Maryland’s Most Exciting Places
You don’t have to travel far to get to Maryland’s most exciting place. It’s Annapolis, “the most exciting of them all,” according to the real estate research site Movoto. Our sea-level capital beat out not only Baltimore but also our many college towns. How? Nightlife, active life options, arts and entertainment, concert venues, food options and percentage of young residents ages 18 to 34.
Home to St. John’s College and the U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis came in first place in four categories. College Park beat us in percentage of young people: 70 to our 25 percent. But those four were a big enough piece of the seven criteria to take us to the top.
Fast Food also helped us win; fewer score higher, the blog argues, because “fast food is boring.” We scored in the top 40 percent on that scale. Baltimore scored highest in alternatives to fast food.
The nine runners-up:
2. Silver Spring: Style and culture are the essence of the community with music venues such as The Fillmore and film companies like Docs in Progress.
3. Baltimore: Home of Maryland’s sports plus a multitude of arts venues.
4. Gaithersburg: Weekends are filled with festivals and town centers like Kentlands and Rio.
5. College Park: University of Maryland hosts a variety of nightlife options from
Terrapin’s Turf nightclub to classic college bars.
6. Bethesda: Ranks 50th for youth, but places eighth in nightlife and second in arts.
7. Parkville: Close to Baltimore, ranks fifth in both nightlife and music venues.
8. Rockville: Scores on arts and nightlife.
9. Laurel: Youthful options from laser tag to Dinosaur Park; ranks 4th for music venues.
10. Towson: In the home of Towson University, Baltimore nightlife is only 15 minutes away.
www.movoto.com/blog/top-ten/most-exciting-