.

Answer 2

Don't eat the Chinese food  

Answer 3

That neighborhood is pretty creepy, interesting to drive through, wouldn't recommend walking around in it though. The Baltimore Aquarium is a MUST visit if ya'll have the money for it! It's really neat! DC is always a cool place to visit, especially if you've never been. It's safe for the part you'd be visiting with all the museums and stuff. It's really confusing driving in DC if you've never done it before, or only done it once, like, really confusing. Like, have an accident confusing so I'd recommend taking the subway if you haven't driven down there more than a couple times. My beau and I usually get off the blue line at the Smithsonian, kinda puts ya right in the middle and close to the Washington Monument. Union Station is a good stop too. All kinds of food and shopping and what nots! Have fun!!! :)

Answer 4

the waterfront is great! full of restaurants, shops, boat rides, ships to see

Answer 5

Stay away from downtown area if you can.

Answer 6

The National Aquarium in Baltimore is a must see.  It's expensive (about $20 if I remember) but worth it.   Also, Fort McHenry is nice. These are both located in the Inner Harbor of Baltimore (Fort McHenry has water taxis).  The Inner Harbor area is safe area of Baltimore- a few blocks is the baseball stadium.The area surrounding Johns Hopkins isn't great and you don't see anything but the campus (maybe ok if you or your brother consider going to school there).  I heard a neighborhood over there isn't bad but I think they are just trying to make it nicer.  

Washington, DC is safe to visit.  You can easily drive there too if you have a car it's about 45 minutes.  DC has the Smithsonian Museums which are all free and most sit right on the mall downtown (not a shopping mall, a big area).  The monuments area also free.  So DC really isn't an expensive trip , just pay for food.  Parking on weekend usually is free on the street but some people hate street parking and just do garages.  Another option is to drive to one of the metro stations   and take the metro downtown.  

Answer 7

Some areas of DC are safe, some aren't. A few years back a streetcorner in one of the poorer areas was the murder capital of the US. Not sure if that's changed.