Name Your Top Five Favorite Towns/Cities in Maryland (Baltimore: chapel, houses)

[Yeadon718]

The title says it all.

For me it's,

1. Baltimore. I love big urban cities and despite it's problems I like Baltimore a lot. Hopefully it will get it's act together one day.

2. Silver Spring. It's not technically a town or a city but it functions like one and when I say Silver Spring I mean the entity, so zipcodes 20901-20910. Loads of diversity here and its mostly safe.

3. Takoma Park. It's a cute, quiant, charming little town with lots of diversity and it's affordable and right next to D.C. and it's safe!

4. Towson. It's kinda like Baltimore's version of Silver Spring although there are some obvious differences. If I had to live in the Baltimore area this would be my #1 choice.

5. Hanover. Solely because of Arundel Mills.

Runner ups: Columbia, Frederick, Gaithersburg, Greenbelt.

[westsideboy]

1. Cumberland - Home sweet home.
2. Frederick - not too big, not too small, just right and wonderfully preserved.
3. Annapolis - Beautiful little city, so much character, history, charm, you name it.
4. Westminster - Quintessential Mid-Maryland
5. Frostburg - College town meets old mining town. If the weather was better, the rank would be higher.

[santafe400]

In no particular order:
1. McHenry
2. Oxford
3. Chesapeake City
4. Chestertown
5. Denton

Runner Ups: St. Mary's City, Thurmont, North Beach, Port Deposit, Bel Air, Ocean City, Uniontown, New Windsor, Oakland, Crisfield, Smith Island, Miller's Island.

[Arianator]

1. Annapolis - great historical city in close proximity to Baltimore and DC
2. Ocean City - a good beach vacation area
3. Frederick - Been there several times, an all around beautiful place
4. Baltimore - Has a lot of good things going for it
5. Tie between Silver Spring and Bethesda. Both excellent places to live.

My runner ups: Westminster, Edgewater, North Beach, Leonardtown, Cumberland, Salisbury.

[ay jayy]

1. Annapolis
2. Frederick
3. Baltimore
4. Bethesda
5. Cumberland

[tcave360]

Silver Spring (even though it's not actually a city)
Annapolis
Baltimore
Riverdale Park
Takoma Park

[Ben A. Roundawurld]

1. Ellicott City (The "El")
2. Annapolis
3. Bethesda
4. Baltimore
5. Columbia

[tcave360]

Silver Spring (even though it's not actually a city nor are a few of my other picks): Very diverse in the racial/ethnic/socio-economic sense, nice shopping, abundant restaurants, two downtowns (the town center DTSS and the older, more gritty original Downtown), pretty safe, etc.

Annapolis: Maritime culture, quintessential Maryland vibe, cute downtown, Naval Academy and Naval Base, Annapolis Mall, etc.

Baltimore: Despite the crime, blight in large parts, and the local mentality, there's some nice neighborhoods (not just in the Inner Harbor area either), seafood galore, diverse architecture, Inner Harbor, most urban/dense city in Maryland, decent college town, ethnic enclaves, history, some cool festivities, Penn Station looks nice, Berger cookies, underrated restaurant scene, plenty of bars, pubs, and taverns, City of Neighborhoods concept, the Maryland Zoo, Patterson Park, interesting accents, somewhat diverse (though not as diverse as DC or Philly, it's still decent), weird, gritty, etc.

Riverdale Park: Diverse with a strong Latino flavor, gritty, old streetcar suburban aesthetic, almost secluded-like wooded area, neighborhoody-type of town, etc.

Takoma Park: Quaint downtown, intellectual/bohemian/artsy culture, gritty in parts, diverse, plenty of character, etc.

Honorable Mentions

Chillum: Gritty, diverse, a lot of sit-down and hole-in-the-wall ethnic restaurants, plenty of ethnic markets (large, small, and open-air), the area with Queens Chapel Road feels almost like a neighborhood scene straight out of Queens, New York.

City of Hyattsville: Artsy, diverse, some good restaurants, relatively safe (can be a little rough-around-the-edges but it's not as bad as the surrounding neighborhoods with "Hyattsville" zip codes, has the bones to become one of PG County's great downtowns, constant development, nice old houses, etc.

Catonsville: Basically similar to Hyattsville but looks a little more older.

Fort Washington: Gorgeously huge historic homes especially in the Tantallon community (they aren't über-expensive either, especially compared to similar homes in Potomac, Chevy Chase, and McLean), beautiful waterfront properties, pretty diverse, small twisted roads seeping through the beautiful landscape with the abundant tall trees and hills, close proximity to both National Harbor and Alexandria across the River, some hole-in-the-wall dining establishments, Hovermales Ice Cream, the Marina, etc.

Columbia: Columbia Mall, pretty diverse, nice area albeit cookie-cutter (the Columbia Town Center looks nice though), and some good restaurants.

Greenbelt: Used to love going to Beltway Plaza (the movies, the arcade, Jeepers, Funcoland, Boston Market), diversity, used to love going to this park that has a large lake where I tried my hand in fishing for the first time, etc.

[EducatedBro82]

Columbia (not a town)- Love the mall, and the area it self reminds me of a Bethesda type feel

Silver Spring (also not a town)- Downtown life, diversity, and great Ethiopian cuisine and I loved going to the Filmore for shows

Salisbury- Born and raised, college town, Downtown has great lounges, bars (fun fact: Salisbury has ZERO farms at all)

Annapolis-Love the mall, love the harbor scene, safe, and reminds me of Salisbury with the ships and ports

Laurel/Bowie (live in Laurel)- Both the same IMO so I clumped them, typical PG suburban family towns, good restaurants, safe, and have family events

Honorable Mentions:

National Harbor (its a CDP)-Love the scene, the outlets, restaurants, and the views

Hyattsville-Love the Arts District, and sort of a Hipster feel

Bethesda-good upscale shopping, reminds me of Columbia and Silver spring as well

[bande1102]

Annapolis
Berlin
Ocean City/Assateague (prefer Assateague)
St Michaels/Oxford
Easton