Things to Do in Baltimore, United States: Walking Guide

Baltimore is a city of harbor history, distinctive architecture, art museums and literary associations. From historic naval vessels in the Inner Harbor to Edgar Allan Poe’s former home and the galleries of Mount Vernon, there are plenty of places to visit in Baltimore on foot. Neywo offers a free audio guide for Baltimore with 168 narrated places, so you can explore the city while its stories play as you arrive.

What to See in Baltimore

Historic ships in the Inner Harbor

Baltimore’s Inner Harbor is home to an exceptional group of preserved vessels. The USS Constellation is the last sail-only warship designed and built by the United States Navy, and the last intact naval vessel from the Civil War era still afloat. Built between 1853 and 1855, it later served with the Africa Squadron, patrolling the West African coast to intercept slave ships, before returning to the Mediterranean during the Civil War.

The USCGC Taney is the last warship still afloat that fired back at Pearl Harbor. Launched in 1936 as a Treasury-class cutter, it served in the Pacific and Atlantic during the Second World War, later taking part in Operation Market Time off Vietnam and in drug interdiction and fisheries patrols.

The USS Torsk is a genuine Second World War submarine. Commissioned in December 1944, it made two war patrols off Japan in 1945 and sank one cargo vessel and two coastal defense frigates. The second frigate, sunk on August 14, 1945, was the last enemy ship sunk by the United States Navy during the war.

The United States lightship Chesapeake preserves the history of a maritime navigation station that has operated since 1820. The ship was built with duplicate systems, including two anchors, backup lamps and a secondary radio locator beacon, because remaining on station during violent storms was essential to its crew.

The NS Savannah represents a very different chapter in maritime history. Launched on July 21, 1959, it was the first nuclear-powered merchant vessel ever built. Designed to carry cargo and passengers, it entered service in 1962 and sailed for a decade as one of only four nuclear-powered cargo ships ever built.

Fort McHenry and the Armistead Monument

Fort McHenry is associated with the bombardment that inspired “The Star-Spangled Banner.” The Armistead Monument honors Colonel George Armistead, the commander who held the fort during the attack of 1814. Dedicated on September 12, 1914, its bronze figure was created by Edward Berge.

The monument is one of two memorials connected with the battle. Nearby, Orpheus with the Awkward Foot, also called the Francis Scott Key Monument, commemorates the poem written by Key while watching the bombardment from a ship in the harbor.

The Walters Art Museum

In the historic Mount Vernon neighborhood, the Walters Art Museum brings together collections assembled by two generations of the Walters family. William Thompson Walters collected modern European paintings and Asian art, while his son Henry expanded the collection to include ancient, medieval and Renaissance works. Henry later left the collection to Baltimore, and the museum opened to the public in 1934.

The original building dates from 1909 and was designed as an Italian palazzo. A later Centre Street Annex connects to it by a glass-enclosed bridge, creating a contrast between historic architecture and modern design. The museum’s ancient art galleries include one of its best-known pieces, the mummy of a young woman.

Baltimore Museum of Art

The Baltimore Museum of Art stands beside the Johns Hopkins University campus in a neoclassical building designed by John Russell Pope in the 1920s. Its landscaped gardens, filled with twentieth-century sculpture, extend the visit outdoors.

The collection contains 95,000 objects from cultures around the world. The museum is particularly known for holding more than 1,000 works by Henri Matisse—the largest public collection of his art anywhere—as well as African art, ancient Antioch mosaics, Asian works, textiles, European and American painting, sculpture and contemporary art.

The Peale Museum

The Peale Museum occupies the first building in the Americas designed and constructed specifically as a museum. Rembrandt Peale opened it in 1814, displaying art, natural-history specimens and scientific curiosities.

The building later served as Baltimore’s City Hall and became one of the first grammar schools and the city’s first high school for African-American students. After a renovation completed in 2022, it reopened in 2017 as a community museum and cultural space.

Edgar Allan Poe House and Museum

The Edgar Allan Poe House and Museum is a modest brick rowhouse on North Amity Street, where Poe moved in 1833 at the age of twenty-three. He lived there with his aunt Maria Clemm, his grandmother and his cousin Virginia.

The narrow rooms, low ceilings and steep wooden staircase reveal how compact the house was. A small attic room is often identified as Poe’s sleeping and writing quarters. During his time there, he is believed to have written early works including “Berenice,” “Morella,” “The Strange Adventure of Hans Pfaall” and “The Coliseum.”

Baltimore’s Jewish heritage

The Lloyd Street Synagogue was the first synagogue building erected in Maryland and the fifth oldest still standing in the United States. Built in the Greek Revival style, it first served a Reform congregation and later an Orthodox one. It now belongs to the Jewish Museum of Maryland and is open to the public as a museum.

Nearby, Chizuk Amuno Synagogue, also known as B’nai Israel Synagogue, is one of the oldest synagogue buildings still standing in the United States. Located in the historic Jonestown neighborhood, it was recognized as a Baltimore City Landmark in 1977 and added to the National Register of Historic Places the following year.

The Business and Government Historic District

The Business and Government Historic District forms the civic center of Baltimore and includes the core of municipal government and the eastern edge of the old commercial downtown. Its focal point is War Memorial Plaza, framed by Baltimore City Hall and the War Memorial building.

The district also contains the Battle Monument, an Egyptian Revival memorial to the defense of Baltimore during the War of 1812. City Hall and the Battle Monument are individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places, while the wider district forms part of the Baltimore National Heritage Area.

Emerson Bromo-Seltzer Tower

The Emerson Bromo-Seltzer Tower is one of downtown Baltimore’s most recognizable landmarks. Completed in 1911, the fifteen-story tower was inspired by the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence and was once the tallest building in Baltimore.

Its four clock faces are each twenty-four feet across. Instead of Roman numerals, their translucent letters spell “BROMO SELTZER” around the dials. The clock mechanism, designed by Seth Thomas, is the world’s largest four-dial gravity-driven non-chiming clock.

Sydenham Hospital for Communicable Diseases

The former Sydenham Hospital for Communicable Diseases offers a glimpse into public health before antibiotics. Built between 1922 and 1924, the campus was designed by Edward Hughes Glidden in the Italian Renaissance Revival style. It once included a hospital, administration building, kitchen, nurses’ home, laundry, garage and powerhouse.

The site was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1998. The main hospital building was demolished in 2013, while patient records are preserved at the National Library of Medicine.

Explore Baltimore with Neywo

For a Baltimore self-guided walking tour, download Neywo and choose the route that suits your day. The app includes six walking tours, one bus route and one bike route:

• Six walking tours, ranging from 1.78 to 3.64 km and from 73 to 113 minutes, with between 6 and 12 narrated stops each.
• One bus route, 5.7 km and 24 minutes, with 6 stops.
• One bike route, 3.8 km and 19 minutes, with 6 stops.

Routes cover the Inner Harbor’s warships and lighthouses, Mount Vernon’s monuments and churches, Poe’s Baltimore, Old Jonestown’s synagogues and historic landmarks, Bolton Hill, Station North, Charles Village and Homewood. Neywo’s narration is available in 11 languages. Each story plays as you reach the place, at your own pace: no group, no schedule.

Baltimore is part of Maryland in the United States. Download Neywo’s free audio guide and explore the city’s ships, museums, monuments and neighborhoods one story at a time.