Baltimore has a vibrant African-American population and a profound black history. The city was home to abolitionist Frederick Douglass, an important member of the anti-slavery organisation the Underground Railroad, and the birthplace of jazz singer Billie Holiday. The best way to enjoy the past and present of Baltimore's black community is to take a tour with Tom Saunders (www.renaissanceproductions. com), who visits landmarks such as the National Great Blacks in Wax Museum (1601 East North Avenue; www.ngbiwm.com), with its renditions of jazz greats and heroes of the civil rights movement, and an 18th-century church with a secret tunnel that was part of escaped slaves' route to freedom. Saunders also knows all the best little jazz joints, such as the cosy and atmospheric New Haven Lounge (1552 Havenwood Road) and soul-food eateries such as New Duffy's Restaurant and Lounge (3436 Frederick Avenue).

There are many ways to get around Baltimore, but the most novel and amusing is by way of the little blue and white water taxis (www.thewatertaxi. com) that zip commuters across the Inner Harbour to any number of Baltimore's sites. Cammie Kane, who owns the 13 boats with names such as Indefatigable and Intrepid, loves the harbour and its history and so do her captains, who have lots of sea stories to share with passengers. The boats stop at 14 landings, including an old fortress, Fort McHenry; Little Italy, home to many of Baltimore's Italian restaurants; and historic Fells Point.

This area was once a rough-and-tumble shipbuilding neighbourhood. Now narrow cobblestoned streets lead from the waterfront to small shops, restaurants and bars. Once an area where sailmakers plied their trade and ladies of the night hawked their wares to sailors from around the world, today it's all sophistication. There's still just a taste of rugged sailor life to be found in the convivial spirit of pubs such as the Cat's Eye (1730 Thames Street; www.catseyepub.com). But if you really want to feel like a sailor, haul anchor for Baltimore Tattoo Museum (and tattoo parlour) at 534 Eastern Avenue to be inked, sailor style. If gritty isn't your cup of tea, how about Greek-chic? Black Olive Restaurant (www.theblack olive.com), in a restored 18th-century building, puts a Greek spin on Baltimore's favourite seafood. The fare is all fresh, mostly organic and the closest thing to Greece you can find on the US eastern seaboard.

The American Visionary Art Museum's collection includes 5,000 works by America's self-taught artists and everyday geniuses. The artists are farmers, postmen, housewives and plain folk struck by a vision so powerful they just had to create. Old machinery parts, buttons, paper plates and other art supplies widely available were used to fashion their masterpieces. From Linda St John's pipe-cleaner dolls, each dressed in tiny handmade outfits, to Wayne Kusy's near-five-metre replica of the liner the Lusitania, built with 200,000 toothpicks, the exhibits are wacky and stunning (www.avam.org).

Baltimore's signature food is most certainly crab. There are dozens of restaurants that specialise in it, from the expensive to the scruffy. Baltimoreans are passionate about crab-picking, as eating crab is called. The most authentic version is steamed crab, and one of the best places to enjoy it and mix with locals is at Captain James Landing (2127 Boston Street; www.captainjames landing.com). The restaurant is shaped like an ocean liner, but for real bliss sit outside by the water at a wooden picnic table covered with coarse brown paper. Owner and crab expert George Tserkis dumps a mallet, a roll of paper towels and a couple of dozen steamed crabs in front of you with the warning that 'when you eat crabs it's gonna be messy!' He's true to his word; Tserkis provides bibs and lessons in the art of crab cracking.

Baltimore has several public markets, but if shopping and eating locally is a goal, 19th-century Cross Street Market is the spot. Day and early evening the market is packed with residents shopping for meat, vegetables and fresh flowers at the farmers' stands. At noon, locals belly up to the old marble counter at Nick's Fish Market for fresh oysters, spicy boiled shrimp or crabcakes, and later catch a quick cappuccino and canoli at Baltimore's best Italian bakery, Piedigrotta's (www.piedigrottabakery.com).

Baltimore sisters Etta and Claribel Cone were prim, proper, rich and wildly eccentric. And thanks to the avant- garde art shopping spree the siblings undertook in early 20th-century Paris, the Baltimore Museum of Art (10 Art Museum Drive; www.artbma.org) has the largest collection of works by Henri Matisse in the US and one of the country's best collections of Impressionist paintings and sculpture. The sisters, who were on first-name terms with the likes of Matisse, Pablo Picasso and Paul Cezanne, filled their 19-room Baltimore apartment with thousands of pieces that, on their deaths, were donated to the museum.

Baltimore's Inner Harbour is the centrepiece of the city, so why not go for a room with a harbour view at the InterContinental Harbor Court Baltimore (550 Light Street; www.harborcourt.com), or the Hyatt Regency (300 Light Street; www.baltimore.hyatt.com). The European-style InterContinental has four-poster beds, brass chandeliers and lush green marble bathrooms. It also has, according to one Conde Nast survey, one of the two best restaurants in the US: the classy, pricy and elegant Hampton. The Hyatt Regency, within walking distance of downtown and blessed with a rooftop swimming pool, is home to Pisces, an upmarket seafood spot said to have the best view and the best chocolate martini in the city.