Cleveland advice
 

Hi everyone,
We're thinking of taking a driving trip to Cleveland, mid-July, and I need some hotel, etc. advice.

We'll likely go to the ballgame on Friday night and the Rock and Roll Museum on Saturday or Sunday afternoon. Otherwise, our time is open.

Re hotels, we don't need anything fancy, just clean, safe and central. I can't remember where we stayed last time we were there (long ago) but the two that come up on expedia in my star-range and price range (thought I'd be happier to spend less) are Cleveland Intercontinental Suites ($153), Intercontinental Cleveland ($189). I haven't check the price yet but there's a recent very good thread that recommends the Radisson. We're also fine with anything like Embassy Suites, Doubletree, etc. Any suggestions? A good location (shops, restaurants, stuff) is really important to us.

We'll have a car but do like to walk. I'd be happy to have your suggestions re restaurants, too. Casual is a must since we're traveling in a teeny car and don't have room for lots of luggage so clothes choices will be at a minimum.

Thanks

I am no expert, but if I ever get to Cleveland, I plan to dine at Lola.

That looks amazing, Janet. If I can think of a way to take something dressy to wear, it's a possibility. The problem is that we're driving in a sportscar and there's almost no room in the trunk. We're limited to one carry-on size bag -- for the two of us!

We had a great time in Cleveland. TR here. Concur about Lola - it was closed when we were there. Loved the Mexican restaurant I mention in the TR

http://www.fodors.com/community/unit...rip-report.cfm

Hi goddesstogo,

While there's more rock star paraphernalia there than generally interests me, I quite enjoyed the section called "precursors to rock" most at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and felt I left quite educated. Coming from Toronto, downtown Cleveland may seem rather eerily quiet and undeveloped, but some of the architecture there (e.g., Soldiers & Sailors Monument, Old Stone Church, Fountain of Eternal Life, the Arcade) is lovely and under-appreciated.

Another highlight for me was the James A. Garfield mausoleum in the lovely green Lakewood Cemetery with the views of Lake Erie and the downtown skyline in the distance. Nearby to Lakewood Cemetery are the University Circle and Little Italy neighborhoods. In this area, I thought the Case Western campus quite attractive and the Cleveland Museum of Art actually stellar (not to mention it's free). The Botanical Gardens nearby the museum are a pleasant enough way to spend an afternoon. Little Italy or nearby Coventry Village in Cleveland Heights are a pleasant setting for a meal while you're in the area.

The Ohio City area is also worth checking out for the West Side Market and lovely nearby homes. The John Heisman (of the American football Heisman trophy) birth home is in a pleasant area of Ohio City within easy walking distance of the West Side Market.

You'll have a car, so this may not interest you, but I got around on transit exclusively while there, taking the "Health Line" from Downtown to the University Circle area and the Red Line to Ohio City.

Have a good time. Cleveland doesn't get the best press, but does have a surprising amount to offer. Best wishes, D. Williams

Thanks so much, everyone -- this is exactly what I was looking for!

Comfort Inn might just fit the bill. Is the neighbourhood fairly interesting?

We've been to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame before -- spent a whole day there and still didn't see the whole thing!

We're very likely to leave the car in the hotel parking lot and just take public transportation and/or cabs wherever we're going.

Any more hotel advice? More restaurants? I seem to remember a nice row of restaurants somewhere.

We walked from the Comfort Inn to the Hall of Fame.....the neighbourhood was mainly a business district (think Spadina/Front area without the Dome and Entertainment District). On/Off highway was easy as was parking.

The breakfast place that I chose in Cleveland was the Big Egg on Detroit. The breakfast was quite good. There was off street parking behind the restaurant.

We have had nice stays at the Marriott, the Residence Inn, Holiday Inn Express and the Renaissance. The last one is old, and some of the rooms can be tiny, but it is quite elegant and impressive. All of these are within walking distance of Progressive Field, Quicken Arena, the R&R Hall of Fame, Playhouse Square, the Horseshoe Casino, and a number of good to excellent restaurants, including Lola on E. 4th St, and several near W. 6th St in the Warehouse District.

Other good restaurants are located in or near Ohio City, which has a great beer scene as well, the Tremont neighborhood, where Lola was originally and its sister Lolita is now, and in Little Italy, around Murray Hill and Mayfield Rd on the east side.

For restaurants, we loved Fahrenheit in Lincoln Park area, other side of town but well worth the trip, area seems to be regenerating.

We also liked Fire Food and Drink in Shaker Heights.

At the Comfort Inn, you're very near Playhouse Square area that has some shows. You'll be very close to the reasonably frequent Health Line that plies between downtown and University Circle. You might feel there like you're in a bit of a no-man's land, especially as you proceed westwards. You're about 1 km east from what I'd consider more the "heart" of downtown, the Tower City Terminal area. I think the Comfort Inn would be ok, but just so you know what you're in for.

I actually stayed about 8-10 blocks further to the west of the Comfort Inn at the Brownstone Inn, a lovely Victorian B&B filled with beautiful antiques. While I had a great time for a remarkably good price, I was further into the "no man's land". I think I'd probably pick to stay in Ohio City if I were to return.

Here's a look at someone's favorite goings-on in Cleveland during the summer, with lots more links:
https://www.law.csuohio.edu/meetcmla...ampaign=buffer

Make sure to get reservations to Lola as soon as you know your dates.

It can be a fun evening to see the Cleveland Symphony playing outside at Blossom.

http://www.cleveland.com/musicdance/...2014_blos.html

Our stays in Cleveland were at the Renaissance.

Go into Painesville or Fairport Harbor or Mentor for a beach day! Small town feel, some good mom and pop food around there.

We live 30 miles from Cleveland so we have never stayed at a hotel there but I would suggest one of the downtown hotels most all of which have good reviews: Marriott, the Residence Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Renaissance, Hampton Inn, Hilton Garden Inn. All within walking distance to the Game and R&R. The Horseshoe Casino is new to Cleveland and a good place to walk thru and have a casual lunch. I would not count on public transportation, driving in Cleveland is not bad. Blossom is beautiful and a great evening but it would be about a 20-25 minute drive. A nice day out on the Lake can be had on The Goodtime which you can board on 9th street, I will get more info on that for you.

Here is the link for The Goodtime: http://goodtimeiii.com/site/ We love seeing Cleveland from the water while sipping a glass of wine on the upper deck!

This is so great! Thanks, everyone.

Okee dokee! We've now got baseball tix and reservations at the Marriott Downtown at Key Centre!

I've downloaded all your info but if there's anything else you can think of to tell me, I'd appreciate it.

Thanks again.
gtg

AND we have reservations for dinner at Lola on Saturday night!
Woo hoo!

I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO jealous!!! I want a full report.

If you enjoy beer (and good food) the Tremont Tap House is quite good. The house from thjt movie "A Christmas Story" is there somewhere, now a museum.

I'll make a note of the Tremont Tap House, thanks, SeaF.

It's turning out to be a great weekend -- baseball on Friday night (fingers crossed for good weather), R&R Hall of Fame on Saturday, Lola on Saturday night, and on Sunday afternoon we're going to a swing dance (yes, we do) in the Atrium of the Cleveland Museum of Art!

Good weekend!

((y))

Lola has the best fries!

If you get a chance try the Mexican restaurant we enjoyed - Momocho

Have fun!

I've got it underlined in my notes, Elizabeth -- it's a definite possibility!

Well, I'm back and, in large part thanks to you guys, here's how the weekend stacked up.

We drove from Toronto to Cleveland on Friday, in beautiful weather and with the top down all the way. We used the Whirlpool Nexus-only bridge for the first time and got across in two minutes instead of the 30 to 60 minute wait at the Rainbow Bridge (same coming home). We checked into the Marriott Downtown Key Centre and were given a lovely room on the 23rd floor, facing the lake (and the football stadium and the RnR Hall of Fame). There were lots of weddings at the hotel on the weekend so we had some fun having a drink in the bar and watching the fashion parade of bridesmaids' dresses.

OK, here's what we did:
Friday -- we walked down to 4th Street for dinner, checked out a few places and ended up at the place on the corner called, I think, the 4th Street Bar and Grill. It was just a quick bite before the ballgame but the food was decent. It was a good think we walked down there though, because that's where we found Lola! Anyway, after dinner we saw a great ballgame. It was the first time I'd seen a call reversed and it changed the outcome of the game. It was a beautiful summer night, the crowd was lively (mostly because everyone was celebrating LeBron's return to Cleveland) and we stayed for the fireworks after the game. Had the best soft ice cream ever!

Saturday -- we took the free trolley down to the RnR Hall of Fame, though we could easily have walked (we did walk back). The exhibits were great and we spent hours walking around, we saw a fabulous concert (on DVD), had lunch in the cafe, did a little shopping in the gift shop and then went back to the hotel for a bit of a break. That's when we had a drink in the bar and the fashion show.

That night we had a lovely dinner at Lola. The food was excellent and if I had one teeny complaint it would be that it was uncomfortably warm in there. But otherwise, everything was perfect. I was very interested in the party we were sitting next to -- one man and five women all, I would guess in their late twenties. They were all very casually dressed (shorts, tank tops) so I could see that he was very heavily tattooed, several piercings, shaved head. He didn't look like someone you'd want to meet in a dark alley. The girls had a couple of piercings but looked more 'average'. Here's the thing -- when their food was served, they didn't touch it till they held hands and said (either silently or very quietly) grace. When they left, I noticed that the man was very caring of the women, making sure they all went ahead of him and hanging back for the one that was lagging a bit behind. Just goes to show you can't tell anything by looks!

Anyway, after dinner we went for a stroll through the Horseshoe Casino, watched people win and lose for a while and then we strolled back to the hotel.

Sunday -- on Sunday we went to a swing dance which was held at the Cleveland Museum of Art, an absolutely gorgeous building in an absolutely gorgeous area of town. It was lots of fun. Everyone was very friendly and nice and we enjoyed dancing and then had a very nice drink in the atrium. We'd planned to walk around the museum a bit but the dance was held outside and it was pretty warm and sitting down and having a tall cool drink won out over seeing art.

Sunday night we went to Momocho which was in quite a different area than I expected. It's really a little neighbourhood restaurant in a very pretty area of cottage-like houses. We started off with pineapple guacamole which I liked so much I'm going to make it this weekend for company. I also had a mango-hot pepper margarhita which was fabulous! We had our drinks and guac in the back patio where we chatted with the other guests waiting for their tables and then we had our dinner on the little patio and there were FIREFLIES!!! It was magical!

After dinner we walked on the main street (can't remember the name) where the West Side Market is and the charming little Market Street and we stopped for ice cream at Mitchell's which was so interesting. We were sorry we hadn't explored the market area in the daytime but we'll do it for sure next time.

There's really a lot in Cleveland that I'd go back for. The downtown is quite beautiful -- lots of gorgeous architecture, both old and new, very clean streets and something I wish we had more of in my city -- lots of nice green spaces for people to stop and rest or have their lunch it. We always seem to be building concrete parks or tree museums here.

We'll definitely go back for a third visit. It's a nice drive (5 hours), lots to do there, and everyone we met was pleasant and helpful.

Thanks again, fodorites, for all the great suggestions. I wish we'd gotten to do all of them but the ones we did we're super and, well, we have to save something for next time, right?

gtg

It sounds like a great trip and you really make Cleveland sound inviting.

It really is nice, starrs. If you've never been, it's worth putting on your list.

On a future trip, another fun and educational activity is to take one of the free (donation) heritage walking tours. We took the Sunday morning Canal Basin Park in the Flats Tour. There is much more to Cleveland than meets the eye!

http://www.clevelandgatewaydistrict....itage-tourism/

I'm going to put that in my Cleveland file, Hershey, thanks!

That sounds like fun gtg! A girl in my Pilates class is from Cleveland, I'll tell her how much you liked her city.

Thanks for reporting back gtg and so glad you had a good time!

Thanks for the follow up! Glad it was a good trip!

Glad you enjoyed your trip. Thanks for reporting back!
We certainly appreciate Cleveland's offerings, too.

Hoping to make a trip to Toronto soon.

I'd forgotten about the pineapple guac - it was delicious! Glad you enjoyed your weekend. The Momocho area is interesting, isn't it?

Momocho is in, or on the fringe of, the Ohio City neighborhood, which has lots of good places to explore.

Glad you enjoyed CLE! It's gotten a bad rap for many years, but hopefully that's behind us know with all the positive changes happening in the city. I do wish, however, that our waterfront is as developed as yours in Toronto. We have so much potential for that to happen!

Just a small point of clarification ... the name of the cemetery mentioned by Daniel is Lakeview, not Lakewood. Lakewood is actually a western suburb of CLE.

Can't say enough good things about the Art Museum's Atrium, which is simply stunning.

Thanks for the clarification Debs :). I'm not surprised I made the error; I should make sure to check what I write before I send it.

Goddesstogo-- Thanks for reporting back. Sounds like you had as much fun in Cleveland as I did! Next time, do go into the art museum to see some art after swing dancing; the museum is one of my favorites in the US. :)

The atrium was very beautiful and I've already planned my wedding there! ;)

It reminded me very much of the gorgeous atrium in the British Museum. Anyone know offhand if it's the same architect?