It's a conversation I often have when I'm traveling: the “so where are you from?” conversation. And, weirdly, when I tell people that I'm from Ohio, there always seems to be a good chance that the person I'm talking to will respond with, “Oh, I went to Cincinnati once!“
This always used to surprise me before I spent much time in Cincinnati myself. But of course, if you've ever been to Cincinnati, you'd know that this isn't really surprising at all.
Cincinnati, with its rich history, great beer scene, and long list of things to do, is a great Ohio city for anyone to visit.
A quick Cincinnati history lesson
The city of Cincinnati sits at the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers in southwest Ohio, right across the state line from Kentucky. The city was settled in 1788, and quickly became a “boom town,” growing rapidly in both population and wealth.
In fact, by the mid-1800s, Cincinnati was one of the largest and most prosperous cities in America thanks to the steamboat and pork processing trades. It became known as “The Queen of the West,” or simply “The Queen City,”
The city has a few other notable claims to fame, too, like…
- Cincinnati is home to the first professional baseball team: The Cincinnati Red Stockings (later the Reds) were formed in 1869.
- The first man to walk on the moon, Neil Armstrong, lived in Cincinnati.
- The Cincinnati area was also home to several US presidents, including William Howard Taft, Ulysses S. Grant, William Henry Harrison, and Benjamin Harrison.
- The Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden opened in 1875 and is the second-oldest zoo in America.
The boom years of Cincinnati faded after the Civil War, and the economic downturn that affected many other rust belt cities 100+ years later hit Cincinnati hard, too.
But, just as cities like Pittsburgh and Cleveland and Indianapolis have been turning the tides of their city narratives in recent years, so too is Cincinnati.
2 days in Cincinnati: Top things to do in Cincinnati
Cincinnati is a great destination to spend a long weekend. It's easily reachable from several major Midwestern cities (it's within 4 hours from places like Cleveland, Columbus, Indianapolis, Louisville, and even Nashville and Detroit), and has plenty of things to keep you busy.
Even if you visit over a cold, wet weekend like I did, you'll still find plenty of things to do in Cincinnati in 2 days.
Here is just a sampling of what there is to do in Cincinnati over a weekend:
1. Visit the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center
During the Civil War (and in the years leading up to it), Cincinnati was a border town in Ohio (a free state) across from Kentucky (a slave state). The city unsurprisingly played a huge role in both abolitionism and the Underground Railroad.
The story of slavery in America is told at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, which is a fantastic museum right on the river in downtown Cincinnati.
The museum doesn't just focus on the early days of America, though. According to its mission statement, the museum's goal is to “reveal stories about freedom's heroes, from the era of the Underground Railroad to contemporary time, challenging and inspiring everyone to take courageous steps to freedom today.”
Along with large exhibits on the slave trade in the Americas and the Underground Railroad, the museum also has exhibits on modern-day slavery and the fights for freedom that are ongoing in our world today.
This is a must-visit in Ohio!
2. Shop at Findlay Market
No visit to Cincinnati would be complete without spending some time in the city's Over-the-Rhine neighborhood, where you can experience the city's German influences.
My favorite stop in this part of the city is the Findlay Market, which is the city's oldest open-air public market, dating back to 1852. The market building is on the National Register of Historic Places, and inside you'll find fresh produce, meats, and pastries year-round.
You can even take a tour of Findlay Market while you're there.
3. Visit a brewery
Findlay Market is located in the aptly-named Brewery District, a part of the historic Over-the-Rhine neighborhood that once was home to the largest collection of pre-Prohibition-era breweries in the country. Today, there's an entire Brewing Heritage Trail here, plus plenty of working craft breweries to discover.
Some favorites include Rhinegeist Brewery (which offers both historic tours and tasting tours), Northern Row Brewery & Distillery, and Taft's Ale House (which is located in a renovated 1850s church).
There are also some unique tours you can take in Cincinnati that include touring local brewery caverns and underground tunnels. This cavern tour also includes a beer tasting.
4. Spot the murals
I'm a huge fan of street art, and it turns out that Cincinnati is a great city for murals. An organization called ArtWorks was tasked by Cincinnati's mayor about a decade ago to create a mural in each of Cincinnati's 52 neighborhoods – and they are well on their way to doing that and more.
Even just around the downtown area, you can find all sorts of cool and colorful murals.
ArtWorks has a list of all its murals if you want to look for them on your own, or you can join them on a mural walking tour on weekends.
5. See the John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge
If you think the John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge looks familiar, that's because it was designed by the same guy who would go on to build the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City!
Cincinnati's Roebling bridge was completed in 1867 and at the time was the longest of its kind anywhere in the world. Today, the bridge connects Cincinnati to the city of Covington, Kentucky.
