26 Things To Do On A Pittsburgh Weekend Trip

I’ve had a long time mission to visit as many states in the United States as possible and we had a long weekend here in Ontario in April which gave us the perfect opportunity to visit Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. While it’s a smaller city, there’s plenty of things to do in Pittsburgh and we found a weekend trip to be the perfect amount of time to explore at a leisurely pace. Bonus point that it was less than 5 hours to drive to Pittsburgh which made it a great weekend trip from Toronto. You can of course spend more time in Pittsburgh and explore at a slower pace and I always recommend that if you want to but for now read on for our itinerary for a weekend in Pittsburgh. In this case because we went for a long weekend, we had 3 days as opposed to the traditional 2 day weekend but we did take it quite slow on most of the days and you could easily absorb day 3 into day 2 in my opinion just based on proximity of things.

Disclaimer: I want to add that we treated this weekend as a road trip and drove from Toronto to Pittsburgh. This of course meant we had no problem accessing things outside of the downtown core. I’ll be flagging the ones that you probably require a car for to avoid any mix-ups! In general we found Pittsburgh to be a very drivable city with plenty of parking (some of it pay though) and had no issues getting around so if you’re close enough to drive I would highly recommend it.

Day 1:

Check out all the bridges

Cost: Free
Location: All over the city
Hours: 24/7

Pittsburgh is known as the city of bridges and the number people throw around is 446 bridges. Apparently this number is in dispute though and a recent article claims many of the major cities in the US (Houston, LA, New York amongst others) have many more. I will say it certainly feels like a city of bridges when you drive around it. All view points have many bridges within in it’s views and it just screams bridges.

Regardless of whether the city has 446 bridges or 200 and something bridges, there are many for you to explore. You certainly won’t get to cross them all in one weekend but you’ll be able to see and cross a few while there. If you’re driving you’ll probably go across even more!

There’s a series of 3 bridges (Andy Warhol, Rachel Carson and Roberto Clemente) that put on a light show once the sun goes down. These are quite close to the Andy Warhol museum so it’s an easy walk over to take them in after you’ve explored the museum.

Randyland

Cost: Free to visit
Location: 1501 Arch St, Pittsburgh, PA 15212
Hours: Varies – Google lists this as 10 am to 9 pm most days while other websites have different hours. We honestly didn’t see a posting of the hours when we were there but we visited in early afternoon (around 2 pm) and it was wide open for us.

Randyland was probably the spot we were most excited to check out. It looked like a colourful explosion in pictures and it did not disappoint in real life! The building sits at the corner of two streets so you can enter from either Arch Street or Jacksonia Street.

Randyland is the brain child of one man, Randy Gilson. He bought the building in 1995 and has run it ever since. It’s hard to describe the jumble of installations and pieces, but it was one of our favourite things to do in Pittsburgh. There’s so much to see, enjoy and photograph. Would highly recommend going in daylight for better pictures.

Mexican War Streets

Cost: Free to visit
Location: 1501 Arch St, Pittsburgh, PA 15212
Hours: 24/7 but better in day time

Since you’re already stopping by Randyland, I would recommend walking around the neighbourhood at the same time. There are some beautiful streets lined with old Victorian homes painted in bright colours. I’ve listed the address as the Randyland address just because it’s a great point to start. It’s in the north east corner of the neighbouhood. In general it runs from Brighton Road on the west, North Avenue on the south, Federal Street on the east and just south of Perrysville Avenue on the north. The north isn’t a straight boundary so it’s a little harder to classify. The neighbourhood dates back to the Mexico-America war so you may be able to see where the naming of it came from. Some of the streets are named after battles and generals in the war.

In addition to Randyland, there is also Mattress Factory in the neighbourhood which is a contemporary art museum.

I’ve listed the hours as 24/7 cause it’s obviously a neighbourhood and you could walk around it any time of the day but I would recommend going in the day time so you can actually see the houses. We spent about an hour walking around the streets and taking in all the beautiful houses before we popped over to the park at the south boundary of the neighbourhood.

