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| TOP CINCINNATI AREA ATTRACTIONS |
| Cincinnati Art Museum |
| This "spacious", recently expanded "gem for all seasons" is "one of the more sophisticated museums in the country" with a "good collection of art for a city this size" "appealingly displayed" in light-filled galleries; visitors "love the fact that there's no admission fee" to view a permanent collection that ranges from Greek "funerary lions" to "Chagall's rooster painting", although there are charges for special exhibits. |
| Cincinnati History Museum |
| You'll find "lots to do" at this "must-see" museum that tells the city's history from its frontier-post beginnings through the early 1900s; guided by costumed storytellers, river rats can board a 94-ft. sidewheel steamboat, speak with a WWII-era housewife or explore a "great scale model" of 1940s Cincinnati; and thanks to its location in the "amazing", restored art deco train station that is Museum Center, it's a "wonderful way to spend the day." |
| Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden |
| "Beautifully laid out" and "easy to navigate", this attraction is also "the perfect size": big enough to have "something captivating around every manicured corner" but "small enough to be manageable in a day"; its "wide array of exhibits" allows visitors to "come face-to-face with underwater polar bears", "spooky vampire bats" and other "unique animals", or take in over 3,000 varieties of plants in the "lush botanical gardens"; as "one of the oldest zoos in the country", it's been designated a National Historic Landmark. |
| Coney Island |
| The other attractions at this amusement park "are just accessories" to the "spectacular" Sunlite Pool, where "lifeguards need boats to get to the center" of the "largest recirculating pool in the world" (a three-million-gallon affair complete with sun decks, waterslides and six diving boards); "a Cincinnati tradition" since 1867, this nostalgic destination also has retro rides like Dodgem Cars and bumper boats, as well as a Famous Fairways miniature-golf course and several picnic areas overlooking the Ohio River. |
| Great American Ball Park |
| There's "not a bad seat in the house" at this stadium situated on the banks of the Ohio River and home to the Cincinnati Reds, baseball's oldest club; a "huge improvement" over now-demolished Cinergy Field, the Great American Ball Park is a "terrific venue" where big league fans can down bratwursts and kielbasa - along with more standard baseball fare - as they watch the grass-field action or ogle a state-of-the-art scoreboard; N.B. there's a separate admission fee for the affiliated 16,000-sq.-ft. Hall of Fame & Museum, which documents the team's history and is open year-round. |
| Krohn Conservatory |
| Built in 1933, Eden Park's "gorgeous" "old-school" greenhouse, a free five-room mega-terrarium filled with "exotic plants from all over the world" (rainforests, deserts, the tropics), feels like a "hidden gem", especially "on a cold winter's day" or in late spring at the "spectacular" annual Butterfly Show; it's a "favorite for all ages", and its "manageable size" means the permanent displays "can be done in an hour or less." |
| Lois & Richard Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art |
| Founded in 1939, this contemporary art pioneer recently moved into its first freestanding home, an 80,000-sq.-ft. concrete-and-glass structure; with no permanent collection, the museum hosts temporary exhibitions and installations that range from drawing and painting to sculpture, photography and video; there's also a performance space and a floor - called the UnMuseum - dedicated to learning via interactive, touchable art. |
| Museum of Natural History & Science |
| One of three institutions in the landmarked Union Terminal (home to the Cincinnati Museum Center), this "great" option is especially "interesting" for sometime spelunkers who will appreciate the "very realistic" simulated limestone cave that has 500 feet of passageways, underground streams and waterfalls, and a live brown-bat colony that takes flight once a day; back up in the light, "be impressed by" the crevasses of a glacial ice cavern, scout the Ohio River valley of 17,000 BC or watch staffers preserve newly collected fossils. |
| National Underground Railroad Freedom Center |
| Set in three buildings on the banks of the Ohio River, this new museum uses film, animation, multimedia and various hands-on displays to address slavery in America and the struggle for freedom worldwide (Cincinnati itself was a major hub on the Underground Railroad during the 1800s); exhibits include a log structure once used to house slaves, and visitors can voice their opinions via interactive kiosks and an area set aside for facilitated discussion. |
| U.S. Bank Arena |
| U.S. Bank Arena (known originally as the Riverfront Coliseum, and known later as The Crown and the Firstar Center), is an indoor arena located in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio near the Ohio River next to the Great American Ball Park. Completed in 1975, the arena seats 12,823 for ice hockey. It was the home of the Cincinnati Stingers of the WHA from 1975-1979. Since then, the arena has hosted another minor-league hockey team and various concerts, political rallies, tennis tournaments, figure skating, a Billy Graham Crusade, and other events. The facility's longest-serving tenant was the men's basketball program of the University of Cincinnati, which used the arena from its completion until 1989, when U.C. built an on-campus facility (Shoemaker Center), now known as Fifth Third Arena. The arena building was heavily renovated in 1997, and still is in use. The current main tenants are the Cincinnati Cyclones of the East Coast Hockey League and the Cincinnati Jungle Kats of Arena Football 2. |
| Robert D. Lindner Family OMNIMAX Theater |
| "One of the best" of its ilk, this "nice facility" has drawn five million visitors (since 1990) for its repertoire of eye-popping films that capture the mysteries of the Nile, the soaring peaks of Mt. Everest or the journeys of Lewis & Clark; the five-story domed screen, combined with a 15,000-watt digital sound system, may make the "realistic images" too intense for those prone to motion sickness, but the rest of the Museum Center, located in historic Union Terminal, is suitable for all audiences. |
| The Vineyard |
| "Bring lots of Titleists - or, on second thought, bring lots of shag balls and save your Titleists for a wider course" than this "narrow, hilly" 1986-vintage muni with three ponds and "thick woods to lose shots" in; south of the city in Hamilton County on the Ohio-Kentucky border, it offers "reasonable value for a Cincinnati public facility." |
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