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Midtown is a district of Baltimore.

[edit] Understand

• Mount Vernon Cultural District, [1].

[edit] Get in

[edit] By public transit

The best way of getting in and out of Midtown, particularly if you are coming from or going to the Inner Harbor, is by the light rail. The Centre Street and Cultural Center stops are just outside the Mt Vernon neighborhood. The Mt Royal stop is in Bolton Hill, and is within walking distance to Penn Station.

The metro stop here is State Center.

Numerous buses connect to the rest of Baltimore throughout Midtown, and some of them may be more convenient than the light rail, if you know exactly where you want to disembark and where you're coming from. Route maps are printed at every light rail stop.

[edit] By train

Baltimore Penn Station, serving MARC and Amtrak, is just north of the Midtown area. From there you can walk to a light rail station and take that south or just walk down Charles St.

[edit] By car

Midtown is accessible by car from I-83.

[edit] On foot

Midtown is about a half hour walk north from Inner Harbor.

[edit][add listing] See

• Washington Monument, Intersection of Monument Pl and Mt Vernon Pl (four blocks east of Centre St light rail stop). At the turn of the 19th century Baltimorians lobbied for a monument dedicated to the United States' first president, and in 1829 Washington's first monument finished construction. It was designed by architect Robert Mills who later went on to design that other Washington Monument in D.C. It is now a focal point in the Mt. Vernon neighborhood.  edit
• The Walters Art Museum, 600 N Charles Street (cross street Centre St, three blocks east of Centre St light rail stop), ☎ +1 410 547 9000, [2]. W-Su 10AM-5PM, M-Tu closed. An excellent museum donated to the city by father-and-son railroad tycoons William and Henry Walter, fervent collectors who purchased much of its massive and diverse collection as well as the buildings that host it. It is best known for its collection of 19th century European masterpieces. Be sure to enter or exit from its Charles Street entrance, where you'll pass through a magnificent indoor courtyard modeled after the Palazzo Baldi in Genoa. Free.  edit
  • Hackerman House, W Mt Vernon Place (kitty-corner from the Washington Monument, accessible from the Walters Art Museum). Sa-Su 10AM-5PM, M-F closed. An elegant late-classical-era home built in 1850, it was donated to the city of Baltimore by its last owners, Willard and Lillian Hackerman, in 1984. The city renamed the house in their honor and took advantage of its location to expand the adjacent Walters Art Museum. It now hosts the Walters' collection of Asian Art, but is open only on the weekend, and can only be accessed from within the museum. From the front rooms on the third floors you can sneak a bird's-eye view of the monument plaza.  edit

[edit][add listing] Do

• Maryland Film Festival, ☎ +1 410 752 8083, [3]. Takes place during May of each year, three days of film screenings in the Midtown/Belvedere and Charles North neighborhoods.  edit

• Artscape, Mount Royal Avenue and Cathedral Street to Charles Street, [4]. The largest free public arts festival in America, over 350,000 visitors spend three days in the Midtown and Bolton Hill neighborhoods to take in arts and crafts, live concerts, performing arts, and much more. Takes place during one weekend every July.  edit

• Baltimore Book Festival, Mt Vernon Place (at the Washington Monument), ☎ +1 410 752 8632, [5]. Over a three day weekend in September, meet over 200 authors.  edit

[edit] Performances

• Baltimore Symphony Orchestra at Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, 1212 Cathedral St (cross street W Preston Street, two blocks from Cultural Center light rail station), ☎ +1 410 783 8000, [6].  edit
• CenterStage, 700 N Calvert Street (between W Monument and W Madison Streets, Mt. Vernon neighborhood), ☎ +1 410 332 0033, [7].  edit
• Lyric Opera House, 140 W Mount Royal Avenue (cross street Cathedral St, one block south of Mt Royal light rail station and three blocks from MARC Penn Station), ☎ +1 410 547 7328, [8].  edit
• Theatre Project, 45 West Preston Street, ☎ +1 410 752 8558, [9].  edit

[edit][add listing] Buy

[edit][add listing] Eat

• Helmand, 806 N Charles St, ☎ +1 410 752-0311, [10]. Su-Th 5PM-10PM, F-Sa 5PM-11PM. The city papers love it, the locals love it, even the Karzai family loves it—this truly may be Baltimore's favorite restaurant. The decor is urbane and fairly upscale, but it's fine to wear jeans. The food, despite the restaurant's popularity, is remarkably well-priced. Focus on the appetizers; it's not a bad idea to order a bunch of them, and only one entree to share. Aushak is a specialty here, but if you haven't had kaddo (sauteed pumpkin with a garlic yogurt sauce), order it. $12-22.  edit

• Red Square Restaurant, 1023 N Charles St, ☎ +1 410 837-7733, [11]. Su-Th 4PM-midnight, F-Sa 4PM-2AM. An excellent Russian restaurant, and an experience to be had if you are not familiar with Russian culture. The food is pricey, but it's hard to go wrong here, from mundane Russian pelmeni, to Georgian shashlik (wonderfully seasoned at this restaurant), to Uzbek chebureki. The restaurant is generally empty from opening to late dinner, but late at night it fills to the brim with the local Russian community, coming here for a raucous night of boozing and dancing to (um, heinous) Russki pop-sa and assorted Eurodance. Not a good time to eat, but a very fun and unique experience for the uninitiated! For drinks, try a Russian Baltika (beer), Russkii Standart (Russian Standard; vodka), Georgian wine (Khvanchkara is the best option), or just bother them for not carrying Armenian brandy. $15-30.  edit

[edit][add listing] Drink

• Donna's, 800 N Charles St, [12]. Baltimore coffee house chain.  edit
• Red Emma's, 800 St. Paul St (near Spotlighter's Theater and CenterStage), [13]. Bookstore and coffee shop. Run by an anarchist collective, this coffeehouse features lots of radical literature and vegan menu options.  edit
• Grand Central, 1001/1003 N Charles St (cross street E Eager St), ☎ +1 410 752 7133, [14]. Mt Vernon pub catering to the GLBT community, and winner of the "Best Gay Bar" award from Baltimore City Paper since 2004.  edit
• The Hippo, 1 W Eager St (cross street N Charles St), ☎ +1 410 547 0069, [15]. Another highly regarded gay bar in the Mt Vernon neighborhood.  edit

[edit][add listing] Sleep

[edit] Mid-range

• Clarion Hotel - Peabody Court, 612 Cathedral St, ☎ +1 410 727-7101, [16]. Located in the historic Mt Vernon Arts and Cultural District. Cultural and historic venues such as Meyeroff Symphony Hall, The Lyric, the Engineers Society of Baltimore, Walters Art Museum, Peabody Conservatory, Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore Opera, Center Stage, Maryland Historical Society and Antique Row are just steps from the front door.  edit

• The Mount Vernon Hotel, 24 West Franklin Street, ☎ +1 410 727-2000, [17]. Historic architecture just south of the monument. Open since 1907.  edit

[edit] Contact

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