Allegheny Commons Park

Cost: Free to visit
Location: W Ohio St, Pittsburgh, PA 15212
Hours: 24/7

Allegheny Commons Park is the oldest park in Pittsburgh. It was established in 1784 when it was a part of the town of Allegheny. The town later became part of Pittsburgh and now it’s the oldest park in town. It’s technically a combination of three parks: Allegheny Commons Park, Allegheny Commons Park North Park and Allegheny Commons Park West. The West park is the largest portion of the park. This is where you’ll find the stunning Lake Elizabeth as well as the Patricia Regan Rooney Memorial fountain. Because we visited in early April, there wasn’t any water. The lake was empty and the fountain wasn’t running but it was still a pretty park to walk around and I can imagine in the summer it’s a great place to spend some time.

In addition to the lake and fountain, there are a number of statues and memorials you’ll see along your walk. There’s a dog park, sport fields and a pool as part of the amenities in the park. This is also where you’ll find the National Aviary if you wanted to visit that. Do note the hours and admission costs. We had just been to Bird Kingdom in Niagara so we skipped this but the pictures do look really nice!

Bicycle Heaven

Cost: Free but there’s a donation box at the entrance
Location: 1800 Preble Ave Pittsburgh, PA 15233
Hours: 7 days a week and holidays between 10am and 7pm

Bicycle Heaven was one of the most surprising stops for me. I wasn’t sure what to expect or what the purpose really was but we liked it so much we spent almost 2 hours wandering around and enjoying the different bikes and little exhibitions.

Bicycle Heaven is, in their own words, “the world’s largest bike shop & museum”. The museum part is the 2 floors of rare and historical bicycles, along with a music and sports collection of memorabilia. I enjoyed walking down the rows of bikes a lot and the whole place photographs very well. My two favourite parts were definitely this little hallway with red lights that ended in mirrors (seen below) as well as this room in the corner of the second floor that was covered in neon (also seen below). Super fun experiences and highly recommend visiting.

The place is a functioning bike shop and they sell bikes in addition to parts and offer repair services as well. They also sell a well known t-shirt with the text “Oh Shift”. This originated from the Dirty Dozen races that are hosted in Pittsburgh every year that involve racing up the 13 steepest streets in Pittsburgh. This is actually where we found out about Canton Avenue (see day 3) from!

This is one of the stops where if you’re not driving it can seem like a bit of an outlier but it’s definitely worth the visit.

West End Overlook Park

Cost: Free but you may have to pay for parking
Location: Marlow Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15220
Hours: 24/7

This was the first of the the higher vantage points we went to and we really enjoyed it. West End Overlook Park is located on Elliott’s Bluff and provides a lookout over Pittsburgh’s downtown area. The lookout is in a nice park with benches and trees so it’s a worthwhile stop.

We came here in the daytime but the nighttime pictures of the city being lit up look really nice.

This is another one of the points I would say is potentially a little out of the way if you don’t have a car. When you visit the inclines on day 2 of this itinerary you’ll get a similar view so if you’re going to skip one I would probably skip this one but I really enjoyed the view and would highly recommend it.

Point State Park

Cost: Free to visit
Location: 601 Commonwealth Pl, Pittsburgh, PA 15222
Hours: The park is open every day of the year, sunrise to sunset. Day use areas close at dusk

Point State Park is huge park (like 60 acres huge) located in downtown Pittsburgh. It’s free to enter and walk through and there’s lots of grass to sit down on if you wanted to take a break. There’s a huge fountain in the center and great views of the water from the edges of the park. We visited in early April so the fountain wasn’t on but looks like it turns on in mid April so we only missed it by a few weeks. Because we went in early April the park was quite barren but I’ve seen pictures in the fall and summer of the trees and it looks lovely. Look down while you’re walking in the park and you’ll see the outline of Fort Duquesne which was around in the 1750s.

Point State Park is also where you’ll find Fort Pitt Museum. If you’re interested in military history this could be worth the stop for you. It’s open daily between 10 am and 5 pm and adult admission is $10 USD.

