Exploring Cincinnati, OH
Note: This post has been updated on January 30, 2024
Time needed in this city: A weekend (2 nights)
Even work trips can have a silver lining and in this case, this past one allowed me one night to explore a city I had never been in: Cincinnati. While, most people would never give a thought to spending a weekend there, I found it to be richer in history and full of great things to see and do.
The below information is a complete guide of the best places to stay, the top rated places to dine and drink, and all there is to see and do. We’ve also included a summary of the history of this great city!
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Where to Stay
21C is known for building boutique hotels with a purpose. Their line of Museum Hotels takes visitors on a trip around the world, both in their rooms and every other space, within the property. Under Chef Michael Paley, their restaurant, Metropole, serves dishes that are made with local sustainable ingredients and cooked in a real hearth, which gives most of the food an earthy, smokey flavor.
I was lucky to be there opening night to not just taste the food, but also snag some "company". These yellow, 4-foot tall penguins (as seen above) are hand-made in Italy and unfortunately, are over $1000 a piece.
Other hotels to consider
Where to Dine & Drink
Abigail Street
Subway tiles & brick adorn this stylish restaurant serving Med small plates, beer & wine on tap.
Boca
This high-end restaurant with stylish decor & a full bar serves steak, seafood & pasta dishes.
Cincinnati Dinner Train
Per their description, “Our 1940s-style servers, porters, engineers, brakemen and conductors look forward to serving you as we all step back into the simpler and less complex times of the late 1940s. There’s nothing like dining on white table-clothed tables while watching the scenery slowly go by as your dining car gently meanders down the track.
Everyone will have their own window in either our 1947 New York Central dining car, 1946 Milwaukee Road table car, our 1952 Silver Sword bar/dining car, or our newest dining/bar car the Oasis Tavern. Large restrooms are on board.”
Crown Republic Gastropub
Laid-back establishment serving homestyle & New American cooking in a light-filled space.
Five on Vine
A modern take on American comfort food, with a 100-percent from-scratch menu, in-house rotisserie, and thoughtful cocktails.
Ivory House
Steak and seafood house with an extensive wine list.
Losanti
Laid-back steakhouse with a bar serving select meats, salads & pastas in a folksy, kitschy ambiance.
Luca Bistro
A French bistro serving authentic French cuisine.
Maplewood kitchen & Bar
Spacious cafe for Californian cuisine for breakfast through dinner amid wooden tables & greenery.
Nicola’s
Chic venue presenting contemporary Italian cuisine in a warm space with exposed-brick walls.
Nicholson's Pub
Although I love scotch, I rarely ever order it at a bar. In this case, it's almost mandatory to do so. The rich wood and brass, along with a very large selection of scotch, makes it hard to want to choose anything else.
Nolia Kitchen
Serving southern cuisine.
Palm Court - Tour the hotel, but stay for a drink
Open since 1931, Palm Court is located in the Hilton Cincinnati Netherland Plaza hotel - one of the world’s last original examples French Art Deco style. It features a half acre of now endangered Brazilian rosewood paneling, two-story ceiling murals, and original German silver-nickel sconces. It is a registered National Historic Landmark.
According to Hotel History, it was so state of the art that even the kitchen appliances were able to handle cooking for 1800 guests on opening night in 1931 (which invites cost people $15 a person). In addition, it's known for its infamous room called The Hall of Mirrors (modeled after Versailles), which once boasted one of the world's most notable chandeliers that was sadly destroyed in a fire in the 1940s. A mural of it now replaces where the chandelier once hung.
The reason we only recommend having a drink at Palm Court is because the hotel, itself, is in poor condition and not recommended for stays.
Pepp & Dolores
Upmarket destination offering family-style Italian dishes, plus homemade pasta & bread.
Rookwood Ice Cream Parlor
When Union Terminal first opened in 1933, it wasn’t so different from modern-day airports. The rail hub offered shopping, eateries, and even a barber shop. The beautiful cafe originally was a tea room, though it soon served as USO headquarters during WWII. It was covered in pastel tiles from the historic Cincinnati ceramic company, Rookwood, which also tiled New York’s subway stations. Rookwood’s founder, Maria Longworth Nichols Storer, modeled her first designs on Japanese pottery.
