Pennsylvania Travel Forum

Driving from Buffalo to Washington, do you think it is worth staying in Pittsburgh for a couple of days during Augist 2008?
What do you must see in this city?
I'm from Europe and I have no information about Pennsylvania, so all info or advice you can give me will be really appreciated.

There are many things to do and see in the area. Do you have any preferences in what you would like to see or experience for example restaurants, sports architecture?

Much depends on what you like to do. If you like rivers, Pittsburgh is a net place, as you can stand where the Allegheny and the Monongahela (sp?) rivers meet to form the Ohio river. There are some funiculars (but I know they don't call them that) that take you up the hill and you can get a very nice view of the city. Depending on your preferences, you can see the immediate Pittsburgh area in one day. Public transportation is good, there are plenty of stores.

I have always gone there for work and although I have gone up the hill one weekend I came in early, I have not had a chance to check out the Fort Pitt site where they used to have a post to guard against Indians. There was some construction going on the the area, but that does not detract from enjoying the city and the rivers.

As an outsider I find it an interesting city with a good personality, but unless a local has other suggestions I don't see spending more than one day to see the city.

Thank you everybody for the fast replies.
I love architecture, parks, museums, rivers, mountains, restaurants, and just having beer in a bar...

Pittsburgh has a lot of history and I think there would be several days' worth of stuff to do there. It's an old industrial city (previously one of the top producers of steel in the United States), and you can see a lot of very interesting architecture that was built by the wealthy industrial families of the late 1800s and early 1900s. Pittsburgh went through a downturn in the 1970s and 1980s as the industries started fading away, but in the last 20 years or so it has really been cleaned up well and there is a lot to see and do. There are several universities in town, which means there will be a good cultural scene, and also a lot of well-established immigrant populations, which means there will be good restaurants! One of the great philanthropists in US history, Andrew Carnegie, made his fortune in Pittsburgh in the late 1800s and was responsible for a lot of cultural and academic development in the city (he was the founder of the Carnegie library system, what is now Carnegie-Mellon University, and a bunch of museums, among other things.)

If you are there in August, try to get to a baseball game (Pittsburgh Pirates).

Your friends in Europe will have no idea why you went to Pittsburgh, as it's not really a typical stop for overseas tourists, but it's a great place to get a good feel for a mid-size American city with a lot of character. And as for getting a beer in a bar, you will definitely be in the right place!

Pittsburgh is actually a very attractive city. I actually think that the two most compelling reasons to go there are to stop in to the Andy Warhol Museum, and to take a brief excursion to FL Wright's Fallingwater.

Near Pittsburgh (on the way out to D.C.) is Fort Necessity, which is the site of one of the few battles that Geo. Washington lost (it wasn't during the Revolution). It's just outside of Uniontown which also has one of the toll houses on the National Road (one of the first turnpikes).