We had parked along the buildings close to Point State Park and decided to just walk to Market Square from there so we could see a little more of the city from the ground. It’s only about a ten minute walk from the park to the Market Square so not a massive walk either way but if you are walking then you can check out this Snoopy Doghouse on the way. It’s a random public art installation but it’s a 50/50 on whether Snoopy will be around. It reportedly gets stolen but when we visited it had been replaced and was back on.

Market Square

Cost: Free to visit
Location: Market Square, Pittsburgh, PA 15222
Hours: 24/7

Market Square is a historical, public square located at the intersection of Forbes Avenue and Market Street. The square used to be home to the first courthouse and jail, as well as the area’s first newspaper, in the late 1700s but is now more of a social place. There are a number of restaurants and businesses lining the streets around the square and the square itself has some nice lighting and benches for people to spend time enjoying the square.

There’s a number of restaurants in the area and you can have your pick from sushi, to pizza, to tacos and more. There’s a Primanti Bros location in the square so of course that’s what we had to try. It’s one of the most well known sandwiches from Pittsburgh and is a giant stacked sandwich with fries and coleslaw added to whatever original sandwich you pick.

If you’re visiting in the winter, Market Square is where the annual Christmas market is hosted and there’s a beautiful tree along with all the decorations and vendors you can shop from. From May to October, there is a farmer’s market on Thursdays between 10 am and 2 pm. There’s also yoga in the square in the summer and a Friday/Saturday night market in the summer so there’s plenty to do in the market and a must do in Pittsburgh.

View of Market Square which is one of the things to do in Pittsburgh on a weekend trip

Allegheny Landing

Cost: Free to visit
Location: Allegheny Landing, Pittsburgh, PA 15212
Hours: 24/7

Allegheny Landing is a park on the north side of the Allegheny River. It’s located right next to PNC Park and a few minutes walk from the Andy Warhol museum. It’s one of the country’s first riverfront sculpture park. It’s also a great place to view the bridge light show I mentioned in the beginning of the post.

There’s some parking along the side streets but it’s a pretty busy area so you may have to circle a few times to find a spot if you’re driving. I think we came during a time of the city rejuvenating the park because there weren’t as many statues as I’d expected but it was a really nice little walk around the waterfront!

One of the bridges lit up at night at Alleghany Landing which is one of the things to do in Pittsburgh during a weekend trip

Andy Warhol Museum

Cost: $25 USD for adults, $13 USD for children (3+) and seniors (65+) but half-price admission on Fridays after 5 pm
Location: 117 Sandusky Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15212
Hours: Sunday/Monday/Wednesday/Thursday/Saturday between 10 am and 5 pm, closed on Tuesdays and open on Fridays between 10 am and 10 pm

Andy Warhol is arguably one of the most famous people from Pittsburgh so it’s almost obligatory to visit the museum while in town and see some of his art. We decided to end the evening at the Andy Warhol Museum because they were open late on Fridays (until 10 pm) and were pleasantly surprised that they had half off on admission after 5 pm! If that aligns with your itinerary then that’s a great way to save some money on the trip.

We spent a couple of hours here but that’s because one of the floors were closed off so you could probably spend even longer here depending on how into art you are. We had a lot of fun in the room with the silver floating balloons and highly recommend making sure you stop in there! We picked up a few cool things in the gift shop too so would recommend a stop there.

Do make sure to check their updated hours and admissions on their website.

Day 2:

Duquesne Incline

Cost: Adults pay $2.50 per way or $5 for the round trip and kids pay $1.25 per way or $2.50 for the round trip
Location: 1197 West Carson Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15219
Hours: Daily 6:30 am to 12:30 am (after midnight)

You know when you see one picture of a place and decide you have to visit? Weirdly enough for me it was the red car that’s part of the Duquesne Incline with the Pittsburgh skyline behind it that absolutely sold me on visiting and I’m happy it did because we had a great weekend in the city. The incline is a historical one that opened in 1877 and was restored in 1963.

