Must-see attractions in Maryland

  • Top Choice
    American Visionary Art Museum

    Housing a jaw-dropping collection of self-taught (or 'outsider' art), American Visionary Art Museum (AVAM) is a celebration of unbridled creativity…

  • Top Choice
    Evergreen Museum & Library

    Well worth the 7-mile drive north from the Inner Harbor, this grand 19th-century mansion provides a fascinating glimpse into upper-class Baltimore life of…

  • National Aquarium

    Standing seven stories high and capped by a glass pyramid, this is widely considered to be America's best aquarium, with almost 20,000 creatures from more…

  • Edgar Allan Poe's Gravesite

    Horror writer and poet, Edgar Allan Poe was buried (twice) on the grounds of Westminster Hall. His body was first deposited in an unmarked grave behind…

  • Top Choice
    Walters Art Museum

    The magnificent Chamber of Art & Wonders re-creates the library of an imagined 17th-century scholar, one with a taste for the exotic. The abutting Hall of…

  • Calvert Cliffs State Park

    In Southern Maryland, skinny Calvert County scratches at the Chesapeake Bay and the Patuxent River. This is a gentle landscape ('user-friendly' as a local…

  • Maryland State House

    The country's oldest state capitol in continuous legislative use, the grand 1772 State House also served as national capital from 1783 to 1784. Notably,…

  • National Great Blacks in Wax Museum

    This simple but thought-provoking African American history museum has exhibits spotlighting Frederick Douglass, Jackie Robinson, Dr Martin Luther King Jr…

  • Ocean City Life-Saving Station Museum

    This small but engaging museum sits inside an 1891 life-saving station at the southern end of the boardwalk. Here, the station keeper and six to eight …

  • Assateague Island National Seashore

    A low-key barrier island, Assateague is a place to relax. In the Maryland section of the national seashore, you can cycle along a 4-mile road, hike nature…

  • Historic St Mary's City

    In the 1600s, St Mary's City was a busy port and served as the state's first capital. Today, the spot is a living history museum romantically positioned…

  • Swallow Falls State Park

    One of the most rugged, spectacular parks in the state. Hickory and hemlock trees hug the Youghiogheny River, which cuts a white line through wet slate…

  • Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge

    The Atlantic Flyway is the main route birds take between northern and southern migratory trips, and the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge was…

  • Antietam National Battlefield

    The site of the bloodiest day in American history is now, ironically, supremely peaceful, quiet and haunting – and uncluttered, save for plaques and…

  • C&O Canal National Historic Park

    A marvel of engineering, the C&O Canal was designed to stretch alongside the Potomac River from the Chesapeake Bay to the Ohio River. Construction on the…

  • US Naval Academy

    The undergraduate college of the US Navy is one of the most selective universities in America. The Armel-Leftwich Visitor Center is the place to book 75…

  • Maryland Historical Society

    With more than 350,000 objects and seven million books and documents, this is among the world's largest collections of Americana. Highlights include one…

  • Assateague State Park

    The Maryland-run section of Assateague Island stretches for 2 miles along the coast and is tucked within the boundaries of the national seashore. Come…