Why go: A postindustrial city with a thriving cultural scene—and a head of steam

Steel mills once shaped outsiders’ whole impressions of Pittsburgh, but today the city increasingly defines itself by embracing the venerable cultural institutions that industrial prosperity helped build. At the linked Carnegie Museums of Art and Natural History, it’s easy to spend a day admiring just the marquee collections of Impressionist works and dinosaur fossils (though there’s plenty more to see). Next year’s Carnegie International, held every four years, is one of the contemporary art world’s most talked-about exhibitions.

Across the Allegheny River, the Andy Warhol Museum’s $60 million expansion is bringing a new performing arts venue to the Pop District, full of cool public art. And a few blocks away, the National Aviary, also poised for expansion, is a hugely underrated attraction, where visitors can stand in free-flight habitats amid hundreds of soaring, squawking birds.

Pittsburgh’s vibrancy has always been scattered across its 90 neighborhoods—Squirrel Hill and the Strip District among them—rather than centralized. An ongoing redevelopment effort is pulling more energy downtown, including historic Market Square, surrounded by grand old architecture and today a hub for great restaurants. Nearby, work is under way to finish construction of Arts Landing—a new city park with trails, sculptures, and a performance space—in time to host the NFL draft in April. The best place to view the downtown skyline, along with the surrounding foothills of the Allegheny Mountains, is on Mount Washington. Head to the South Shore neighborhood’s lower station to take the Duquesne Incline funicular, ascending 450 feet to the summit since 1877. – Nick Martin

See our Pittsburgh destination spotlight for more information on how you can plan a trip to visit the Andy Warhol Museum, historic Market Square, and Arts Landing, and where you can bike, walk, or run part of the Three Rivers Heritage Trail.