Pittsburgh: A guide to short-term rentals

Pittsburgh is known for its industrial history, but it should be just as famous for its cultural scene. A short-term rental is the best way to explore all that the city has to offer.

Kasa's short-term rentals in Pittsburgh

With short-term rentals in the city’s most exciting neighborhoods, Kasa offers comfortable and convenient accommodations no matter what brings you to Pittsburgh or where you need to go.

Discover Pittsburgh

After booking your short-term rental in Pittsburgh, here's everything you need to know for your trip.

The second largest city in Pennsylvania after Philadelphia and the heart of western PA, Pittsburgh has two nicknames that describe its geography and history. It’s known as the “City of Bridges” because of the whopping 446 bridges that cross the three rivers that cut through the center of the city, as well cross its ravines and connect its many hills. And it’s known as the “Steel City” because of its hundreds of steel businesses, which tie the city’s present to its history as an industrial powerhouse from the mid-nineteenth to the mid-twentieth century.

Before European colonization, the region that now encompasses Pittsburgh was inhabited by a number of Native American tribes for thousands of years. The region was especially fertile, thanks to the confluence of two rivers, the Monongahela and the Allegheny, which become a third river: the Ohio. The arrival of the first European traders in the eighteenth century devastated the indigenous population because of war and the spread of disease. The French and British, including Major George Washington, sparred over the area, with Native American groups allying themselves on both sides. When the British prevailed, they built Fort Pitt, named after the British secretary of state, and the name of the settlement followed.

Boat building was an early industry, as a means to transport goods by water. In the nineteenth century, manufacturing rose in Pittsburgh, and a train line arrived from the east. The city had almost one thousand factories, using great quantities of coal and iron. In the late nineteenth century, the economy turned to steel. Huge fortunes were made in Pittsburgh, like those of Andrew Carnegie and Charles Schwab.

When deindustrialization swept through the city in the middle of the twentieth century, Pittsburgh pivoted away from industry (although many steel businesses remain) toward healthcare, education, and technology, becoming a powerhouse of a whole new kind. Today, the city is rich in trendy restaurants, cocktail bars, and music, sports, and entertainment venues, and there are great short-term rental options near it all.