Pittsburgh, PA Travel Advice

Greetings everyone!

My wife and I are looking at travelling to Pittsburgh on April 17-18 and are researching some things to do once we're there. I wish it was a week later, but our decision was based on watching our local roller derby (Team Queen City Roller Girls) team play the Steel City Demon Girls. The bout is being titles Planet of Skate. For anyone who hasn't seen a derby bout, it is NOT like the old bouts that were televised in the 70's. The bout is in Harmarville, but we'll have our GPS to get around.

Other than the derby bout, we plan to visit the Vader Project.

What are your well known places that we should visit? Granted, we'll only be there for 2 days, but we'd like to make the most of it. I've heard something about a sandwich place, but do not know the name.

 

Here are some things that are worth seeing:

Fallingwater

Mt Washington overlook at night (and possibly riding the incline up and/or down the side of the mountain

Kennywood (aka Adventureland)

PNC Park. Home of our Succos. If you like Kayaking, then look up Kayak Pittsburgh. They are docked on the river next to the ballpark.

The Andy Warhol museum, where you will be for the Vader exhibit. If you like that cool modern art museum in Buffalo, then you will probably like the Warhol.

Phipps Conservatory (if you like looking at plants and flowers)

You could go on a Just Ducky tour around the city.

The Zoo, which currently has baby elephants.

The Cathedral of Learning and it's nationality rooms, which are pretty cool. You can also take the elevator to the top floor and get a decent view, assuming they still let people do that. The remnants of old Forbes Field are across the street from here. It's a pretty neat to see if you like baseball.

The sandwich place is called Primanti Brothers. Some people really like their food, and some really do not. Essentially, they put french fries on sandwiches. That's pretty much it. I believe that the original location is in the Strip District, which is the fresh market/produce part of the city. Go on Saturday morning if you can.

 

South Side: If you're into the nightlife, East Carson Street on the South Side is practically lined with bars of all kinds. There is also a very interesting coffee shop called the Beehive there. Going on the Incline cable car up to Mount Washington is also alot of fun.

Strip District: Also alot of bars and clubs, but has a thriving market area as well.

Downtown and the Point: at the Point you can see tours of the old Fort Pitt building, the Benedum Center has alot of cultural events like concerts and ballets, and if the Top of the Triangle restaurant is still open it provides a great view of the city, however it is really expensive.

You may also find this useful- places to avoid:
the North Side and East sides of Pittsburgh have many of the unsavory areas such as: Wilkinsburg, Homewood, Garfield on the east, and the Manchester section of the North Side, also it is generally a good idea to avoid the Hill District and the neighborhood around Duquesne University as well.

 

Thanks for the tips!

How is the area around Harmarville (sp?) That's where the derby bout is.

 

I don't know much about Harmar, but Oakmont is right across the river from it and seems nice. they have a movie theatre there, The Oaks, which plays midnite movies on the weekends during the summer. not sure when they are starting up though

 

I'd be willing to actually GO to the derby demon match. We've gone as a SWAP event before. Much fun!

Apparently you could go to the Dr. Horrible sing along too, since it's that weekend!

 

The sing along looks to be at the same time as the derby bout.

How was the crowd at the derby bout? At our local venue, the crowd really gets into it. Personally, I have a streak that dates back to last season in which I've made their highlight reel doing something silly, loud, or funny.

We looked at hotels last night and I plan on doing some more leg work today. If we stay in downtown Pittsburgh, are the places mentioned here close by?

 

I'm seeing on the Steel City Derby Demons site that the bout is on Saturday, and the Dr. Horrible Sing-a-long is on Friday.

I'm not sure about hotels in the area, since I've never had a need to stay in a Pittsburgh hotel. So my research is probably just as good as yours.

 

We'll be getting into Pittsburgh late on Friday (have an appearance until 7pm in Buffalo). Looking at booking at the Doubletree Hotel in downtown Pittsburgh. Their website says it's a walking distance from the Andy Warhol museum.

 

The Doubletree is probably about a mile from the Warhol. The streets downtown can be confusing though, so it's not the easiest trek in the world. You will also need to walk across the Clemente (6th Street) Bridge. If you have a map of downtown it will be fine. I do it all the time for football games. If you are walking on 6th Street and it's a nice day, the Lemongrass Cafe might be selling Thai/Cambodian food on a cart in front of their restaurant. It's pretty good.

You may want to consider the Springhill Suites on the North Shore. That hotel is about 1 block from the Warhol and right next to PNC Park. If coming from the north, you could actually get there without driving into the downtown area (I think). Trust me when I say this... if you are from out of town it can be a really frustrating experience navigating to and from downtown in your car.

 

Even if you are from Pittsburgh and have a gps, driving downtown is a confusing and frustrating experience.

 

Thanks for all your help everyone! We're heading out after a brief appearance later this afternoon. Maybe I'll see some of you at Roller Derby ...