Where to Stay in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

What is Pittsburgh known for?

Pittsburgh is known for its bridges, steep hills, and the confluence where the Monongahela and Allegheny Rivers form the Ohio River. The terrain gives it a striking shape. Its wealth from the age of industry funded an unusual array of culture for a city its size, from the Andy Warhol Museum to the Mattress Factory and the August Wilson African American Cultural Center.

Point State Park marks the river junction, and the National Aviary keeps rare birds on the North Side.

What are the main landmarks in Pittsburgh?

Pittsburgh scatters its landmarks across the rivers and the hills. The Andy Warhol Museum honors the city's most famous son, while the Mattress Factory and the August Wilson African American Cultural Center carry its contemporary arts. History anchors the point.

Point State Park and the Fort Pitt Museum mark the old fort at the river junction, and Saint Anthony's Chapel holds a vast collection of relics on the North Side slopes.

What is the history of Pittsburgh?

Pittsburgh grew from a frontier fort raised in 1758 at the meeting of the Monongahela and Allegheny Rivers. The point was the prize. Whoever held the confluence controlled the route down the Ohio River into the continent, and the fort recalled at the Fort Pitt Museum guarded it through the colonial wars.

A town gathered around the walls and spread up the steep hills that hem the water. Steel made the modern city. Furnaces along the rivers drew workers from across Europe, and their wealth built the cultural institutions that outlast the mills, from Saint Anthony's Chapel to the halls that became the Andy Warhol Museum.

Industry has since faded across Allegheny County. Its legacy remains in the bridges, the river parks such as Point State Park, and the ethnic pockets scattered over the hillsides of southwestern Pennsylvania.

Where is Pittsburgh?

Pittsburgh sits in southwestern Pennsylvania where the Monongahela and Allegheny Rivers meet to form the Ohio River. Steep hills rise from the banks. The confluence at Point State Park splits the city into river-bounded pockets in Allegheny County, and a web of bridges ties the neighborhoods across the water.

The terrain makes it one of the most river-shaped cities in the country.

What is the climate of Pittsburgh?

Pittsburgh has a temperate climate marked by cloud and river valleys. Summers grow warm and humid. Winters run cold with regular snow, and the hills and rivers trap grey skies over the city through much of the dark half of the year.

Spring and autumn are the brightest seasons, and the changing color on the slopes above Point State Park signals each turn.

How do you get to Pittsburgh?

Pittsburgh sits at a highway crossroads in southwestern Pennsylvania, wrapped by interstates that thread the river valleys. An international airport lies west of the city. Trains and long-distance buses reach downtown near Point State Park, and the hilly terrain is served by inclines and bridges that cross the Monongahela and Allegheny Rivers.

Roads follow the Ohio River west through Allegheny County toward the state line.