Heading to Pittsburgh (from Chicago) next week for Accepted Students Day for the Honors College. What are some fun things to do/places to eat that a soon-to-be freshman might enjoy?
There is a lot to do in Pittsburgh!
If you like to eat, there is a ton of great food in Oakland right around campus. Some local favorites include: Primanti Brothers, Fuel and Fuddle, Stack’d, Conflict Kitchen, and Red Oak Cafe.
If you like outdoorsy adventures, Pitt is located right next to two of Pittsburgh’s largest parks: Frick and Schenley. These parks have trails to walk/bike, tennis courts, disc golf, and more. There are Healthy Ride bike stations all over the city, where you can rent bikes and bike in the parks or around the city/rivers on the Great Allegheny Passage/Three Rivers Heritage Trail. Venture Outdoors also rents out kayaks on the North Shore of Pittsburgh and you can kayak around the city.
If you like arts and culture, I would suggest the Carnegie Museums. The Museum of Art and Natural History is right across the street from the Cathedral of Learning at Pitt (and right next door to Pittsburgh’s largest public library, which is an architectural treat). The Andy Warhol Museum is also very popular and is located in the North Shore area, across the river from downtown Pittsburgh. In downtown Pittsburgh, the Cultural District is full of theaters, art galleries, and great restaurants. (I personally love Meat and Potatoes and Sienna Mercato for good eats.)
If you like shopping and exploring, you would probably like Lawrenceville (a hip neighborhood full of boutiques, coffee shops, and store devoted wholly to Zombies), Squirrel Hill (a neighborhood with great Asian and Jewish food and some nice boutiques and coffee shops), Shadyside (with amazing coal fired pizza and gelato and the more traditional shops like J. Crew and Apple Store mixed in with some local boutiques), and the Strip District (this neighborhood is always full of people on Saturday and Sunday mornings and afternoons, there are lots of great international groceries, street vendors, and souvenir shops).
If you can’t tell, I am a big fan of Pittsburgh and love to talk about all the things to do in the city. If you would like to dig a little deeper or find more information about any of the neighborhoods I mentioned, I would encourage you to take a look at Pittsburgh Magazine’s exhaustive City Guide: http://www.pittsburghmagazine.com/City-Guide-2015-2016/
Safe travels! We can’t wait to welcome you on campus.
Best,
A Pitt Admissions Staffer
Make sure and go by the Phipps Conservatory!! I think they will still be running the special exhibition we got to see a few weeks ago. In each room they feature a famous work of art (Monet’s Water Lilliies for example) and then they recreate the picture with fresh flowers and plants…it is AMAZING! We spent about 2-3 hours there and loved it!