Baltimore

Thanks to TV’s potent The Wire, BALTIMORE has a reputation as a city in deep decline, its glory days of port industry distant, and rife with criminals fighting desperate wars of survival. While it’s true that there are crime-ridden places in town worth avoiding, Baltimore is still among the more enjoyable stops on the East Coast, and its closely knit neighbourhoods and historic quarters provide an engaging backdrop to many diverse attractions, especially those along its celebrated waterfront. The city, home to everyone from writers Edgar Allan Poe and H.L. Mencken to civil rights icons Frederick Douglass and Thurgood Marshall, also boasts top-rated museums, which cover everything from fine arts to black history and urban archeology.