6. Visit the American Sign Museum
A museum of signs might not immediately sound exciting, but I promise that the American Sign Museum in Cincinnati is worth the time and the admission fee. The museum takes visitors through 5 decades of sign-making, from the gold leaf signs of the early 1900s, to the neon signs of the '30s and '40s, to the funky plastic signs of the 1950s.
One large room in the museum is set up to look like a 1950s-era main street, completely decked out in all manner of colorful, blinking, and spinning signs.
The museum offers free tours on weekends, and even has a working neon shop inside. Of all the things to do in Cincinnati, this is probably my favorite!
Other museums worth visiting in Cincinnati include:
- Cincinnati Art Museum (one of the oldest art museums in America)
- Duke Energy Children's Museum (located in the Cincinnati Museum Center, which is in the city's former Union Terminal)
Cool tours to take in Cincinnati
Looking for a more guided look at the history and food of Cincinnati? Here are a few tours to consider:
- Cincinnati Streetcar Food Tour With Findlay Market (3-hour tour with an all-day streetcar pass)
- Ultimate Queen City Underground Tour (a tour of Cincinnati's underground tunnels)
- Saturday Cincy Brunch, History and Streetcar Tour (a fun weekend food tour featuring brunch foods)
- Ultimate Queen City is Haunted Tour (a great Over-The-Rhine tour that includes entry to the haunted Emery Theatre)
- The Original Findlay Market Tour (complete with food tastings!)
If you have one more day
Making a long weekend out of your visit to Cincinnati? Then I would suggest driving a little north of the city to Butler County, where you can find some other really unique things:
The Donut Trail
In 2016, Butler County officially launched the Donut Trail. This “trail” features 13 independent, family-owned donut businesses spread throughout the county.
I LOVE this concept – not only does it allow you to eat some delicious donuts that don't come from Dunkin, but it's also a fantastic way to promote and support local businesses, some of which have been around for generations.
Head up in the morning and hit up a few stops on the trail (I really liked Kelly's Bakery and Jupiter Coffee and Donuts), but just be aware that many of these shops do close as soon as they sell out of fresh donuts!
Jungle Jim's
Google Jungle Jim's, and you'll be told that it's a grocery store. But I'm here to tell you that this 6-acre behemoth is so much more than just a grocery store!
Jungle Jim's is a tourist attraction in its own right, with its funky decorations, giant cheese tower, and more than 180,000 food items from around the world. Go for the spectacle, and stay to fill up a shopping cart!
The original Jungle Jim's is in Fairfield, north of Cincinnati. But they recently opened up a second store in Eastgate, much closer to downtown.
READ MORE: A Butler County Bucket List
Where to stay in Cincinnati
Looking for a great place to rest your head for your trip to Cincinnati? Here are the hotels I would recommend:
1. Hampton Inn & Suites Cincinnati-Downtown
Not only is this hotel located smack dab in the middle of downtown (within walking distance of many local attractions and restaurants), but it's also located in an historic building that used to be home to the Cincinnati Enquirer. If you like historic touches along with large and comfortable hotel rooms, then this is the place for you.
Read reviews on TripAdvisor | Book a room here
2. Aloft Newport on the Levee
If you're looking for a more budget-friendly option, head across the river into Kentucky. I love the Aloft Newport of the Levee. Aloft hotels in general are modern and a little funky, and this one is also within a few steps of dining, shopping, and the Newport Aquarium.
Read reviews on TripAdvisor | Book a room here
3. Book an apartment or condo
There are plenty of cool vacation rentals around Cincinnati to choose from, whether you want to stay right downtown or a little further out.
Some of my favorite rental options in Cincinnati include:
Have you ever considered Cincinnati as a tourist destination? If not, will you now?
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Amanda Williams is the award-winning blogger behind A Dangerous Business Travel Blog. She has traveled to more than 60 countries on 6 continents from her home base in Ohio, specializing in experiential and thoughtful travel through the US, Europe, and rest of the world. Amanda only shares tips based on her personal experiences and places she's actually traveled!
Cincinnati is actually the first place I lived in when my family moved to the US, and I went to university in nearby Oxford, Ohio.
It’s actually a really nice town and one that, I hear from friends who still live there, that has only improved in the 20 years since I left.
I’d recommend anyone visit. People are friendly, the food is good (especially the chili 🙂 ), and there is a lot to see. Nice post btw, and lovely photos. And yes, my vote for Jungle Jim’s. Used to love that place!!
Great to hear more positive votes for Cincinnati! It’s definitely changed quite a bit in the last years, but I’d argue that it’s been for the better!
I haven’t been to Cincinnati since I was in college so this time around I am looking for new things to do and I definitely think that I will be hitting up that Donut Trail!
