Pittsburgh travel guide
Where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Things to do in Pittsburgh, planned over three days
Best time to visit Pittsburgh
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Winter, cold and grey and cheap, museums and Phipps become the trip, mid January to February is the worst stretch.
Spring, volatile in March then greening fast, May is a best month with everything open and summer crowds not yet arrived.
Summer, peak events and humid with afternoon storms, kayak and rafting open and hotel prices peak on festival weekends.
Fall, locals' favourite, warm drier September and October colour, best window is mid September to late October.
November cools and greys quickly but adds Light Up Night before winter rates drop.
What's on
- Light Up Night mid/late November
The season kickoff with tree lightings and fireworks downtown.
- People's Gas Holiday Market through the holidays
Holiday market in Market Square with the PPG Place ice rink nearby.
- Pittsburgh Marathon early May
A beloved citywide race weekend, book hotels ahead or avoid.
- Dollar Bank Three Rivers Arts Festival early June
Free downtown arts festival, a major summer draw.
- Picklesburgh mid July
The pickle festival on the downtown bridges, a multi year national food festival winner.
- Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix July, ten days
Vintage racing through Schenley Park, one of the only street circuit vintage races in the US.
- Anthrocon early July
Large summer convention weekend that fills downtown hotels.
- Pittsburgh International Jazz Festival mid September
Mid September festival honouring the Hill District's jazz legacy.
- Great Race late September
A late September 10K if a running weekend appeals.
Worth the trip for
Best things to do in Pittsburgh
Duquesne Incline
Ride the 1877 incline for the classic skyline and three rivers view, best done in daylight and again after dark.
Randyland
A free, joyful corner of painted houses, mirrors and salvaged signs by artist Randy Gilson, unlike anywhere else.
Cathedral of Learning Nationality Rooms
Some 30 classrooms each designed in a different national heritage style inside Pitt's Gothic tower, for a small fee.
Strip District
Pittsburgh's market district of Italian grocers, Polish delis and street vendors, best grazed on a Saturday morning.
Heinz History Center
Six floors on steel, glass, Mister Rogers and sport that make sense of the city you have just eaten through.
The Andy Warhol Museum
Seven floors for Pittsburgh's most famous son, the largest single artist museum in North America.
Carnegie Museum of Art
A serious art collection plus the grand Hall of Architecture, sharing one ticket with the natural history museum.
Carnegie Museum of Natural History
Dinosaurs in Their Time and the Hillman Hall of Gems in one of the finest natural history collections in the US.
Where to stay in Pittsburgh
Downtown / Cultural District
first trip, all-round base
The Golden Triangle between the rivers, theatres, Market Square and free light rail to the stadiums.
North Shore
sports fans
Across the Clemente Bridge from downtown, by both stadiums, the Warhol and the Aviary, thin on restaurants.
Strip District
foodies
Sleep where Saturday morning happens, markets and roasters a flat walk from downtown, few hotels so book early.
Lawrenceville
second trip, nightlife and food
Butler Street restaurants, breweries and bars in a walkable former mill neighbourhood, almost no full service hotels.
Shadyside / East Liberty
leafy, local, upscale stay
Walnut Street shops and cafes plus Bakery Square, a busway ride to downtown and Oakland, good for couples.
Oakland
university and hospital trips
Pitt, Carnegie Mellon, the museums and Phipps, but a bus ride from downtown dining and nightlife.
Think twice about
- Cheap whole-house rentals in the far East End (Homewood, East Hills, Larimer, Wilkinsburg)
Long bus rides to everything, few restaurants or visitor services, and higher crime than the visitor core. The savings rarely make sense.
Best restaurants in Pittsburgh
Altius
Contemporary fine dining on Grandview Avenue where the food matches the skyline view through the glass.
One by Spork
A small chef's counter with one evolving seasonal tasting menu, the most ambitious cooking in the city.
Morcilla
Justin Severino's wood fired Spanish room on Butler Street, pintxos and large plates in a loud happy room.
Apteka
All vegan Polish cooking, pierogi and zurek, that meat eaters queue for, plus natural wine.
Fet-Fisk
A Scandinavian leaning seafood room with a raw bar and whole fish, small and much praised, so reserve.
Pusadee's Garden
Regional Thai cooking in a renovated house and garden on Butler Street, beautiful and properly hot.
DiAnoia's Eatery
Handmade pastas and a cult gnocchi bread bowl in the Strip, useful for breakfast, lunch or dinner.
