I am at Baltimore Penn around 5;30 AM and 6 or 8 (2 nights a week) PM as part of my daily commute. If I have to drive to the station, I park in the lot north of the tracks on Lanvale St. I've never had any problems with crime, etc., though this is the city, and you see homeless people and other urban "characters" who might appear disconcerting to some people from more rural or suburban areas. The crime situation in Baltimore is over-hyped. I mean, it exists, but's it's mostly confined to certain neighborhoods, which don't include the area around Penn Station. The area north of the station (cleverly called "Station-North") is being gentrified as an arts and entertainment district. The entire area is perfectly safe in the middle of the day, at least safe from crime. The traffic on Charles and St. Paul streets can be dangerous for pedestrians. Stay on the sidewalks and obey traffic signals. An as others have pointed out, there are no hotels in the immediate vicinity of the station. You will need to take a taxi/uber/lyft/downtown circulator bus to the downtown/Inner Harbor area, which has plenty of choices.