Travel Orientation to the Greater Baltimore Area

Baltimore is ideally located. It is accessible by land, sea and air. It is one of the nation's busiest port cities thanks to its deep water harbor with the Patapsco River running into the broad Chesapeake Bay and beyond into the Atlantic Ocean. Although many cruise ships arrive here, most of the water traffic is cargo which serves the fuel of the nation's economic engine. Baltimore is blessed with one of the nation's finest airports, Baltimore-Washington International (BWI for short). BWI was already busy before the arrival of Southwest Airlines but now has been transformed as a central hub for Southwest, which runs 200 flights a day out of its new terminal here. Most of the city's visitors, however, arrive by automobile. Baltimore is in fact, within a day's drive of over a third of the U.S. population.

MAP #1 shows Baltimore sits on the I-95 corridor, the busy artery that runs south from Maine through New York ending in Florida. Travelers driving south from New York or north from Atlanta will both meet in Baltimore. Another major highway, U.S. 83, brings passengers south from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and points north. U.S. 70 runs east and west across the nation and U.S. 97 runs south from Baltimore to picturesque Annapolis, the Capitol of Maryland and home to the U.S. Naval Academy.

Passengers arriving at , located 8 miles southwest of the Inner Harbor crowned by the Baltimore Convention center will find easy access to the city center by taxi or by motor coach. The ride should take no more than 15 minutes. A taxi ride should cost about $23 and a hotel shuttle, SuperShuttle, is available for $12 one way.
Call 1-800-BLUE VAN (258-3826) for reservations.

As map on page 15 indicates, Baltimore is surrounded by a Beltway marked U.S. 695 which makes it possible to easily circumnavigate the city. From BWI traveling clockwise on 695, visitors will pass over U.S. 295 a spur from 95 which leads to Washington, D.C. located 25 miles to the south, to U.S. 95 which bisects the city and connects 695 with Washington's Beltway, U.S. 495. Ellicott City, a quaint city known for its antiques is located off U.S. 144, with U.S. 70 coming next which leads the drive to the charming city of Frederick, Maryland and onto the Pennsylvania turnpike. Proceeding north by car, passengers will pass by the headquarters of the Social Security Administration and onto Pikesville and Towson the latter home to Towson University.

U.S. 83 which runs north to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and the Timonium racetrack and Maryland State Fairgrounds mark the northern point on the compass. Proceeding further, travelers will pass Goucher College, Parksville located on Hartford Road, the city of White Marsh located on U.S. 1 and then U.S. 95 which leads north to Philadelphia and New York. U.S. Route 40 or Pulaski Highway which precedes U.S. 70 as the major east-west access route through Maryland sits on the eastern point of the compass. Proceeding south drivers will pass through the Essex and Dundalk communities before crossing over the Francis Scott Key Toll Bridge, passing by Glen Bernie on Route 2 followed by Route 97 to Annapolis, completing the circle and back to the airport.

Navigating the City Center

Passengers arriving at the airport will usually enter the city center from the south on Route 295 which becomes Russell Street. See map #1 on page 15. This will take them past the M&T Bank Stadium where the Baltimore Ravens professional football team play their games and past the Orioles Park at Camden Yards where the Baltimore Orioles professional baseball team plays their games. Turning right on Pratt three blocks later will have visitors passing in front of the Baltimore Convention Center to the Inner Harbor where major hotels such as the Hyatt and Renaissance and Marriott can be found. The world famous National Aquarium and the Power Plant famous for hosting Hard Rock Cafe and ESPN Zone dominate the landscape. To the east, visitors will find Little Italy with its profusion of wonderful restaurants. Further along the waterfront they will come to the colorful neighborhood called Fells Point. About five miles further east along Easter Avenue they will encounter Greek Town so named for its many Greek Restaurants and concentration of Greek immigrants.

Eastern Avenue in its time was home to seemingly every European ethnic group. The neighborhoods are now being transformed by the new immigrants many of them Hispanic or Vietnamese.

To the north of Harbor Place is a dynamic downtown area crowned by the Emerson Bromo-Seltzer Tower built in 1911 by Captain Isaac Emerson who invented the anti-acid in the blue bottle. The story is a replica of the Palazzo Vecchio Tower in Florence, Italy. Its four sided clock can be seen from most parts of the downtown area.
South of Harbor Place is the trendy Federal Hill area, marked by the Harbor View Marina and Yacht Club, the Museum of Industry and Fort McHenry located on a point of land protecting the entrance to Baltimore Harbor. It was here during the War of 1812 that Francis Scott Key was inspired to write the Star Spangled Banner. (The original flag which flew over the Fort is now in the Smithsonian Museum in Washington).

Even further north from Harbor Place and beyond the downtown area lie the neighborhoods of Mount Vernon, home to the famous Peabody Conservatory of Music, the Joseph Myerhoff Symphony Hall, the Lyric Opera House, the University of Baltimore and Penn Station.

West of the Convention Center and Inner Harbor area on Pratt Street visitors will find the Babe Ruth Birthplace and Baseball Museum and the B and O Railroad Museum. Two streets north lies the University of Maryland at Baltimore and on Fayette Street, another block north visitors will find the Westminster Cemetery and grave of Edgar Allan Poe. The Poe House and Museum are located a few blocks west on Fayette Street. Another block north at Lexington and Pace Streets lies the world famous Lexington market which began in colonial times as an open-air Farmer's Market. Two more blocks north of Franklin Street or U.S. 40 lies the Mother Seton House and proceeding west on U.S 40 some five miles will take visitors past the world famous Johns Hopkins Hospital complex.

MAP #2 includes a close-up enlargement of the area including the Convention Center on the West and the National Aquarium on the East, Baltimore Street on the north and Lee Street on the South.

Each of the hotels which have been reserved by NAHC in conjunction with its 25th Annual Meeting on October 11-15, 2006 is marked on this map.

• The Hyatt Regency Hotel is marked number 1. It will serve as the headquarter hotel for the Convention. The Hyatt is connected to the Convention Center and to
  Harbor Place.
  
  
• The Renaissance Hotel is the headquarter hotel for exhibitors and is located to the north of Harbor Place and connected to it with a walkway is marked number 2.
  
  
• The Wyndham Hotel, marked number 3, is located two blocks north of the Convention Center. This hotel is home to Shula's Restaurant.
  
  
• The Radisson Plaza Lord Baltimore is located next door to the Wyndham and marked as number 4 . This historic hotel has been renovated in grand style preserving the best of its historic past with the best of new thinking in comfort and design.
  
  
• The Days Inn at the Inner Harbor is ideally located one bock north of the Convention Center. This hotel which consistently has won awards for customer service presents
  a fabulous value and is marked number 5.
  
  
• The Holiday Inn Inner Harbor is located across the street from the Days Inn and across the Street from the Convention Center is marked number 6.

In short, Baltimore offers a choice of hotels, all of exceptional quality to meet everyone's pocketbook.