Ironically we weren’t able to actually ride it since it’s cash only payments and exact change which we did not have but we really enjoyed watching the car go and up down a few times as lame as that sounded haha. The platform you can view it from provides a really nice view of the downtown skyline as well. Even if you don’t want to, or can’t ride the incline you can still visit the upper station where there is a museum and a gift shop.

Down the street from the incline (to the west), you’ll find a statue called Point of View. This statue is of George Washington and Seneca leader Guyasuta in 1770. It’s situated at another great point overlooking downtown and worth a stop if you have some extra time.

Scenic Overlooks

Cost: Free
Location: Between Point of View and Monongahela Incline
Hours: 24/7

The road that the Duquesne Incline and Monongahela Incline are located on is part of the Emerald View Park (more on this below) and contains a number of look-outs over the city. I wanted to highlight 3 particular ones that we stopped at and enjoyed: Grandview Overlook, Upper Incline Scenic Overlook and Patrick T. Fagan Overlook. The Point of View statue mentioned above also has great views over the city. Honestly, any point along this road that isn’t blocked by a building is going to provide you a great view and you can stop at and enjoy as many as your itinerary allows. We parked close to the Duquesne incline and then walked down and enjoyed some of the views before moving our car to Shiloh street near the Monongahela Incline and enjoying the views around there.

Monongahela Incline

Cost: $5 for adults for a roundtrip, $2.50 for kids for a round trip
Location: 8 Grandview Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15211
Hours: Monday-Saturday between 5:30 am and 12:45 am, Sundays and holidays between 8:45 am and midnight

Monongahela Incline is another incline similar to the Duquesne Incline. There’s an upper and lower station. Based on how this itinerary is set up, you’ll be at the upper incline because it’s along the line of all the lookouts. When we visited, it was closed. There was no indication as to why or for how long but it seems like it’s up and running now based on their website.

The lower station is next to the Station Square shopping mall and you can spend some time exploring there or grabbing lunch at any of the restaurants there. If you’re exploring the upper station I would pop over to the Shiloh Street Shops where there’s some nice stores to stroll around in and a few places to grab food. We grabbed some pastries from Grandview Bakery & Sweet Shop which made for a great mid-morning snack.

View of Monongahela Upper Station which is one of the things to do in Pittsburgh

Emerald View Park

Cost: Free
Location: Bailey Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15211
Hours: 6:00 am until 11:00 pm daily

Emerald View Park, which used to be called Grand Scenic Byway Park, is a large park in Pittsburgh that combines a number of park spaces (Grandview, Olympia, and Mount Washington) and the Grand Scenic Byway. It’s mostly located around the Mount Washington, Duquesne Heights and Allentown neighbourhoods. Emerald View Park isn’t one straight forward park, it’s several green spaces and trails and viewpoints. This map will give you a better idea of what it includes. As you can see it essentially incorporates the inclines and viewpoints mentioned above. There are several miles worth of trails if you wanted to spend a few hours exploring as well.

Three Rivers Heritage Trail

Cost: Free
Location: Pittsburgh, PA 15211 (along the downtown portions of the 3 rivers)
Hours: 24/7

The Three Rivers Heritage Trail is a massive 53 km trail located along the rivers. It’s not a linear trail and there are portions on both sides of the Monongahela River and Allegheny River as well the Ohio River so you would have to move around if you’re trying to walk the whole thing (but that would be pretty impressive for a weekend visit). The Friends of the River Front maintain a map where you can more clearly see where the trail(s) are located. The map is great because it breaks the trails down into the north, downtown and south portions and lists parking lots as well as the number of spots in them.

According to the website, 90% of the trails are paved and that was true for the portion we walked on which also was quite flat. We walked a portion of the trail by the Birmingham Bridge. There was a decent sized parking lot there so it was quite easy to access and it was a nice walk in nature.

