My husband and I moved to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania a few months ago after researching it for months. It sounded like the perfect city for us on paper, and when we came to visit last year, we fell in love with the city in real life too. Here are a few of my favorite things about living in Pittsburgh.

The Bridges

Pittsburgh has over 400 bridges that cross over our 3 rivers. We have more bridges than any other city in the world, including Venice, Italy. A lot of our most famous bridges (Roberto Clemente, Rachel Carson, and Andy Warhol to name a few), are painted bright yellow. They’re beautiful, and make traveling through the city a bit more bright and fun.

The Neighborhoods

Like bridges, Pittsburgh also has a lot of neighborhoods. There are 90 alone within the city limits. Pittsburgh is split up geographically by rivers and hills, which makes it so some of these 90 neighborhoods are somewhat isolated from others, giving each its own unique identity and feel. It’s like being able to visit 90 different towns within one city. Because each neighborhood has its own main street/business district, it also makes a lot of the neighborhoods amazingly walkable, which was at the top of our list when choosing a city to live in.

The Sports

I’m not actually a huge sports fan, but all the sports teams in Pittsburgh do make the seasons fun. Pirates games are really affordable and fun, and you can’t beat the views from the park. I hate football, but I love that the city gets quiet and empty on Steelers game days because everyone’s at home watching, so I get all my errands done without traffic or dealing with too many people. And Penguins games give you something to do during the winter time when you might otherwise be bundled up inside.

The Entertainment

There’s always something going on in Pittsburgh. It’s a mid-size city population-wise, but the city was built for the larger population in booming steel industry days. So you get all of the amenities of a large city, with the feeling of a mid-size city. There are tons of festivals, including Little Italy Days in Bloomfield (locals love to hate on this festival, but it was a fun little afternoon for us), Oktoberfest in Market Square (overpriced beer, but still fun), and, my favorite, Picklesburgh, our annual celebration of all things pickled. We also have amazing theaters, where we’ve seen the symphony, a couple of our favorite comedians, a live taping of our favorite podcast Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me, and play of Dial M for Murder; all within the last few months. Huge musicians, comedians, Broadway plays and more stop through Pittsburgh, so there’s always something to see. I’m excited for this winter to see the Christmas Market and Light Up Night too. It’ll be our first winter here, so hopefully the festivals and plays will get us through the cold season with our sanity intact.

The Parks

Pittsburgh has three large parks within the city limits (and lots of smaller parks too): Frick, Schenley, and Highland Parks. Frick Park is gorgeous, with miles of hiking and biking trails, beautiful trees, and tons of squirrels and deer. It’s a beautiful park to walk through no matter the season. Schenley is also gorgeous, and home to Phipps Conservatory & Botanical Garden which are definitely worth a visit. Allegheny Commons is another beautiful park on the North Side that houses our Aviary. I didn’t think I’d love the aviary as much as I did, but it was beautiful and so educational. Highland Park is home to a reservoir you can walk around, as well as our Zoo & Aquarium. You can also bike the GAP (Great Allegheny Passage) trail all the way to Washington D.C. if you’re so inclined. Access to the outdoors is easy in Pittsburgh, even though it’s a major city. It really is the best of all worlds.

The People

With the exception of when they’re behind the wheel of a car, Pittsburgh has some amazing people. They’re incredibly friendly and welcoming, and you don’t get much of that NIMBY-ism that you get in other cities and towns. They welcome visitors and transplants with open arms, and really embody the good neighbor mentality of Pittsburgh-native and icon Mister Rodgers. Just watch out when they’re driving, Pittsburgh is notorious for our terrible drivers.