At first, Union Terminal was a hub of activity, but when railroad travel waned in popularity in favor of air travel, Union Terminal was abandoned. In 1972, the terminal was closed.
Today, it has been successfully operating as the Cincinnati Museum Center for almost 25 years, and the Rookwood Ice Cream Parlor serves local favorite Graeter’s Ice Cream. Much of the shop has been modeled after the original cafe’s art deco style, with a retro illuminated clock and Formica™ top tables.
Skyline Chilli
Skyline Chili is a chain of Cincinnati-style chili restaurants based in Cincinnati, Ohio. Founded in 1949 by Greek immigrant Nicholas Lambrinides, Skyline Chili is named for the view of Cincinnati's skyline that Lambrinides could see from the first restaurant (which has since been demolished). Opened in the section of town now known as Price Hill, it is also the "official chili" of many local professional sports teams and venues, including the Cincinnati Bengals, Cincinnati Reds, Cincinnati Cyclones, Columbus Blue Jackets and the Kings Island theme park, and also sponsors the Crosstown Shootout, an annual men's college basketball rivalry game between the city's two NCAA Division I teams, Cincinnati and Xavier.
Sotto
Basement dining spot with an austere brick-&-wood interior serving inventive rustic Italian cuisine.
Things to See & Do
Historical Exploration
Grave of Frederic J. Bauer
This man may not be a household name, but his invention certainly is - The Pringles can. Having secured the patent for the famous container, he left a rather unusual request in his will. He asked that his ashes be buried in a Pringles can.
Baur was a chemist who specialized in food storage research and development for Procter & Gamble in Cincinnati. In 1966, when almost every other potato chip came in bags, Baur developed the iconic tube, stating that, “the Pringles can was a revolution within the realm of snack food.”
He stipulated that upon his death, a portion of his cremated ashes would be sealed up in a Pringles tube. Passing away at the age of 89, it was left to his children to act out his peculiar final wish. In a 2008 interview with Time, his eldest son, Larry. described how they stopped at a Walgreens on their way to the funeral home to buy a can of Pringles. They decided on the classic original flavor to send their father off in style.
Spring Grove Cemetery
In the 1840s, a cholera epidemic swept Cincinnati. At the time, the small church and family graveyards were simply unequipped to deal with the number of daily deaths occurring in the city. A group of town elders, led by the Cincinnati Horticultural Society, had an idea to create a large, nondenominational, non-profit cemetery that could also serve as a peaceful public park. In 1845, the Spring Grove charter was granted.
Famed landscape architect, Adolph Strauch, was hired to develop the grounds. Strauch, the originator of the now popular “lawn plan” for cemeteries, developed the landscape in accordance with the area’s scenic hills. He planted trees from around the world, created lakes with islands, preserved forested areas, and installed footbridges and winding paths. The grounds would eventually feature 12 ponds, multiple chapels, and numerous elaborate mausoleums. The most famous is the gothic revival Dexter family mausoleum, designed by architect James Keys Wilson. Not surprisingly, the cemetery was soon a popular picnicking spot for locals and tourists alike.
The sprawling cemetery is also the eternal home of numerous famous residents, including: Salmon P. Chase (Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court), Joseph Hooker (Civil War General), William Procter and James Gamble (Founders of Procter and Gamble), Bernard Kroger (Founder of Kroger), and Waite Hoyt (Hall of Fame pitcher for the NY Yankees).
It’s been on the National Register of Historic Places since 2007.
The Arts & Sciences
American Sign Museum
The Museum was created by Tod Swormstedt - the grandson of H. C. Menefee, the first editor of Sign of the Times (the sign industry’s main magazine). Swormstedt, himself, was the editor and publisher for several years before founding the museum.
The Museum’s collection reaches back into the 1800s, featuring signs of every sort made from almost every material imaginable. Among the most notable items are the Sputnik-like sign for the “Satellite Shopland” strip mall, and a single-arch McDonald’s sign with the pre-Ronald “Speedee” character. Some of the most beautiful signs are those from the pre-neon era, including signs advertising haberdashers, cobblers, druggists, and other turn-of-the-century businesses.
In 2012, The Sign Museum moved into a much larger space, enabling it to display some of the larger signs from its collection. The new space, with over 500 signs displayed on a faux “Main Street,” allows visitors to view these artifacts in something like their natural environment.