Senator John Heinz History Center

Cost: $20 USD for adults, $18 for seniors (65+) and $11 for youth (6-17). Children under 5 are free.
Location: 1212 Smallman St, Pittsburgh, PA 15222
Hours: Daily from 10 am to 5 pm

The Senator John Heinz History Center is Pennsylvania’s largest history museum and was voted Pittsburgh’s best museum in 2022. While the museum is fairly large and spread across six floors, it doesn’t take as long to explore as you’d think. A lot of the sections have large pieces that take up a lot of space and the core of the museum is hollowed out (if that makes sense) so you can stare straight down from all the floors.

One of the bigger sections is the Heinz section, which would make sense based on who the museum is named after. The other giant section is the sports section where there’s a lot of interactive sections. The museum was really popular with families the day we visited and I could see why since there was so much for them to do.

Do make sure to go down hallways and around corners cause some of my favorite parts like light installations and coloured glass were really tucked away and easy to miss! Without a doubt, my favourite part was the section where you could see all the international variants of Heinz products. There’s so many cool products out there and so many specific products catering to local markets! There’s also a little display case highlighting a collaboration between Heinz and Ed Sheeran which was cool to see as a fan of Ed.

The gift shop has some cool things so do spend some time walking around there. There’s of course tons of Heinz products and the pickle charm is pretty cool.

The Strip District

Cost: Free
Location: Runs between 11th and 33rd streets and from Railroad Street to Liberty Avenue
Hours: Technically 24/7 but best explored while restaurants and shops are open

I’m a sucker for shopping when on vacation, and the Strip District is perfect for this. It’s a half square mile area with lots of shops and restaurants and is a great place to spend a few hours exploring and eating. We particularly enjoyed the shops along Penn Street but do make sure to go over to the other major streets and pop in to some of the alleyways along the district. There were some food trucks and stalls that we got a few snacks from so if you come across any of these I would highly recommend checking them out. The below is by no means an exhaustive list but it’s a few notable stops but you’ll see that you’ll come across dozen more stores and restaurants.

Shops to stop by include:

  • Grandpa Joe’s Candy Shop: 0ld school candy shop with multiple locations but one right on the Strip District which has a huge amount of candy available for purchases.
  • Klavon’s Ice Cream Parlor: an ice cream parlour with lots of options for dessert.
  • The Pennsylvania Market: an upscale food place with lots of options to enjoy.
  • Primanti Brothers: a second location of Primanti Brothers. Worth trying if you haven’t had it yet.
  • Roxanne’s Dried Flowers: a super pretty store with dried flower bouquets and other gift items for sale. 
  • S&D Polish Deli: Pittsburgh has a large Polish population and so you almost have to make it a point to try perogies at some point on your trip.
  • Novo Asian Food Hall: a food hall catering to Asian cuisines specifically. We grabbed lunch here and really enjoyed it. Seating was quite competitive but if you’re patient you’ll get a table.
  • Strip District Terminal: a shopping mall with lots of options for food.
  • St. Stanislaus Kostka R. C. Church: a Catholic Church you have probably seen in plenty of pictures of the Strip District.

Magneto Mural

Cost: Free
Location: 3315 Penn Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15211
Hours: 24/7 but if you’re trying to take a photograph then daylight is probably better

Just north of the Strip District,  you can find a huge Magneto mural. The piece is located on the side of the AAA Scrap Iron and Metal building. Since they commissioned the piece, it’s quite fitting they went with Magneto who controls metal. If you’re a fan of X-Men and/or street art you should definitely consider popping by this piece.

View of the Magneto mural which is one of the things to do in Pittsburgh during a weekend visit

Cathedral of Learning

Cost: Free to enter but some portions require paid admission
Location: 4200 Fifth Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15260
Hours: 24/7

Because it was still early in the evening, we decided to walk around the Cathedral of Learning but I will say that this is right by majority of the items on the list for day 3 so it would make sense to combine this with those stops (Schenley Plaza, Main Library, Carnegie Museums, and Heinz Memorial Chapel) if you don’t want to repeat anything.

The Cathedral of Learning is a 42 story sky-scraper that is the main part of the University of Pittsburgh’s main campus. The first floor nationality rooms require paid admission while you can access the rooms on the 3rd floor for free. The nationality rooms are 31 classrooms that were donated by the national/ethnic groups built the city of Pittsburgh. The first rooms were dedicated in 1938 and the most recent one in 2015 so it’s an ongoing project.

