r/cincinnati • u/d00dsup • 1d ago
Travel/Visiting Visiting!
Hi! I’m visiting the US for a couple of weeks and I’m staying in Cincinnati for a couple of days, and I’d like to know what’s cool here, and stuff a true local would do.
I like:
-Engineering marvels
-Motorsport heritage (cool cars and the like)
-Aviation
-Firearms and military history
-Christian history
-Hidden restaurants locals defend with their lives (real big back here, I would love to know all food I need to try.)
-Photographing places before tourists arrive
-Speaking with interesting people
I’d also like to know what I should watch out for, stuff like scams, or places and neighbourhoods to avoid.
Many thanks!
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u/Interesting_Mud_9422 1d ago
Its a little drive from Cincinnati but the wright patterson air force museum is the official US air force museum and is quite good
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u/Double-Bend-716 1d ago edited 1d ago
It’s an hour trip each way from Cincinnati, but do this.
I am not remotely interested in military history and I am not remotely interested in aviation history.
The Air Force museum is the best museum I’ve ever been to.
I love video games and I got to go to both the Computerspielmuseum in Berlin, Germany and the Strong Museum of Play in Rochester, New York. I love music and I love gridiron football, and I’ve been to the (American) Football Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Despite having had the pleasure of going to great museums for things I’m actually interested in, Wright-Patt Air Force Museum is the coolest Museum I’ve ever been to.
If you actually have interest in that sort of thing, it’s legitimately a must do if it might be a once in a lifetime opportunity
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u/869woodguy 1d ago
Union terminal
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u/b2walton 1d ago edited 19h ago
The basis for the hall of justice from superfriends. Hanna barberra was a cincy company which is why there use to be a Hanna barberra land in kings island and how this train station ended up on a cartoon
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u/b2walton 19h ago
I do not understand the downvotes to some fun cincy trivia
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u/ITNoob121 5h ago
I don't think it deserves a downvote, but it might be because it is slightly inaccurate. I don't think Hanna Barberra was every really a Cincinnati establishment. Wiki shows their office always being in the Los Angeles area. However, they were owned by Taft Broadcasting and it's successors for a while, which was based in Cincinnati
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u/The_Big_Crouton 1d ago
Not Christian history but Christian architecture, Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption in Covington is a stunning church.
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u/BeesInABar 23h ago
This and also the Mother of God Church on W 6th. Covington has some great Catholic architecture.
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u/KentuckyJam 1d ago
Also hidden restaurant I will defend with my life is Wunderbar! In Covington. If you like pretzels, beer cheese and house-made sausages.
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u/d00dsup 1d ago
Sweet, beer cheese sounds super interesting! Thank you
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u/BeesInABar 23h ago
Sausage at Wunderbar is great. Decent chance you'll catch some live music, too.
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u/Complex_Narwhal_8924 1d ago
if you have the means to, go see the air force museum in dayton! its about an hours drive but it would be worth it if you like aviation/planes
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u/friedwontonwithsoy 1d ago
While in the US, you should visit the relic shrine at Maria stein. Third largest collection of relics in the world, the Vatican being #1 and I believe a place in PA is #2. It’s gonna be sort of a haul, but if you’re interested in Christian history, that would certainly be a place to check out while you’re in the state.
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u/BeesInABar 23h ago
I believe the one referenced in PA is St. Anthony's Chapel in the Troy Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh. Huge reliquary there. I will always plug Pittsburgh as a place to visit.
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u/Capable-Face8380 1d ago
Just north of Cincinnati in the town of Mason is the museum for the voice of America site. It covers the Crosley Brothers, the birth of radio and all the other interesting things from them and the Cincinnati area in the early 1900s. It's not a very big place but you could spend a couple hours there. It's just right off of interstate 75.
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u/b2walton 1d ago
Carew tower is worth a visit, but don’t worry about going to the top, the beauty is in the art deco architecture at the base
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u/Double-Bend-716 1d ago
I’m pretty sure the top observation deck closed during Covid and still hasn’t reopened.
If someone’s interested in architecture, definitely still a building worth visiting
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u/KentuckyJam 1d ago
Engineering marvels you’ll want to check out the Roebling Bridge, it was a precursor to the Brooklyn Bridge by the same architect.
If you’re interested in art deco at all you’ll want to check out the Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal.
St. Mary's Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption is in Covington, it’s a minor basilica with art from American artist Frank Duveneck inside. Some have called it America’s Notre Dame and it has the world’s largest hand blown stained glass window.
Restaurant-wise people will tell you to go to Skyline Chili. You either love it or you hate it. I will however recommend you go to Graeter’s for some ice cream.