Cincinnati Art Museum
Founded in 1881, the Cincinnati Art Museum is located in the Eden Park neighborhood. It was the first purpose-built art museum west of the Alleghenies, and is one of the oldest in the United States. Its collection of over 67,000 works spanning 6,000 years of human history, make it one of the most comprehensive collections in the Midwest.
The Romanesque-revival building, designed by Cincinnati architect, James W. McLaughlin, opened in 1886. A series of additions and renovations have considerably altered the building over its 138-year history.
In 2003, a major addition, The Cincinnati Wing was added to house a permanent exhibit of art created for Cincinnati or by Cincinnati artists, since 1788. The Cincinnati Wing includes 15 new galleries covering 18,000 square feet of well-appointed space, as well as 400 objects.
Cincinnati Music Hall
Completed in 1878, the Music Hall serves as the home for the Cincinnati Ballet, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Opera, May Festival Chorus, and the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra. In January 1975, it was recognized as a National Historic Landmark by the U.S. Department of the Interior for its distinctive Venetian Gothic architecture.
The building was designed with a dual purpose – to house musical activities in its central auditorium, and industrial exhibitions in its side wings. Fun fact: It was built over a pauper's cemetery, which has helped fuel its reputation as one of the most haunted places in America.
In June 2014, Music Hall was included on the National Trust for Historic Preservation's annual list of America's 11 most endangered historic places. After being closed for over a year, for a $143 million renovation, Music Hall was reopened in 2017.
Cincinnati Observatory
The Cincinnati Observatory was first built in 1843, via the efforts of Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel, a professor who was enthusiastic about bringing astronomy to the masses. The facility was originally built atop Mount Ida (now Mt. Adams), and its cornerstone was placed by former President and then-U.S. Congressman John Quincy Adams. It would also be the former president’s last public speech as he died shortly thereafter.
Since that day, the observatory continued to thrive, as did the city of Cincinnati. In fact the city around Mt. Adams became so bustling that the pollution began to obscure the sky around the observatory, making the spot much less ideal for star-gazing. Thus in 1873, the entire operation was picked up and move to the top of Mt. Lookout where it could escape the various pollutants that were mucking up their readings. Over the decades following the move, the telescopes were upgraded. along with many of the other facilities. Yet by the 1980s, the facility had fallen into disrepair. Thanks to the efforts of astronomer Paul Nohr, the telescopes were refurbished.
By the 2000s the observatory had shifted its focus from research to education. However, the observatory is still in use today after a multi-million dollar revamp.
Contemporary Arts Center
The Contemporary Arts Center (CAC) is a contemporary art museum and one of the first contemporary art institutions in the United States. The CAC is a non-collecting museum that focuses on new developments in painting, sculpture, photography, architecture, performance art, and new media. They focus on programming that reflects "the art of the last five minutes". The CAC has also displayed the works of many now-famous artists early in their careers, including Andy Warhol. In 2003, the CAC moved to a new building designed by Zaha Hadid.
Taft Museum of Art
The Taft Museum of Art is a fine art collection in Cincinnati, Ohio. It occupies the 200-year-old historic house at 316 Pike Street. The house – the oldest domestic wooden structure in downtown Cincinnati – was built about 1820 and housed several prominent Cincinnatians, including Martin Baum, Nicholas Longworth, David Sinton, Anna Sinton Taft and Charles Phelps Taft. It is on the National Register of Historic Places listings, and is a contributing property to the Lytle Park Historic District.
Unique Experiences
1919: The Year That Changed Baseball Tour
This small-group tour explores the city through the lens of the events surrounding the controversial 1919 World Series that matched the Cincinnati Reds and the Chicago White Sox. See the key places in the establishment of the rule change that changed the sport forever.
Cincinnati Yellow Lamps
Known officially as “Island Lights” (and often as “Turtle Lamps”), the devices were installed to alert drivers to the presence of raised islands within the roadway.
The lamps are known for their distinctive shape and color - the yellow glass globe resembles a bell and is adorned with a spun aluminum canopy that resembles a slightly-squished chocolate kiss.
Some residents and local authorities trace the lamps’ origin to markers for streetcar platforms that were situated in the middle of roadways. This claim is bolstered by the fact that the yellow color matches the color branding of the last of Cincinnati’s early 20th-century streetcar lines. However, photos of streetcar platforms show a different type of lamp, casting doubt on this assertion.
