Kooser State Park is a smaller park by Laurel Highlands standards, coming in at approximately 250 acres in size.
While this one lacks in size compared to other state parks nearby, it makes up for it with a gorgeous lake, a trout run, and beautiful nature all around.
A visit here can be quick, but the park presents many opportunities for those who want to stay a while as well!
The Parlor Dim Sum, the latest concept by Chef Roger Li of Umami and Nanban fame, is a dim sum and Cantonese restaurant in Lawrenceville in the former Ki Ramen space. With a wide-ranging menu of dim sum, Cantonese barbecue, wok dishes, and more, this is the type of restaurant where it's best to bring a ton of friends and order family style to try some of everything.
We recently visited with friends and the meal hit so many high points for us with excellent cocktails, dishes with a mix of familiar and new flavors, and great service, all at a moderate price point.
The Rib Room is an intimate 8-table restaurant hidden away in a room at the back of Meat and Potatoes in downtown Pittsburgh. As you might guess, this Richard DeShantz spot features prime rib, premium cocktails, and an exclusive vibe with prices to match.
While you likely need to be a big fan of prime rib to enjoy this menu fully, anyone who loves Meat & Potatoes and their delicious creations should consider snagging a reservation to this one!
Pittsburgh certainly has a reputation for being a kid-friendly place, and there is no shortage of activities out there specifically dedicated to the young ones in your family.
While we personally do not have kids, we have visited all of the best spots for kids in Pittsburgh over the years. So in this one, we wanted to highlight some of the best things to do in Pittsburgh with kids, share some rough age ranges for each place (as a 13-year-old will obviously have drastically different interests than a 3-year-old), and point out any possible discounts for young ones as well!
This list also focuses on attractions and museums that are kid-friendly, and does not include any Pittsburgh parks. For those destinations, check out our guide at the previous link and review hiking difficulties as mentioned before visiting with young ones.
Please note: Discounts can and do change so we recommend reconfirming before visiting. If you intend to visit any paid museum more than two or three times in a 12-month period, you may ultimately save money with a family membership as well. Likewise, this is not a comprehensive list of activities for kids and is simply a starting point for what we think are some of the best.
Finally, Pittsburgh has a space museum!
If you follow space news at all, odds are good that you know Pittsburgh's robotics companies are at the forefront of innovations for upcoming missions off-planet. One such company, Astrobotic in the North Side, is designing many new technologies that can be used for upcoming missions to the moon in particular.
To showcase their work and the goals of these missions at large, the company has opened a modest educational museum, aptly named the Moonshot Museum, at their North Side production facility in late 2022.
We got the chance to visit this one just before it opened to the public and share a bit more about what you can expect when visiting!
We love checking out movie set locations in Pittsburgh, and one of the most famous films shot here is none other than the 1991 thriller The Silence of the Lambs.
You may know that some of the movie's most iconic scenes were shot at a set built inside Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall in Oakland (where they typically recreate the set for a screening most Halloweens). But did you know that the house used as Buffalo Bill's residence is located about an hour south of the city just outside of Perryopolis?
Up until 2021, this house was maintained as a private residence, but when it went up for sale a horror movie fan (and worker in the film industry at large) bought it up to transform it into a private rental and museum for tours.
Naturally, as a fan of the movie myself, I had to visit this one as quickly as possible once it opened for the public and had my chance during a media tour via our friends at Laurel Highlands tourism.
You'll want to check this one out as fast as possible!
When we first visited Sly Fox Brewing, it was for their downtown Pittsburgh location just steps away from Point State Park.
To put it bluntly, we were not fans.
While the beer was true-to-form for their traditional styles, we just generally thought the space was small, cramped even when the patio was closed, and wasn't the kind of place we would make a dedicated trip downtown to enjoy. If you work nearby it is great for a quick round, but we just never found ourselves prioritizing a second visit.
Thankfully, Sly Fox Brewing has opened a second location in Pittsburgh, at the stunning Highline in South Side (close to Station Square right on the Great Allegheny Passage), and has quickly become one of our favorite spots for beer in Pittsburgh!
We're just going to be upfront here- Pittsburgh isn't known for being a late-night city.
Part of this is cultural- the demand for late-night entertainment simply is not great (yet). Another part is due to local laws- late-night serving is often heavily restricted. Furthermore, many of our popular business districts are also nestled within residential neighborhoods where noise ordinances cause businesses to close earlier than they'd otherwise like. And yet another part is simply that those who do want a nighttime vibe almost always head to South Side.
That being said, the late-night scene in Pittsburgh is changing for the better, so in this one we thought we'd share a few great activities you may want to check out after the clock strikes midnight!
Notes: While we always recommend reconfirming hours before visiting any place shared on our site, this is especially important for late-night spots. Hours can and do change faster than even we can keep up with. One spot may be open with food service til 5 am one week, then suddenly change to 2 am, 11 pm, or 8 pm the next (the original Primanti Brothers in the Strip District is a great example- it was once 24/7 but as of publication now closes at variable hours, often before midngiht). Finally, as always, if your late-night outing involves alcohol, please be responsible and Uber or have a designated driver.
We love good pinball and vintage arcade games, and we have been pleased that so many bars, cafes, breweries, and other event spaces in Pittsburgh have been adding machines for customers more and more over the years.
While we could list out every single spot in the city that has a few machines for enjoyment, we thought we'd take a different look at this activity and showcase spots that we think are the best of the best.
In this instance, the places featured here have some of the largest collections of pinball and/or arcade machines near the city plus other unique amenities you really should know about be it featuring great coffee, beer, or free play options!
Pittsburgh has a thriving arts scene, and no matter what neighborhood you are in odds are good you're not too far away from a world-class museum, independent art gallery, mural, and everything in between.
This is especially true in downtown Pittsburgh as the Cultural District hosts numerous galleries worth visiting. Wood Street Galleries is one such spot, located in the T Station of the same name, and is managed by Cultural Trust with frequently rotating exhibits throughout the year.
After visiting this one dozens of times over the years, we have to admit, it is one of our favorite galleries in the city!