You can also take the elevator up to the 36th floor for some great views of Pittsburgh. There’s an elevator on that floor that takes you up to the 37th floor but in my opinion the views are so similar you don’t really need to do both.

There’s washrooms on the second floor and a few food options in the basement. Do be respectful of the fact that this is a university campus and students and professors are using the space. Even though we stopped by in the evening, there was a large group reviewing on the main floor so we made sure to walk around quietly and take it all in.

Day 3:

Steepest Street in the US

Cost: Free
Location: Canton Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15216
Hours: 24/7 but to see the effect you should go to during the day time

Canton Street is supposedly the steepest street in the US at a 37% angle. It’s the second steepest street in the world after Baldwin Street in Dunedin, New Zealand. Both points are apparently a little disputed but it’s still a very cool and steep hill to check out if you have a car and can access it! It’s okay to drive a car up it but illegal to drive one down. From the bottom you think okay it’s a little steep but once you get to the top you can truly see how steep it is. This is a residential area so do be respectful if you’re walking around and taking pictures.

Rivers of Steel: Carrie Blast Furnaces National Historic Landmark

Cost: $25 USD per adult, $21 USD for students and seniors, $16 for children (ages 4-17)
Location: 801 Carrie Furnace Blvd, Pittsburgh, PA 15218
Hours: Offered with tours only

We unfortunately did not do our research on this and assumed we could just drive up and tour it but could not so only got to view it from the outside. The area was fenced off so we couldn’t even walk around and check it out. The Carrie Blast Furnaces is one of the Rivers of Steel attractions in Pittsburgh. The others are the Explorer Riverboat, the Bost Building, the Pump House and the W.A. Young & Sons Foundry & Machine Shop. Carrie Blast Furnaces, the Explorer Riverboat, the Pump House and the W.A. Young & Sons Foundry & Machine Shop offer seasonal tours that have to pre-booked. The Bost building is open Monday-Friday but has really specific entrance times. You can also check out their general event schedule. Definitely plan ahead if this is high on your to do list!

Exterior view of the Carrie Blast Furnaces building which is one of the things to do in Pittsburgh during a weekend trip

Schenley Plaza

Cost: Free
Location: 4100 Forbes Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, United States
Hours: 24/7 but food stalls will have their own hours

Schenley Plaza is a huge public square located by the University of Pittsburgh’s main campus and by the Carnegie Museums & Library. It used to be a huge parking lot and is now a nice public area with restaurant stalls, a carousel and little public gardens you can stroll through and enjoy. One of the sides is lined with huge trees and is very pretty to walk down. There are lots of benches to sit and enjoy the space in. There is even free wifi and public bathrooms so definitely a great place to spend some time relaxing in between all the sight-seeing, or just a great place to grab something to eat. There’s a tented area as well with seating.

Carnegie Museums & Library

Cost: See below
Location: 4400 Forbes Ave Carnegie Lecture Hall, Pittsburgh, PA 15213
Hours: See below

In 1985 Andrew Carnegie founded the Carnegie Institute, which is now the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, and the Carnegie Library in the location it still stands in. The two museums at the site are 2 of the 4 Carnegie Museums (the other two being the Carnegie Science Center and the Andy Warhol Museum). The Carnegie Museums & Library is a giant building that houses the Carnegie Museum of Art, the Carnegie Museum of Natural History and the main branch of the Carnegie Public Library.

The library is free to visit and is open between 9:30 am and 8 pm Monday-Thursday and between 9:30 am and 5:00 pm Friday-Sunday. The collection is extensive and if you wanted to you could spend lots of time browsing here.

The Carnegie Museum of Art and the Carnegie Museum of Natural History each costs $25USD per adult, $20USD for seniors (65+), students and children (3-15) are $15USD. Children 2 and under are free. Admission is half-priced on weekdays after 3 pm. They’re both open Monday-Wednesday, Friday-Sunday between 10 a.m.–5 p.m. and Thursdays between 10 am and 8 pm.