Primanti Bros. Restaurant and Bar
The original 1933 Primanti's, fries and slaw inside thick Italian bread, judged best only at this source.
Outdoor things to do in Pittsburgh
Three Rivers Heritage Trail
Some 30 miles of free riverfront trail looping Downtown, the North Shore and the South Side by bike or on foot.
Frick Park
Pittsburgh's largest city park, with wooded ravine trails and a dedicated mountain bike network, free.
Kayak Pittsburgh Downtown
Rent a kayak downtown in season and paddle under the Three Sisters bridges to the Point and back.
Bob O'Connor Golf Course at Schenley Park
The only golf course inside city limits, a short hilly walkable layout in Schenley Park since the 1890s.
Quicksilver Golf Club
A tour tested public layout through rolling farmland west of the city, the serious public round near town.
Olde Stonewall Golf Club
Dramatic quarry and ridge golf with limestone walls and a castle clubhouse, the premium public round in the region.
Mystic Rock Golf Course
A former PGA Tour host Pete Dye course at Nemacolin, among Pennsylvania's top public access courses.
Shepherd's Rock Golf Course
One of Pete Dye's final designs at Nemacolin in the Laurel Highlands, best as part of an overnight stay.
Best hotels in Pittsburgh
Fairmont Pittsburgh
The city's modern luxury benchmark, a glass tower at Three PNC Plaza in the Golden Triangle.
Omni William Penn Hotel
The grand 1916 hotel with a huge lobby and speakeasy bar, the classic special occasion stay.
Kimpton Hotel Monaco Pittsburgh
Boutique luxury in a 1903 Beaux Arts building with a rooftop biergarten.
Drury Plaza Hotel Pittsburgh Downtown
The mid range value play downtown, with generous included breakfast and evening perks.
The Industrialist Hotel, Autograph Collection
A design forward boutique in a landmark tower, a step below the big three on price.
Hampton Inn & Suites Pittsburgh-Downtown
Budget workhorse at the Strip edge, with free parking, a rare downtown perk.
Homewood Suites by Hilton Pittsburgh Downtown
Dependable chain value in the central core when rates dip, book the address not the brand.
Hilton Garden Inn Pittsburgh Downtown
Dependable chain value in the central core, a central base for theatres and Market Square.
Is Pittsburgh expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | $95 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | $185 a person |
| Splurge | $400 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens: a few days ahead
- Acrisure Stadium: weeks ahead
- Mystic Rock Golf Course: weeks ahead
- Shepherd's Rock Golf Course: weeks ahead
- Ohiopyle State Park: a few days ahead
- Fallingwater: weeks ahead
- Kentuck Knob: weeks ahead
- Altius: a few days ahead
- Fallingwater tours sell out weeks ahead, the hardest ticket of the trip. Book it before anything else.
- Reserve One by Spork, Altius sunset slots, Fet-Fisk and Apteka weekends with your flights.
- Steelers weekends, the Marathon and university weekends push hotels sharply, book 60 to 90 days out.
Is Pittsburgh safe?
- The visitor core is busy and walked by locals, property crime and car break ins are the main risk, leave nothing visible in a car.
- Expect visible homelessness and panhandling downtown and on some river trail stretches, walk lit populated streets at night.
- Treat East Carson Street at weekend bar close as a crowd to exit through, and avoid hillside steps as night shortcuts.
Pittsburgh travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- Judging Primanti's anywhere but the Strip original, chain and ballpark versions are a lesser sandwich.
- Grandview Avenue view restaurants other than Altius sell the skyline and plate average food at splurge prices.
- The Gateway Clipper cruise is slow and priced for tour groups, a kayak or the river trail gives the same water for less.
- Driving between neighbourhoods at face value distance, bridges and tunnels turn two miles into 25 minutes.
- Station Square as a destination, pass through for the Monongahela Incline, do not build an evening on it.
Getting around Pittsburgh: public transport and more
- Downtown is walkable and the T light rail is free in the Free Fare Zone to the North Shore stadiums.
- Use PRT buses and the inclines for most other trips, POGOH bike share on the flat corridors, and rideshare freely.
- A car helps only for day trips. From PIT airport the 28X bus is cheap, rideshare takes about 30 to 45 minutes.
Who Pittsburgh suits
| Solo travellers | Good |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Great |
| Couples | Great |
| Bachelor parties | Good |
| Families | Good |
| Bachelorette parties | Good |
Make Pittsburgh your trip
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