During my children’s winter school break over the holidays in 2025, we were getting a little stir crazy and I was interested in a family getaway for a few days.

Why Baltimore?

At the time my kids ages were 2, 5, and 7. The weather had been icky and my kids were bouncing off the walls. Admittedly, I was just wasn’t in the mood to get the kids outside much.

I was interested in getting out of the house for a few days, thinking about a possible destination no more than 4 hours away that offered some unique indoor activities.

I recalled a visit to Baltimore’s National Aquarium as a child and thought it might be nice to take my kids there. Last minute lodging over the holidays can be difficult to find and when I noticed some availability at hotels downtown, I moved forward with making plans.

Lodging

When we visit cities, we love when we can park our vehicle at arrival and not use it until we leave which was the case with booking a downtown hotel. We were happy with a stay at the Hampton Inn & Suites Baltimore Inner Harbor. This location was reasonably priced and walkable to attractions and eateries.

The room was clean and cozy, the staff was friendly, and free breakfast was a win. My kids enjoyed swimming in the pool and playing board games in the beautiful lobby.

Itinerary

Day 1

We drove straight to Baltimore and aimed to stop for a 3:00 pm viewing of Medieval Times on the way. This was a blast. We enjoyed a delicious feast during a two hour show cheering on our section’s knight. We were very excited to watch our red knight claim victory.

Medieval Times is located in Arundel Mills Mall and we had fun walking the mall a bit after the show. After the show we checked into the hotel, went for an evening swim, and called it an early night on New Year’s Eve.

We didn’t get to check out these holiday events, but if you visit Baltimore over the holidays, here a few fun ideas I noticed during my travel planning:

Day 2

I am Catholic, and January 1st is a holy day so I walked to 7am mass at the National Shrine of Saint Alphonsus. Interestingly, I’ve been a Catholic my entire life and this was the first Latin mass I ever attended which was a neat experience. The church was beautiful.

After breakfast, we walked down to begin our visit at the National Aquarium. We loved it. Here are some of my takeaways:

  • Purchased general admission tickets on site (add on experiences available)
  • Here is a map
  • Utilized lockers at the entrance for our jackets – paid $5 with a QR code/credit card
  • Dining options available – We enjoyed three floors of exhibits then were we took a break and purchased a snack at the Pier 3 Cafe/Harbor View Room (we later noticed the Pier 4 Canteen)
  • We were able to touch jellyfish, stingrays, and horseshoe crabs
  • There were no dolphin shows, but gave our feet a break and viewed dolphins at Dolphin Discovery

We headed back to the hotel to relax and grab a swim, and then we caught a late dinner at The Water Street Tavern which felt like a local spot with yummy seafood.

Day 3

After breakfast and checkout, we were able to keep our car at the hotel while we visited the Port Discovery Children’s Museum. We visited for a few hours and it felt like we only scratched the surface. My kids had a blast. Here are some of my takeaways:

  • Purchased general admission tickets on site (children under 1 are free)
  • Three floors of endless activities – here is a map
  • Lockers available (free)
  • Designated stroller parking areas
  • If you want to for example leave and grab lunch and return, you are able to come and go

While we could have spent all day there, we returned to our hotel after a few hours, picked up our vehicle and hit the road to return home.

Other Attractions

Some other Inner Harbor attractions I was interested in included:

I hope you found this itinerary helpful. We really enjoyed this trip. It was a nice to break up our Christmas break a bit, and spend time exploring Baltimore.

Other Travel Itineraries

Here are some other travel itineraries you might be interested in: