Cincinnati Travel Assistance Needed
 

I am planning to go with my daughter to Cincinnati in September so my daughter who is a "big" baseball fan can see one of her favorite player that plays for the Reds and just to see some more of the US.

First question, do I need to rent a car if we plan on going to a Reds baseball game, the Cincinnati Art Museum, and Freedom Center? or can I get a nice hotel that is in walking distance?

Second question, can anyone suggest some good hotels? I am not a big fan of Hilton, however their Netherland I read was just renovated.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Once I get my bearings I am sure this could be a fun 2 day trip. Also, any good coffee and pastry shops? & Seafood restaurants?

Ciao

How old is your daughter? I haven't actually stayed in any of the hotels, so I can't help you there, but to get you started there are a few things I can tell you.

The Reds stadium and the Freedom Center are almost next door to each other-right on the Ohio River. If you are talking about the Art Museum in Eden Park,it would be pretty far to walk to it. It is only about a 10-15 minute drive, but you may be able to take a bus from downtown Cincinnati to it. Hopefully the hotel you stay at would be able to help you with that.

There are hotels in downtown Cincinnati and right across the Ohio River in Covington and Newport. If you are staying in Kentucky along the river, you can easily walk to the Reds game and there are buses that go back and forth from Kentucky to Cincinnati. The purple people bridge is only for pedestrians and is fun to walk across.

There are numerous excellent restaurants in downtown Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky. Newport on the Levy has anything you could want as far as eating (you might want to visit the Newport Aquarium also)--Mitchells Fish House and Joe's Crab Shack are two that specialize in seafood at that location that come to mind. If you go to the Art Museum in Eden Park, it is right next to Mt. Adams which is a fun place to visit too. There is a coffee shop there and a seafood restaurant that is supposed to be good. Parking is very poor up there, and it is small enough that you could walk through the area. (Cincinnati isn't an easy city to find your way around once you get out of the city proper. It was built on hills and streets don't always follow a set pattern.)
There are Starbucks downtown in Cincinnati and one in Covington by the Rivercenter (in the search engine above--type in Cincinnati Hotels--there are a couple of threads that may help you. One in April, I think, talked about the Marriott Rivercenter)

I think you could fill two days without renting a car between Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky. Like I said above, I would think that wherever you stay could help you with public transportion if you want to venture further out or even rent a car for a day while there. There is much more to see here, so hopefully you will want to come back. (Cincinnati Zoo, Kings Island, Aronoff Center, Union Terminal etc. etc.).

Thx maj, my daughter is grown so walking is no problem.

I was interested in the Petra Lost City of Stone at Cincinnati Art Museum, but I don't have the address.

Thank you for bringing up the option of KY. I'll take a look at the hotels there as well. What city should I search?

This information is helpful and please feel free to add more since we will probably travel in mid - September.

http://www.cincinnatiartmuseum.org/

http://www.newportonthelevee.com/index.cfm
http://www.cincinnati.com/freetime/s...stgregory.html

http://www.downtowncincinnati.com/guide/

Try the above web sites for information. If you can't get any of them, let me know. The first has the address of the art museum as well as information about the Petra Lost City of Stone.

The Newport on the Levy one has listed some hotels close by on it--some with free shuttle to the river area.

The St. Gregory one has some information on Mt. Adams--like I said it is adjacent to the Art Museum with some small shops, restaurants etc.(It was the "hippy" area in my era--now it is more eclectic or yuppie--you're daughter would probably like it). I wouldn't make an extra trip to see it, but if you are already up there, it would be a good place probably to eat and walk around after you're visit to the Museum.


The Cincinnati one has a free guide if you don't have it and information about downtown hotels (and I think I saw that it had Kentucky ones in it too).

September is usually a nice time to be here. Hopefully people will reply who have travelled here with their experiences.

My friend and I spent a couple of days in Cincinnati last summer. We stayed downtown at the Millenium Hotel - got a really good price through their internet site. Didn't bid on Priceline because we wanted a room with 2 beds. We parked the car at the hotel when we arrived on Friday evening and didn't get it out again until we left on Sunday afternoon. We took public transportation wherever we went.

The Art Museum is fabulous. We were there in early June and the grounds were beautiful. When we left the museum we took the bus to a nearby neighborhood (can't remember the name) that was fun to walk through. We went there to eat lunch at an old pottery factory. We friend is a collector of the pottery that was produced there. Food was okay, nothing great, but my friend enjoyed visiting the site and we also enjoyed walking around the neighborhood.

We took the bus to Newport and visited the Aquarium. It was a neat place to visit and we saw a movie and ate dinner at Newport on the levee.

We went over to Covington on Sunday and attended mass (neither of us are Catholic, but we wanted to visit this beautiful church and had no other time to do so) at the Cathedral of the Basilica of the Assumption. I think the church is open at times other than mass. If you get a chance, go there. Both of us have visited many cathedrals in our travels (we love architecture), but agreed this is one of the most beautiful cathedrals we have seen.

I can't remember anyplace spectacular that we ate. We ate at a couple of places downtown near our hotel that were okay. I remember there was a brewing company where we had dinner on Friday evening. We ordered a selection of appetizers that were quite good and enjoyed trying several different foods.

The Westin in Cinci usually has some good weekend packages going...and the Embassy Suites in Covington is a nice place to stay.

The restaurant in the old pottery is called the Rookwood Pottery and the tables are all in the old kiln rooms.

The towns in Northern Kentucky are Covington and Newport.

Also you should try to have an ice cream at Graeter's while in town. The best ice cream in the world! As far as other local food, not fancy at all but everyone should try Skyline Chili and Frisch's. All local favorites.

The neighborhood mlm59 is talking about is Mt. Adams.

There are a couple of nice restaurants around Covington Landing also--one is Mike Fink's which has been there for a very long time and is known for its raw seafood bar. It is actually a boat on the river. Another is the Waterfront Restaurant. Also Beale Street which is kind of a bistro type place. There is a 5 star french restaurant called the Maisonette in downtown Cincinnati.

Just a heads up, some times the Reds games can sell out fast, depending on how well they are doing and who they are playing.

You don't say when in September you are going - just be aware that Oktoberfest Zinzinnati takes place the third weekend of September in downtown Cincy. It is a big, wonderful festival - I never miss it. But, it will cause fewer hotel rooms to be available, and prices usually go up.

I usually stay downtown when I visit Cincinnati. I've never cared for the rooms at the Netherland - they're small and sometimes worn. The Westin is great, but pricey. The Hyatt, Millennium and Crowne Plaza are all good places downtown. The Cincinnatian is fantastic if you want to splurge.

I've never stayed in Newport or Covington, but always include it in my visit. I love Mike Finks. And the Basilica of the Assumption is my favorite church in the US. You can easily walk or take public transport to the Kentucky side of the river.

I love Mt. Adams too. If you can, walk up the stairs to the Immaculata church - there are incredible views from up there. The Blind Lemon is a great place to have a drink and relax. And Eden Park (where the Art Museum is) is right next to Mt. Adams. We usually take a cab or drive there, so I have no info on public transport.

No trip to Cincinnati is complete without a visit to Skyline Chili. You'll want to order either chili spaghetti, a three-way (chili, spaghetti and cheese), a four-way (chili, spag, cheese and either onions or beans) or a five-way (chili, spag, cheese, onion and beans). The coneys are good too, with mustard and onion if you know what's good for you!

Graeter's is the best ice cream I've ever had, there are several locations, some of which have very good pastries too.

I hope you enjoy Cincinnati. I always do. Go Cards!

Another place you might want to consider for dinner is the Boathouse (Montgomery Inn). It is within walking distance of the stadium on the river and people frequently go there before or after a Reds game. It is known for its ribs, but the menu has many other choices (including fish which I usually get). In fact, you can get a half rib/half shrimp dinner which I think is very good. Many famous people have dined there when in town--in fact I think it was Bob Hope who insisted on going there whenever he was in the area (the original Montgomery Inn was-and still is-- in northern Cincinnati in his life time). It has sports memorabilia and pictures on the walls (which your daughter may enjoy). There is a large deck around the outside which overlooks the river where you can sit before or after dinner and have a drink.

I've been trying to think of coffee and pastry shops in the downtown area. The ones I go to are in the suburbs. Panera Bread has sprung up all over the area and has good coffee, specialty bagels (Cinnamon Crunch is excellent) and pastries as well as good soups, salads and sandwiches although I don't know if there is one downtown. Buskan Bakery has good pastries as well as Graeter's. There are Starbuck's and Awakenings also.

Have to mention this too--if you are definitely planning to see the Petra Lost City of Stone, I would consider getting tickets ahead of time. If you go on their web site, I think you can purchase them ahead of time. You may not have a problem, but I know when the Vatican Exhibit was here, we were at the place where that was being shown early in the day and there was a sign saying that it was sold out for that day. They had tour buses from nearby cities there as well as school tours.

Thank you everyone for your wonderful feedback. Everything I needed to know was covered.

The Millennium Hotel offers a pkg deal so I'll go that route. Sounds like I really don't need a car and still have plenty to do since I love to walk.

This will be nice weekend trip thx to all. You made my research so easy. All I need to take is this thread with me.

Sounds like you've chose a hotel - I live in Cincinnati so I don't have much hotel experience but the Cincinnatian is definitely the "highest end."

Don't worry about the Reds selling out - they haven't won a game in a month (I'm exagerating a bit, but we're ready for football season here now!). Boathouse is a good restaurant for ribs. I wouldn't recommend Cincinnati for seafood, though Mitchell's is decent. Jeff Ruby's is a great steakhouse downtown. Maissonette is 4star french, but the head chef left and started his own restaurant - Pigall's , which is the hotter spot as of late. Mt Adams is trendy and there are some good restaurants there as well. Rookwood is great - food is casual but good - what is really neat is eating in one of the kilns (Rookwood is considered the most collectible pottery in america).

If you've never had Cincinnati Chili - you have to try it while in town. Skyline is my favorite but I believe they have Gold Star at the ballpark. Graeters is the best local ice cream (chocolate mocha chip).

Any other questions, let me know - I love this town. Give a cheer for Barry Larkin at the game - he's the best ever!!

I second the recommendation on eating at the Montgomery Inn Boathouse. The best ribs I've ever had. It's right down the street from the stadium.

I keep thinking of things to tell you--trying to look through a tourist's eyes. There is a park along the river between the stadium area and the Boathouse restaurant on the Ohio side--even if you don't eat at the Boathouse,you may want to venture down that way. There's usually something going on down there, especially on the weekends, and it is a pretty walk.

We just returned from Cincinnati and attended the Reds game last Sunday (8/15). What a beautiful stadium and with amazing food choices. Montgomerey Inn had a food stall there with pulled pork sandwiches - my husband loved it! They also have Skyline Chili (serve coneys only), Mexican and standard grill items. Our only complaint was the hot sun on us all afternoon - frequently had to take our children into shaded area to cool off. Oh yeah, and the fact the Ken Griffey, Jr. wasn't playing - the main reason my teenage son wanted to go!

We finally had some cloud cover during the 8th inning - it was such a relief. You might want to consider seats behind 1st base if you attend an afternoon game.

I was at that game!! Too bad the Reds lost - your son didn't miss much w/Griffey - he hasn't been up to snuff since the Reds signed him (Larkin is the true hall of famer!). It was hot in the sun - I was happy I had dressed lightly because they had forcasted it to stay cool I believe. I'm so glad you enjoyed our stadium. My family & I had been discussing food at our ballpark versus others so it's nice to hear feedback from a visitor - we have great burgers & fries at Great American Ball Park as well. Funny fact - the Reds owner, Carl Lindner, didn't want people to refer to the new park as GAB (Great American Ballpark) so he insisted Ballpark be separated into two words for the naming.

Kdm said they were planning to come to see one of her daughter's favorite players--wondered if that was Ken Griffey.