Think of Pittsburgh and its nickname of “Steel City” colours the mind with visions of derelict industrial sites amid an urban wasteland. To the uninitiated Pittsburgh is almost synonymous with the phrase “rust belt”. Springsteen and abandoned warehouses. But those images could not be more wrong. Instead, while Pittsburgh is smaller than other prominent North Eastern cities such as New York, Philadelphia, Boston and Washington D.C., it is one of the most interesting and vibrant places you can visit, and compared to those others almost entirely off the tourist radar.
You won’t forget your first impressions either. Far from being flat, to get to the city you need to wind your way through the valleys that bisect the Appalachian mountains before coming across the a mini-Manhattan at the confluence of the Allegheny River and the Monongahela River, which combine to form the Ohio River. Bits of the city nestled in the forested hillsides and ancient railway bridges bisect the skyline. It does not feel like a normal American city.
The mountains and the rivers frame the city, which feels almost hidden amongst them. One moment you are driving through a valley, the next you are on a bridge into downtown – there is no build-up, it just emerges suddenly and is upon you. The mountains also have two working funiculars on the South Side of the City: The Duquesne Incline together with the Monongahela Incline. Easily reachable on the bank of the Monongahela River, they are genuinely popular with tourists and locals alike and offer that unusual thing of a great view, from height yet with the city right upon you.
It’s a truly spectacular setting, made more so by the dense mix of Golden Age art deco skyscrapers jostling for position with modern glass needles on a spit of land linked by more bridges than any other American city. All of which are painted yellow – the colour indelibly linked with the city.
The yellow comes from the gold coins in the crest of arms of the (English) Pitt family that founded the city, and uniquely in all of the U.S., all of the sports teams in Pittsburgh play in the same colours: the Steelers NFL side have used black and gold in their logo since the team was incorporated in 1933, as do the Pirates (Baseball), the Penguins (Hockey) and the Pittsburgh Riverhounds MLS soccer side.
And it is definitely a sports town so make sure your visit here includes going to a match of some form. I particularly recommend the Steelers – tickets hard to get though – or the Pirates – not a great team at the moment, so tickets are easier to pick up. Unlike some of the suburban stadiums that now proliferate in the U.S., and which often offer nothing but a view of a carpark, both the Pirates and the Steelers have stadiums overlooking the Allegheny River, and if anything the Pirates PNC Stadium is the better with a great view over the river to downtown as evening draws in. If you have never experienced watching American sports then this is the place to do it.
Pittsburgh is also a foodie city: In 2019, BBC Good Food named Pittsburgh one of the top 10 destinations for foodies – the only U.S. city to make the list and Zagat named Pittsburgh the “No. 1 Food City” in the United States in 2015. Since then things have only got better.
For a couple of unmissable Pittsburgh classics try the oldest restaurant in town, the Original Oyster House in Market Square, which has been going since 1870. It is still owned and operated by the Grippo family that founded it, looks essentially un-redecorated for at least 100 years and has been used in over 25 movies. Famous for its fried fish sandwiches, you probably won’t be able to resist grazing through the menu of chowders, fried clams and oysters.
Similarly gargantuan in portions is Primanti Brothers, at various locations around the city, and which specialises in sandwiches the size you’d expect from a New York deli but with added chips inside the sandwich. Think a proper chip buttie Yorkshire style but with added pastrami and cheese. Yes, I could eat one now too.
On the other hand, Pittsburgh is at the crest of the wave of high-end dining, but often with a local feel. My favourite is Meat & Potatoes – a name that pays homage to the basic culinary history of this part of the world, but which goes far beyond it. Think starters like roasted bone marrow with a caper and raisin relish topped with almonds, or Welsh rarebit with oxtail jam, and main courses like a double cut port chop with a baked bean sauce.
The latter sauce is of course a homage to the Heinz empire, who first started producing baked beans in the North Shore area. Much of the enormous factory complex has been preserved and is now a mix of residential, retail and offices that is nevertheless fascinating to visit as a vista into a now vanished industrial past.
Not that Heinz was the only famous name to come from Pittsburgh – this is after all the city of such famous names as Carnegie, Frick and Mellon. The former has perhaps left the biggest mark on the city with the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, which operates the Carnegie Museum of Art, The Andy Warhol Museum – which houses over 4,000 pieces of his art, The Carnegie Museum of Natural History and the Kamin Science Center. Add to these several opera houses, a deep and thriving jazz scene, an affection for death metal and also Hot Mass one of the U.S. most famous after-hours electronic music dance parties and you have plenty to occupy a week let alone a weekend. And if, like me, you are an architecture junkie, then a trip outside town to see Frank Lloyd Wright’s Falling Water is a must – and, go on, rent a truck to go see it for some of that proper Appalachian feel as you fling it round the twisty mountain roads.
Just don’t eat anything until you get back to Pittsburgh. Trust me on this. It’s not worth the risk.
But back in town, you can have a weekend with a few more martini’s than is perhaps affordable in Manhattan. You can find plenty of places where the cocktails are $10 to $15 and pints of beer rarely stray beyond $7. There is even a great craft beer scene – over 70 craft brewers in the area including the fantastically named Dancing Gnome Brewery and one in a converted 1902 church called, ahem, The Church Brew Works.
The prices here also mean that you can stay for a fraction of the cost of hotels in places like New York. While there is not the choice you might find elsewhere, there are enough places to find a room for any budget. I stayed in the historic William Penn Hotel – a Gilded Age masterpiece, see photo below – for less than $200 a night. It also has a great and genuine speakeasy bar from Prohibition times – hidden under a staircase they serve great cocktails in a suitable moody atmosphere and might show you the secret escape route to the street – there in case it was raided by the cops.
Finally, Pittsburgh meets that essential requirement for a long weekend away: direct daily flights from London Heathrow to Pittsburgh (on British Airways) seasonally (they stop over winter). And usually, when there is a sole occupant on a route I would expect flight prices to be through the roof but if you are flexible on dates, book in advance and in particular hold out for the regular sales you can get a return for as little as six hundred quid.
But the attractions, the cost, the food, and the ease of getting there are almost not the point about Pittsburgh. Rather, it’s a chance to experience what one of these great old North Eastern U.S. cities feels like but without being surrounded by thousands of other tourists also from London, Turin, Sheffield Yokohama or wherever. Sure it is not on the scale of New York let alone Philly, but it feels very real. It is old-school America (“What’s your accent?”) with 21st century entertainment. It has streets shadowed with the stone towers of the early 20th Century. It has dive bars and proper pubs. It has great sports teams and Brooks Brothers. Rivers, bridges and parks. It’s a proper old American city. For goodness sake go and experience it now before everyone else does. As you sip a beer at PNC Park and watch the fireworks explode over the city skyline following another Pirates loss you will be the only one in the stadium smiling.
David travelled independently
Meat and Potatoes – 649 Penn Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA – (412) 325-7007 – www.meatandpotatoespgh.com
The Original Oyster House – 20 Market Square, Pittsburgh, PA – 412-566-7925 – www.originaloysterhousepittsburgh.com
Primanti Bros. Restaurant and Bar – 46 18th Street, Pittsburgh, PA – 412-263-2142 – www.primantibros.com
The William Penn Hotel – 530 William Penn Place, Pittsburgh, PA – 412-281-7100 – Omni Hotels The William Penn
British Airways has daily flights from London Heathrow to Pittsburgh Airport – ba.com – from the airport take either bus 275 (38 minutes, $3) or a taxi (approximately 23 minutes, $40-$50)
Related: Eurostar to resume trains to Amsterdam from Feb 2025