It’s delicious! And I love it as a way to bring attention to some cool local businesses.
I don’t really know much about Cincinnati except that it’s a radio city. I think! However, the Sign Museum looks pretty interesting.
Why not!
Haha yes! You’re probably thinking of the “WKRP in Cincinnati” sitcom! But Cincinnati really has been a huge radio city forever. Just north of there in Butler county was one of the largest relay stations for Voice of America for decades, too!
Indeed I am!
We Europeans may not know much about Cincinnati, but we know about the radio station lol!
I want to go to Cincinnati to check out their famous zoo. Coming from Florida the plane tickets are fairly cheap so it’s definitely going to be an epic trip to end the year off. I’m a museum lover as well so I’ll definitely be stopping by the American Sign Museum.
Very cool! Cincinnati has quite a few good museums (the Freedom Center is also very good), but the Sign Museum I think is my favorite!
We traveled from Vermont to visit the Ark Experience and the Creation Museum and our hotel staff told us to go to Jungle Jims a we really enjoyed it. Had never heard of it before but it was great!
Jungle Jim’s is so fun, isn’t it? We spent more than an hour in there.
Cincinnati is one of the best cities I’ve ever lived in! You’re making me want to move back! Love this post, but I do have to point out that that Armstrong was actually from Wapakoneta, Ohio, though he lived in Cincinnati later in his life and actually taught at UC. (Wapak is a great small-town Ohio experience, if you’re interested. They have an Armstrong museum, an adorable downtown, and this guy built a gigantic rock garden in his backyard called the Temple of Tolerance.)
Ohhh thanks for pointing that out! I obviously got some wrong info somewhere! And I’ve actually been to Wapak – I went to school in Ada and worked in Findlay for a couple years. 🙂
Newport Aquarium is cool, though it’s across the river in Kentucky. I’ve not spent a lot of time in Cincinnati, but I did finally go to Kings island for the first time about 2 years ago. I’ll have to check out the other things you’ve mentioned. I have family there, so it would be fun to visit them and see more of Cincy!
Ah yes King’s Island! I went there once or twice as a kid (we used to do family amusement park trips every summer). Highly recommend checking out more of the city next time!
I’ve only ever been to Columbus and also Hocking Hills, but I really would love to go to Cincy! Mainly because there’s a 21c there 😉
You’re not that far, either! You should totally make a trip. 🙂
I never thought of visiting Cincinnati before, but the neon sign museum looks so cool! Your Ohio posts have got me thinking I should make the trip south one of the times I’m visiting family in Michigan.
Definitely! Ohio really does have some cool things hiding everywhere. 🙂 (And the sign museum is SO COOL! I highly recommend a visit if you’re ever in Cincinnati.)
I have never considered visiting Cincinnati simply because there are still so many places I need to visit in the US. National Parks come before most cities for me 🙂 It does look like a lovely city though, and I wouldn’t purposely avoid it!
I totally get it! And, as an Ohioan, I feel like it’s so easy to overlook things that are close by – there are many cities in my state that I haven’t visited yet!
Also, cool historic fact about Cincinnati (that the first mural alludes to), the Cincinnati zoo housed the last known passenger pigeon in the world before (with her death) the species went extinct. There’s also a small exhibit about it at the zoo.
Ah yes! I did go and look up whether Cincinnati had ties to the passenger pigeon because of that mural!
As a native Cincinnatian, I always love to draw people’s attention to all our city has to offer. You hit the highlights, but there’s SO MUCH MORE! 🙂 I think you need to go back, Amanda. 48 hours is not enough.
Oh I definitely agree that I need to go back! What are some other things you’d recommend for a second or third trip?
Pyramid Park in Hamilton Ohio.
Large outdoor sculptures placed in Nature. You can tour in a rented golf cart….so fun!
I went there and wrote about it in a separate post all about Butler County! 🙂
Also, don’t forget Union Terminal (Cincinnati Museum Center) is the inspiration behind the Justice League.
What a fun fact!
I’m always surprised by your Ohio posts! I would love to check out that National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, that is an important time in America’s history and important for people to learn about. And how awesome that it’s so close to the Donut Trail! XD I would love to do this as a long weekend someday
I’ve been recommending that museum to everyone now – it’s very well done and I appreciate that they focus on both historical slavery and the “invisible” slavery that still exists today!
Two other cool things at the Freedom Center are the eternal flame and the segment of the For Berlin Wall.
Wow! To be honest I’ve never thought of heading to Cincinnati, but that museum looks worth the trip alone!
Not gonna lie – the museum was the only thing my to-do list when I first planned the trip! It’s a very good museum; definitely worth visiting!