The current lamps can indicate any elevated median in a roadway within the city limits, including either a center island or a corner “pork chop” island associated with a channelized right turn lane.
The fragility, high replacement cost, and non-critical function of the Cincinnati Yellow Lamps leave them slated for obsolescence, with reports claiming that the city will no longer replace them when they fall or get damaged. However, after a lamp fell in August of 2014 and was salvaged by a local lamp enthusiast, he turned into a floor lamp. Somehow, that lamp was replaced.
A “Cincinnati Yellow Lamps” Facebook group receives photos and other reports of existing and former lamp locations and has close to 900 followers. The group has also compiled a Google map of over 50 existing lamps and 15 former lamp locations found throughout the city.
Findlay Market
Findlay Market was founded in 1852, on land donated by the estate of General James Findlay and his wife, Jane Irwin Findlay.
Built with the new iron framework technology, this was one of the earliest structures in the nation in which that technique was used, and one of the few remaining. The market bell from Pearl Street Market, Cincinnati's first market house, now hangs in Findlay Market's bell tower.
The market is located north of downtown Cincinnati in Over-the-Rhine, an historic neighborhood known for its dense concentration of Italianate architecture. Open year-round, Tuesday through Sunday, Findlay Market has more than 40 indoor merchants selling meat, fish, poultry, produce, flowers, cheese, deli, and ethnic foods.
On Saturdays and Sundays, from March to December, the Market hosts a farmers' market and other outdoor vendors, street performers, and special events. The Findlay Market Opening Day Parade for the Cincinnati Reds is an annual Cincinnati tradition.
TIP: If you’re interested in food tours, check out this street car food tour + Findlay Market option!
Lucky Cat Museum
The Lucky Cat (Maneki-neko) is a Japanese symbol that dates back over a century. They are thought to bring not only luck in general, but specifically, monetary fortune and an ability to beckon people. The standard “beckoning cat” sits in an upright. Countless variations on the traditional themes have been created, usually in ceramic or plastic, yet the indelible spirit of the maneki-neko always remains intact.
Ohio’s Lucky Cat Museum collects any and all iterations of the icon in a small art space that is still used for creation in the museum’s off season.
Queen City Haunted Tours
Get a new perspective on Cincinnati by taking this ghost tour that introduces you to the haunted history of Queen City. Follow your guide through the Over-the-Rhine neighborhood to several landmarks, such as Cincinnati Music Hall and Washington Park, where your guide will fill you in on their surprisingly spooky histories.
Queen City Underground Tours
Discover a different side of Cincinnati on a guided tour of the city’s lesser-known history, underground tunnels, and even a hidden crypt. This guided tour provides unique insights and reveals secret corners of the city even most locals miss.
The Cincinnati Mushroom House
Between 1992 and 2006, the late Terry Brown used warped shingles and oddly wrapping staircases to give his one bedroom home a look like no other.
The shingles covering the sides of the home are meant to resemble the delicate sheets on the underside of a mushroom, while the bulbous decorative roofing complete the fungal look. He also added a glass-walled sun room protruding from one end of the building, which certainly makes it look a bit less organic, but nonetheless, magical.
Unfortunately, Brown passed away in 2008, but the Mushroom House remains a beloved landmark in the neighborhood.
Twin Lakes Capitoline Wolf
By 1931, Benito Mussolino had been in power for 10 years, and he marked the anniversary by sending a few replicas of Rome’s “Lupa Capitolina” (Capitoline Wolf) statue around to other cities, including this one to Cincinnati. Unlike the cities of Rome, Georgia or Rome, New York (which each have one too), Ohio’s third largest city isn’t named after the Italian capital, but for the beloved Roman statesman, Cincinnatus.
Set in Eden Park along the banks of Twin Lakes, the bronze statue is the same strangely shaped canis lupis as the original, an artwork that has come to symbolize Rome. It depicts the legend of Romulus and Remus, twin founders of the city, suckling at the she-wolf’s teat.
There are scores of copies around the world, many of them given as gifts by Mussolini. The one that landed here came through an arrangement made by the Order Sons of Italy, Cincinnati Chapter. As the only city in America to honor the great Cincinnatus, it seemed like a no-brainer at the time.
