The city's newest museum, designated by Congress as "America's official National Museum, Repository, and Education Center for the Best in original, self-taught artistry," is the American Visionary Art Museum , 800 Key Hwy (Tues-Sun 10am-6pm; $6; ), which holds an array of creatively displayed art handcrafted from everyday objects such as sand and stone; there's also a good organic café on site.

The B&O Railroad Museum , housed in an 1830 passenger station at 901 W Pratt St, just under a mile west of the Inner Harbor (daily 10am-5pm; $6.50), commemorates the first large-scale railroad in the US, founded in 1827. It holds dozens of ornate carriages, including some wacky parasol-covered early models, and row upon row of locomotives, from steam engines to sleek 1940s diesels.

Perhaps Baltimore's most unusual museum is about a mile northeast of the center, in an old fire station off Broadway at 1601 E North Ave. The Great Blacks in Wax Museum (mid-Jan to mid-Oct Tues-Sat 9am-6pm, Sun noon-6pm; mid-Oct to mid-Jan Tues-Sat 9am-5pm, Sun noon-5pm; $6) uses wax models to illustrate black history, from Egyptian pharaohs and early Muslims through to Dr Martin Luther King Jr, Marcus Garvey and Malcolm X. The models are posed in prop-filled dioramas - Rosa Parks being dragged off a Montgomery bus, for example, stands across from a pair of Jim Crow-era drinking fountains, a spotless enamel one labeled "Whites Only" and a rusty spigot for "Colored People." Upstairs, figures in the Maryland Room include Baltimore-born ragtime piano player and composer Eubie Blake, and blues diva Billie Holiday, who was born and raised on Dallas Street just around the corner.

Further out on the north side, at the top of Charles Street, two miles from downtown are the pseudoclassical modern galleries of the Baltimore Museum of Art (Wed-Fri 11am-5pm, Sat & Sun 11am-6pm; $6, free on first Thurs of the month; ). As well as great Italian and Dutch works by Botticelli, Raphael, Rembrandt and Van Dyck, an overview of contemporary art spotlights Gilbert and George's Hellish self-portrait. One gallery in the West Wing is devoted to Warhol, while the American Wing holds furniture and decorative arts, as well as paintings. The highlight is the Cone Collection of works by Delacroix, Degas, Cézanne and Picasso, with over a hundred drawings and paintings by Henri Matisse.

A short walk south of the Inner Harbor, the predominantly residential Federal Hill District is a great place to escape from the crowds. Lined with interesting shops, its main thoroughfare, Light Street, leads to the indoor Cross Street Market , which, though smaller than its downtown counterpart, is considerably more welcoming, and boasts some excellent delis, seafood bars and fruit stalls. Federal Hill Park in the northeast is a quiet public space with fine views over the harbor and the downtown cityscape - in the summer months, it's a popular spot for sunset canoodling.

As part of the city's regeneration, the decrepit fish market across from the Harbor at 35 Market Place was relaunched as the gleaming Port Discovery (summer daily 10am-6pm, Sept-May Tues-Sat 10am-5pm, Sun noon-5pm; $11; ), an interactive children's museum packed to the ceiling with hands-on exhibits and - surprisingly - fun for visitors of all ages. You can even treat yourself to a bird's-eye view from the HiFlyer , a tethered helium balloon (summer Sun-Wed 10am-10pm, Thurs-Sat 10am-midnight; Sept-Oct & April-May Sun-Wed noon-8pm, Thurs-Sat noon-midnight; Nov-Mar Sat & Sun noon-8pm; $12, $15 after 8pm).

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