Experience the best of Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh stands where the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers join to form the Ohio, and the point of land between them is Point State Park, with a tall fountain. The city grew in the nineteenth century on steel, glass and coal, helped by industrialists such as Andrew Carnegie, and its steep hills and hundreds of bridges earned it the nickname City of Bridges.

Two inclines, funiculars from the 1870s, climb Mount Washington, where an overlook gives the classic view of the downtown triangle. In Oakland, the Cathedral of Learning, a Gothic skyscraper of the University of Pittsburgh, stands near the Carnegie museums, which hold a dinosaur hall and a large art collection. The Andy Warhol Museum honours the pop artist, born in the city, and Phipps Conservatory has Victorian glasshouses. Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater and the Laurel Highlands lie south-east.

Pierogies, stuffed dumplings from the city's Eastern European communities, and sandwiches piled with fries and coleslaw are local specialities, and the open-air stalls of the Strip District market sell fish, cheese and spices. Summers are warm and humid, autumn colours the hills, and winters bring snow.