Pittsburgh Travel Forum

On Sunday, besides having Father's Day at my house we are also having a going away party for one of my nieces who is going to be moving to Pittsburgh next month to attend graduate school.

To surprise her, I am trying to compile some information from VT Pittsburgh sites, but I would like to supplement with other thoughts, opinions on places to see, restaurants, websites, or anything in general that you think she would enjoy knowing about.

The South Side/South Carson is sort of the bar/party area. There's a fairly famous restaurant down there called Fathead's that serves great sandwiches. There's also the famous Pittsburgh institution, Primanti Brothers'. Definitely worth it at least once, and there are several locations, including one on South Carson: http://www.primantibros.com/
The Strip, northeast of Downtown, is also a fun area, although not quite as active with the bars as the South Side is.
Per food though, Pittsburgh is definitely not vegetarian friendly. So, if she doesn't eat meat, then she may have issues.
Heading up to Mount Washington is always fun, particularly around sunset, and you can take the Duquesne Incline up there.
Otherwise, it kind of depends on what she's into. There are lots of parks, some decent shopping, and plenty of outdoor opportunities once you get out of the city a bit.
hth

Colin, Thanks for the info. If you think of anything else let me know.

Feel free to visit our Pittsburgh page here on Virtual Tourist. It is one of the most underrated cities in the USA. I am assuming that she will be attending Pitt or Carnegie-Mellon, which are both located in the Oakland section of Pittsburgh. In that area are a couple of good museums - The Carnegie Art Museum and Natural History Museum, which share a buidling. If she likes nature, there is the Phipps Conservatory and nearby Schenley and Frick Parks. The Pitt campus has some interesting architecture, especially the Heinz Chapel and the Cathedral of Learning.

In terms of safety, Pittsburgh is a fairly safe city, but she should beware of certain areas to avoid. One in particular is the Hill District, which is between downtown and Oakland (Hill Street Blues is reputed to have been based on it).

As the previous poster mentioned, the South Side has a good bar district. There are also a number of bars in Oakland, and the Strip District.

She should know in advance that Pittsburgh natives have an unusual accent, nicknamed Pittsburghese. She should also be aware that Pittsburghers are passionate about football, especially the Steelers. The Penguins hockey team is also very popular. If she likes the outdoors, the Allegheny mountains are only a 2-hour drive away. There a re a number of ski resorts there. Just across the border in West Virginia (1 hour south of Pittsburgh), there are a number of rivers where you can go white water rafting.

Thanks Mike, Lisa and Anna, She is attending Carneige Mellon. She grew up in Texas, so she knows football and then came to Chicago to go to Northwestern which has a good enough football reputation lately. She is not into skiing, but may be willing to do the white water rafting. Thanks again.