Local Attractions
Question for all you who are local to the greater Cincinnati area…
If you had a family member, friend, etc. coming in from out of town and s/he had never been to the Cincy area before (or had only visited a few times), where would you take him/her for fun? What are some unique, must see, Cincinnati-only attractions (restaurants, parks, etc)?
Some places that come to my mind are Montgomery Inn, Skyline and/or Gold Star, a Reds game (first professional baseball team), Newport on the Levee, Union Terminal and King’s Island. What else am I forgetting? Comments on this list? Having lived here my entire life, it’s hard to think of which places are not found elsewhere and are worth visiting, so the well-traveled out there will probably know better than I!
This post is inspired by my trip to Nashville, when it took my brother and sister-in-law a while to think of a unique “Nashvillian” place to eat. 
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Still remember you emailing me about Car-Part's website.
You’ve got the aquarium, which could go in with the levee. You also have the riverboats. I know they have a dinner boat that takes you out on the river.
Sheesh, we’ve only been here a year and a half, and half of that time on weekends I was in Lexington. We’ve got many unique Nashvillian places, we just weren’t sure if you would like them and such. We’ve been scoping them out as well, so we’ll be ready the next time you are here. You have to remember it costs money to try them all out first. Plus we like to cook.
I think one of the families in our church is going to the zoo and the aquarium today or tomorrow in Cincy. Maybe those two?
Sawyer point…
depends on what their interests are. The taft museum.
Oh! Isn’t there a winery? that too!
only in the cincy area?… well a Florence Freedom game would be a fun thing to do… but that’s only if you venture over the river…
and David, you say you and Elizabeth like to cook?… well i hope you guys are using some skills picked up from AB!
I wasn’t bashin’ ya, bro. I like a good home-cooked meal just as much, if not more than, an overpriced restaurant. I just wanted to get a sense of what people felt were “tourist attractions” in this area and used my Nashville trips as inspiration.
Bryan, I’m talking about the greater Cincinnati area, which includes “over the river.” However, I don’t think a Freedom game is all that unique. Many cities have minor league, or major league, ball clubs.
Hmm, riverboats…Good call, Jeremy. That’s fairly big around here, especially during Tall Stacks.
Jen, don’t know where the winery is around here. Know what it’s called?
I would definately go with the zoo and aquarium. The cincy zoo is pretty well known for what they are doing in breeding endangered animals. Riverboats are good, and the restraunts you mentioned are the ones I would take people to as well.
Ya know, Pompilio’s is also a very famous spot in Cinci thanks to Rain Man. I’ve still never eaten there!!
Ya know what just occured to me…all the “Cincinnati” stuff in Rain Man are in Kentucky. The airport. Pompilio’s. Man, Cincinnati wouldn’t be anything without Kentucky
I love Jeremy, but that last comment is so absurd that I think he was smoking two pounds of blue “grass” when he typed it. Live la vida ‘Nati! Ole ole ole!
My favorite spot in the city is Eden Park. It has the art museum, the conservatory, and if you go just around the corner and up the hill, there are a couple of cool little dives to check out. If you’re gonna do the KY stuff, the Tea Room in downtown Florence (all two blocks of it) is a really cool place to chill out and talk. First Watch is always good. Larosa’s gets my vote for best ‘Nati chain food. Trio’s in Tri-County is good for lunch (it runs around 10 or 15 bucks a person, but it’s very good). Beni Hana’s has lunch for about 10 bucks a person too, although you can get good Japanese almost anywhere. Oooooor, you could always, as you said, hit Union Terminal, or the CSF for an alt. play experience. Tower Place Mall is also kind of a cool place to wonder around for a few minutes. The important thing is, while you’re doing all of this, drink plenty of water, because my friend, it’s getting ready to be hot in the city.
What about that old train station turned mueseum in downtown? What about that tall building you can go to the top of (larue tower?), there is the freedom center next to the ball park, and maybe you could get them to come down on a weekend where there is a irish/italian/german fest going on in newport/covington during the summer? If they come during the summer, there are all those other fireworks events.
Try looking around on here too:
http://cincinnati.citysearch.com/
Lol, Paul, Union Terminal is the “old train station turned mueseum.”
Thanks for the comments everyone. Some of you have mentioned things that I didn’t think about, such as LaRosa’s, Rain Man and the Freedom Center.
I think some have misunderstood this post. I didn’t write it because someone was coming into town and I was planning for it. I just wanted to see what everyone thought were Cincinnati “specials,” what was unique to this area. Different people have different ideas on what’s specific to this area, so I just wanted to see what your opinion was. And I definitely got a variety of responses.
here’s the winery: http://www.henkewine.com