Picture of a giant dinosaur, with a trans flag scarf around it's neck, outside of the Carnegie Museum building. Visiting the Carnegie Museum & Library is one of the things to do in Pittsburgh during a weekend trip

Heinz Memorial Chapel

Cost: Varies by tour but generally $10USD for general admission. There’s discounted tickets for Pitt faculty and staff members and students can visit for free
Location: University of Pittsburgh, South Bellefield Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213
Hours: Sunday through Thursday from 10:00am to 4:00pm

Heinz Memorial Chapel is non-denominational church and any of the university’s religious groups can hold service there. The chapel was a gift to the university from H.J. Heinz and his family. There’s hosted meditation on Mondays and other events you may be able to attend. Do note that with the visiting hours, they do occasionally close for funerals, religious services and campus events. Pre-book your tour tickets here.

We were in the area on a day it was closed so were not able to visit but as a pretty significant Pittsburgh landmark it’s worth visiting it even if just viewing it from the outside. It’s close to the other major landmarks so easy to stop by.

Schenley Park

Cost: Free to visit
Location: Schenley Park, Pittsburgh, PA 15213
Hours: 24/7

Schenley Park is a long-time existing park in Pittsburgh. It was created in 1889 on land donated by the heiress Mary Schenley. It’s now over 450 acres worth of woods, trails and points of interest. Highlights include the Phipps Conservatory, the Schenley Park Café and Visitor Center, Flagstaff Hill, the Mary Schenley Memorial Fountain, Westinghouse Memorial and Bob O’Connor Golf Course.

There are public bathrooms at the top of the park. There is parking along Schenley Drive which is free after 6 pm Monday-Saturday and all day on Sundays.

Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens

Cost: $21.95 USD for adults, $19.95 USD for seniors and students (with ID), $13.95 USD for children ages 2-18
Location: 1 Schenley Drive, Pittsburgh, PA 15213
Hours: Monday-Thursday, Saturday/Sunday between 9:30 am and 5 pm, Friday between 9:30 am and 10 pm

Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens is located within Schenley Park and is a great option for an indoor activity. There’s rotating exhibitions on display and there’s a large permanent collection to enjoy as well.

If you want to just visit the area but not pay admission, you can still walk around the grounds and visit the cafe and shop without paying to enter the actual conservatory.

Map of points

The only thing not included below is the bridges because as mentioned above, there’s so many of them and you will naturally come across many of them through the itinerary.

Of course this is not an exhaustive list, but a great introduction to Pittsburgh in my opinion. We didn’t know much going into our visit but had an amazing time and have recommended it as a weekend getaway from Toronto to many friends! Have you visited or plan to? Let me know if you have any questions on any of the above and as always, pin this post for your own trip planning!

A list of 26 great things to do in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. It's sorted into a 3-day itinerary which makes for a perfect weekend in Pittsburgh. A list of 26 great things to do in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. It's sorted into a 3-day itinerary which makes for a perfect weekend in Pittsburgh. A list of 26 great things to do in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. It's sorted into a 3-day itinerary which makes for a perfect weekend in Pittsburgh. A list of 26 great things to do in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. It's sorted into a 3-day itinerary which makes for a perfect weekend in Pittsburgh. A list of 26 great things to do in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. It's sorted into a 3-day itinerary which makes for a perfect weekend in Pittsburgh.
A list of 26 great things to do in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. It's sorted into a 3-day itinerary which makes for a perfect weekend in Pittsburgh. A list of 26 great things to do in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. It's sorted into a 3-day itinerary which makes for a perfect weekend in Pittsburgh. A list of 26 great things to do in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. It's sorted into a 3-day itinerary which makes for a perfect weekend in Pittsburgh. A list of 26 great things to do in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. It's sorted into a 3-day itinerary which makes for a perfect weekend in Pittsburgh.

Share:

1 Comment

  1. Carol
    September 3, 2024 / 9:10 pm

    Love all the pictures!!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *