Baltimore

Baltimore's number one destination for visitors has its share of overpriced tourist-trap bars and restaurants, sure — but also a bevy of excellent museums, hotels, and the magnificent National Aquarium.

Fells Point could not be more complementary to the Inner Harbor — great pubs, nightlife, and restaurants (especially in tiny but very authentic Little Italy) in the 19th-century period milieu of Maryland's first dedicated historic district.

An incongruous mix of Baltimore's central business district, the University of Maryland campus, the awe-inspiring Lexington Market, the infamously seedy "Block," a host of jewelry shops specializing in grillz, and charming Seton Hill, an area rich in religious, architectural and African-American history.

One of the nicest sections of the city, home to the performing arts district, Penn Station, and a host of other attractions (Walters Art Museum, the original Washington Monument, dining and wining on Charles Street, etc.) that most visitors foolishly pass over.

Industrial blue-collar South Baltimore is dying, and is quickly being replaced with upscale gentrified neighborhoods like Federal Hill. That's not so bad from a traveler's perspective — some of the city's best restaurants and bars have sprung forth in these newly booming areas.

Most visitors to the area know only Johns Hopkins University and the always interesting commercial strip along Charles Street nearby. But it is unfortunate that they overlook the quirkiest of quirky neighborhoods, Hampden.

A heavily industrialized section of the city, home to several very enjoyable Polish, Irish, and Greek ethnic enclaves and some other surprises. Cantonites will place their neighborhood up against Federal Hill in the gentrification derby.

Infamous West Baltimore. If you have watched The Wire, this was where the crime was taking place! But don't be fooled. There are some major tourist draws here, like the Maryland Zoo in Druid Hill Park, Pimlico Racecourse, and Edgar Allan Poe's house. And the endless old Baltimore rowhouses, no matter how rundown, remain beautiful throughout.

Baltimore's great rivalry between east and west is certainly an example of the narcissism of small differences. Attractions in the east are very few and far between, but things are changing fast as booming Johns Hopkins Medical Campus expands (and demolishes) in its wake.