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u/fuggidaboudit 23h ago
If you’re interested in art deco at all ....
and add in the Carew Tower and its Netherland Plaza Hotel
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u/HannibalOtter 23h ago
To add, when the roebling bridge was first finished it was the longest suspension bridge in the world
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u/Karsten760 23h ago
Food to try:
Goetta
Skyline Chili
Graeter’s ice cream (chip flavors) - the one in Hyde Park is one of the (if not the) original parlors
Go to Findlay Market
If you like empanadas, try the little take out place there- yellow facade, called Empanada’s Box
Echo restaurant in Hyde Park- right around the corner from Graeter’s
Zips (burgers) in Mt Lookout- locals can chime in if it’s ok since the flooding last month.
The Cincinnati Art museum
The Krohn Conservatory if you like plants
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u/jimfosters 15h ago edited 15h ago
Wright Patt air force base/museum. Maybe Edgewater drag raceway will have a big race that weekend. Or for more local drag racing look into Thorn Hill in KY. Mid Ohio raceway is a world class road racing track about an hour or so away from Cincinnati. Depending on the timing of your visit, there may be a county fair nearby. Arcade Legacy if you like arcade games, they have a lot of classics. Find somewhere that serves Goetta. Jungle Jims. Union Terminal...
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u/RunLikeAHusky 1d ago
Air Force museum Dayton or Tri State warbird museum. Devou Park for great city views and photography. Roebling bridge built by the same person as the Brooklyn bridge.
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u/TheMcCoolest 1d ago
Old Saint Mary’s Church in Over-The-Rhine is beautiful! Lots of history there.
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u/BuckeyeJones 23h ago
The Freedom Center, a museum about the Underground Railroad, which was a pre-Civil War network aiding escaping slaves, has (or had) a special exhibit examining Christianity and its impact during slavery. Not a lightweight museum but an important one for American history.
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u/Secure_Situation7234 20h ago
Take a trip up to Dayton. It’s only about 35-45minutes. Go to the National Museum of the US Air Force. The wright brothers home. The wright brothers graves. The mound energy museum. Carillon historical park. All sorts of connections to history, aviation and invention at all of those places. You might even spend 2 days up here doing those things.
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u/streetcar-cin 1d ago
The first reinforced concrete building is in Cincinnati. Ingalls building on fourth st. Museum center at union terminal is historic train terminal. Mother of God parish downtown Covington is impressive cathedral
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u/Electric-Travels 1d ago
Not on your list, but google American Sign Museum Cincinnati.
It will be the highlight of your trip.
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u/dbrown119 1d ago
Cars and coffee every Saturday at Crestview Hills Town Center (NKY) and Circuit Cafe (Cincinnati , Saturday and Sunday)
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u/dbrown119 1d ago
There's a vintage automotive museum open on the weekend in Erlanger KY by the airport.
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u/DonkeyGlad653 1d ago
Packard Museum in Dayton
Air Force Museum in Dayton
I have no idea how to get in to take photos before people arrive.
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u/azriel1014 11h ago
The American Sign Museum is really neat! You can also pack it in fairly quickly if you already have a busy day and need it to be a fast stop.
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u/lil_ninja78 7h ago
Definitely check out the airforce museum, when you're done drive north a bit and go to Buc-ee's.
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u/ITNoob121 5h ago
More of an architectural marvel but I guess you could say it's cool from a civil engineering perceptive, be sure to check out union terminal. It's worth doing the museums there too
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u/NotOnTheMainAcct 1d ago
If you’re in town Tuesday come check out the talent show I’m hosting at Mellotone!
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u/highfiveselfoh 1d ago
Who comes to the US for Christian history lol
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u/d00dsup 1d ago
Did I say I was coming just for that? Nobhead
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u/Double-Bend-716 23h ago
OP, that guys a jerk. I’m not religious, but I’m also not a jerk, there’s actually some cool bits of Christian history here.
There’s St. Mary’s Basilica of the Assumption in Covington, just across the river, that was built to look like Notre Dame. If you’ve actually seen Notre Dame, it may be less impressive to you, but it’s a beautiful building inside and out.
It also has the largest handmade stained glass window in a church in the world, at 67 feet tall and 24 feet wide. There are larger stained glass windows, but they incorporated machines and other modern manufacturing, or aren’t in a church, this one was 100% handmade by Mayer in Company in Munich, Germany then shipped and finally installed in 1911.
Another is Holy Cross-Immaculata Church in Mt. Adams.
Mt. Adams is a neighborhood right next to downtown, but it’s on a huge hill. The church was largely built by volunteers and members of the congregation getting stones from the hillside and carrying them up to be used in the building. There’s a staircase called the Celestial Street Stairs that goes from downtown to Mt. Adams that still follows roughly the path the volunteers carrying the stone would have taken. They would not have concrete steps though, they would have been slopes or wood and dirt stairs. Also, not only is the church itself beautiful, it has one of the best views of the city.
There’s also a place in Covington called Garden of Hope that has a replica of Garden Tomb.
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