we are going down to the Inner harbor for a 2 day family vacation, any tips or suggestions to make our stay fun and enjoyable would be greatly appricated.

We spent a few days at the Inner Harbor last year, and we went to the B&O Railroad Museum which is not very far from the Inner Harbor area. It was a very nice Museum. We also went to Fort McHenry. If you have never toured an old Fort, then go to see this one. I don't mean this to sound like a putdown, but we have been to a few historic Forts and they are pretty much the same.

We also took the water taxi over to Fells Point. There are many restaurants and shops in the area. The boat ride is pretty nice.

The Aquariam is also in the Inner Harbor area.

There will be enough to do in the area for your 2 day visit.

I agree with Shelia's suggestions. My family and I were there in May, and we took a narrated boat tours, not to be confused with the water taxi. It dropped us off at Fort McHenry. We enjoyed the film at the visitor's center at Ft. McHenry, and the boat tour was aa nice change of pace after walking all around. The Baseball stadium is right near the Inner harbor, so you may be able to catch a gameAlso made a half day trip to Annapolis and did a tour there.

Do the boat tours run in December? Any other suggestions?

We will also be traveling to Baltimore the week and weekend prior to Christmas. I will be working some in the mornings but will have from around 2pm until ?? each day to sightsee. We will also have two full days to explore. Would D.C. be a reasonable day trip? We have a car.

D.C. is an easy day trip from baltimore, (about an hour to the monuments, etc) just make sure you get an EARLY start if you are going on a weekday (or wait around until about 10:00am to take off) because the traffic on 95 south and 495 is murder in the mornings. If you leave after 2 pm you definitely won't have a problem (unless of course you wait until the 4 pm rush hour begins). D.C. is a blast, and if you're in Baltimore it would be a shame not to try to get down there.

Madman-Thanks so much for the info! I've heard the parking is icky in the D.C. area. We would prefer to take our car; however would you suggest public transporation instead? If you think a car will be okay, where would you suggest we park for the monuments?

Parking really isn't all that bad in D.C. You just have to watch the limitations on street parking during morning and afternoon rush hour. If you are going to the monuments your 2 best bets are to 1) ditch your car at the metro stop of your choice (good ones for parking are Silver Spring and Bethesda, right off the 495) and take subway in--easy,easy--or 2) if you are inclined to drive, try to park along Ohio near the FDR memorial (along the river) or on 23rd near the Lincoln memorial. There are some meters there, no charge on sunday. This will put you close to the memorials, but a pretty good hike to the museums. You should be able to find parking easily (especially considering it is cold and no one is going to D.C. anyway because of 9/11). If nothing on these streets opens up you can find garage parking all over the area on side streets. That said, the metro really is an easy way to see D.C., well laid out with maps anybody can follow, and stops right where you want to go. check out www.wmata.com for maps and info.

Thanks again for the wonderfully detailed info!