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Travel guide
Pittsburgh
4 days · 8 things to do
Best time to go: May to June, September to October
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Welcome
Pittsburgh, in a few days
The former steel capital, born at the confluence of two rivers that form the Ohio, has reinvented itself through universities and healthcare without losing its 446 bridges, its two 19th-century funiculars and its hills covered in wooden houses. You come here for the largest museum in North America devoted to a single artist, that of Andy Warhol, a son of the city, for the Carnegie museums and for Frank Lloyd Wright's house over the waterfall, an hour and a half's drive away.
- Day by day
- D1 Day 1 3 things
- D2 Day 2 2 things
- D3 Day 3 2 things
- D4 Day 4 1 thing
- Worth sorting before you go
- Words that help
- The practical page
- Packing checklist
The trip
Day by day
Map of the sights (numbers follow the suggested order). It prints with the base map.
D1
Day 1
3 things to do · at your own pace
- Morning · Andy Warhol Museum · 2 to 3 hSeven floors in a former North Shore warehouse tracing the career of the Pittsburgh-born artist, from student drawings and Campbell's soup cans to the floating Silver Clouds and a hands-on screen-printing studio.
- Afternoon · Point State Park free · 1 to 2 hThe tip of the Golden Triangle where the Allegheny and Monongahela form the Ohio, with the outline of Fort Pitt in the grass, the Block House of 1764 and a great fountain.
- Late afternoon · Duquesne Incline and Mount Washington · about 1 h 30Red wooden cars of 1877 climbing the cliff to Grandview Avenue, whose overlooks take in downtown, the three rivers and the bridges crossing at the point, the view that made Pittsburgh famous.
🛏️ Where to sleep · Drury Plaza Hotel Pittsburgh Downtown ↗ · All places to stay by budget →€170 a night
D2
Day 2
2 things to do · at your own pace
- Morning · Strip District free · 2 to 3 hThe former wholesale quarter along the Allegheny, with Italian, Polish and Asian grocery stores, coffee roasters, the Primanti Bros counter and the Heinz History Center in an old ice warehouse.
- Afternoon · Cathedral of Learning · 1 to 2 hThe University of Pittsburgh's 163-metre neo-Gothic tower, with a vaulted four-storey Commons Room and some thirty Nationality Rooms, classrooms decorated by immigrant communities in the style of their homelands.
🛏️ Where to sleep · Drury Plaza Hotel Pittsburgh Downtown ↗€170 a night
D3
Day 3
2 things to do · at your own pace
- Morning · Carnegie Museums of Art and Natural History · half a day to a full dayTwo museums under one roof in Oakland, with one of the world's great dinosaur collections, including Diplodocus carnegii, plus Impressionists and a hall of full-size plaster casts of European facades.
- Late afternoon · Phipps Conservatory · about 2 hA Victorian glass and iron conservatory opened in 1893 at the entrance to Schenley Park, with around fifteen rooms of palms, rainforest, desert and orchids, and Dale Chihuly glass sculptures.
🛏️ Where to sleep · Drury Plaza Hotel Pittsburgh Downtown ↗€170 a night
D4
Day 4
1 thing to do · at your own pace
- All day · Fallingwater · a full day including the driveFrank Lloyd Wright's weekend house for the Kaufmann family, built over a waterfall on Bear Run in the Laurel Highlands, still furnished as they left it and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Before you go
Worth sorting before you go
📶 eSIM data
Online the moment you land, no roaming bill.
Get one · Holafly
Online the moment you land, no roaming bill.
Get one · Holafly
🛡️ Travel insurance
Health, luggage, cancellation.
Cover it · Ekta
Health, luggage, cancellation.
Cover it · Ekta
💳 Fee-free card
Pay at the real rate, with no exchange markup.
Open one · Revolut
Pay at the real rate, with no exchange markup.
Open one · Revolut
🚐 Airport transfer
A private car at a fixed price from the moment you land.
Book it · GetTransfer
A private car at a fixed price from the moment you land.
Book it · GetTransfer
Some links are partner links: we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you.
Good to know
Flavours & local habits
🍽️ Worth tasting
- Burgers and barbecue: brisket and ribs cooked low and slow, done differently in every state.
- Clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl: the classic lunch on the San Francisco waterfront.
- Mexican food: tacos from a truck in Los Angeles, a Mission burrito in San Francisco.
- Pancakes and weekend brunch: a national habit, generous to the point of excess.
- Craft beer, and California wine from Napa and Sonoma.
⚠️ Best avoided
- Tipping is not optional: add 15 to 20% in restaurants and bars.
- Prices on menus and in shops exclude sales tax, which is added at the till.
- Do not plan more than four or five hours of driving a day: the distances are larger than they look on the map.
- Never travel without health insurance. A night in hospital can cost thousands of dollars.
- In summer, do not hike down into the Grand Canyon in the heat of the day: the climb back out is where people get into trouble.
Getting by
Words that help
🗣️ English is the main language here, so there is nothing to learn by heart.
The essentials
The practical page
CurrencyUS dollar (USD, $)
BudgetAbout €150 a day, mid-range
Best seasonMay to June, September to October
PlugA/B · 120V
Tap waterSafe to drink
Tipping15 to 20%, expected
Emergency911
EntryUK, Australian and most EU passports need an ESTA, applied for online before departure, for stays of up to 90 days; a few EU countries sit outside the Visa Waiver Program and need a full visa. Canadians need neither, only a passport. Anyone who has been to Cuba since January 2021 cannot use an ESTA and must apply for a visa.
HealthNo vaccination required. Keep tetanus, diphtheria and polio up to date; hepatitis A is worth considering if you eat well off the tourist trail. In the desert parks, the heat is the real risk.
Scan to open this guide online, always up to date.
https://offwegooo.com/en/guides/pittsburgh
Don't forget
Packing checklist
Have a good trip.
Guide made on offwegooo.com · Photos via Pexels · Details are indicative, check before you leave.