It has stood in its spot for over 90 years.
Walking Tours
Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden
Founded in 1873 and opened in 1875, the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden is the sixth oldest zoo in the United States. It was appointed as a National Historic Landmark in 1987.[2][5]
The zoo houses over 500 species, 1,800 animals, and 3,000 plant species. In addition, the zoo also has conducted several breeding programs in its history, and was the first to successfully breed California sea lions. In 1986, the Lindner Center for Conservation and Research of Endangered Wildlife (CREW) was created to further the zoo's goal of conservation. The zoo is known for being the home of Martha, the last living passenger pigeon, as well as the last living Carolina parakeet.
LiNdNer Park and Nature Preserve
This property was once home to the Lindners, the founders of United Dairy Farmers. The location contains many abandoned structures along its walking trails. From an abandoned pool, to an old seed store sign, ice house, and turtle pond, the location presents a unique opportunity to wander and explore.
The trails are clearly marked and easily walked from start to finish in less than 30 minutes.
Everything is open to the public except the house on the property, which is home to the caretaker and open by appointment only.
A History Summary
1788 - Mathias Denman, Colonel Robert Patterson, and Israel Ludlow landed at a spot, at the northern bank of the Ohio, opposite the mouth of the Licking, and decided to settle there. The original surveyor, John Filson, named it "Losantiville".
January 4, 1790 - St. Clair changed the name of the settlement to honor the Society of the Cincinnati.
1811 - The introduction of steamboats on the Ohio River opened up the city's trade to more rapid shipping allowing the city to establish commercial ties with St. Louis and New Orleans, downriver.
1810 to 1830 - The city's population nearly tripled from 9,642 to 24,831.
1819 - Cincinnati was incorporated as a city. Exporting pork products and hay, it became a center of pork processing in the region.
1825 - 1840 - Construction on the Miami and Erie Canal began on July 21, 1825, when it was called the “Miami Canal”, related to its origin at the Great Miami River. The first section of the canal was opened for business in 1827, which connected Cincinnati to nearby Middletown. By 1840, it had reached Toledo.
1836 - The Little Miami Railroad was chartered, with construction beginning soon after, to connect Cincinnati with the Mad River and Lake Erie Railroad, and provide access to the ports of the Sandusky Bay on Lake Erie.
1840 - 1850 - The city had a labor shortage until large waves of immigration by Irish and Germans in the late 1840s. The city grew rapidly, reaching 115,000 people by 1850.
1859 - Cincinnati laid out six streetcar lines with the cars being pulled by horses, which made it easier for people to get around the city.
1872 - Cincinnatians could travel on the streetcars within the city and transfer to rail cars for travel to the hill communities. The Cincinnati Inclined Plane Company began transporting people to the top of Mount Auburn that year.
1889 - The Cincinnati streetcar system began converting its horse-drawn cars to electric streetcars.
1903 - The Ingalls building was completed.
1920s - An early rejuvenation of downtown began into the 1920s and continued into the next decade with the construction of Cincinnati Union Terminal, the United States Courthouse and Post Office, the Cincinnati Subway, and the 49-story Carew Tower, which was the city's tallest building upon its completion.
1930s - Cincinnati weathered the Great Depression better than most American cities of its size, largely due to a resurgence in river trade, which was less expensive than transporting goods by rail.
1937 - The Ohio River flood of 1937 was one of the worst in the nation's history and destroyed many areas along the Ohio valley. Afterward, the city built protective flood walls and after World War II, Cincinnati unveiled a master plan for urban renewal that resulted in modernization of the inner city.
1950s - Cincinnati's population peaked at 509,998 and $250 million was spent on improving neighborhoods, building clean and safe low- and moderate-income housing, providing jobs and stimulating the economic growth.
2001 - The city experienced the 2001 Cincinnati riots, causing an estimated $3.6 million in damage to businesses and $1.5-2 million in damage to the city itself. Subsequently, substantial transformations unfolded, particularly in the process of gentrification within the Over-the-Rhine neighborhood.
2018 - MLS announced the inclusion of FC Cincinnati, becoming the city's third professional sports team.
2021 - TQL Stadium, located on Cincinnati's west end, was constructed and opened its doors in 2021.