11 Reasons Why We Never Want to Leave Cincinnati

Each neighborhood has its own personality

No one neighborhood in Cincinnati is just like the other. Start on one street and walk a few blocks to a new neighborhood and you’ll notice the changes. Over-the-Rhine is a hip spot for history lovers and revelers looking for a fun night out. Go to The Banks for the sports and party atmosphere, or Mt. Adams for the chill, low-key European vibes.

Northside is indie to its core, with a love for all things creative and eclectic, and Camp Washington’s industrial exterior is actually brimming with art, and culture and is a little bit funky in the best way (see the Campy Washington mural above).

In Northern Kentucky, Covington is a mix of its German and Southern Gothic heritage with plenty of great places to eat, drink and enjoy live music. On the West Side, don’t overlook Price Hill’s melting pot Incline District or the family-friendliness of Westwood’s business district. On the East Side, Hyde Park is upscale and trendy and Oakley is a yuppie paradise. But don’t take our word for it; get out and explore all the diversity and uniqueness for yourself.

Cincinnati chili feeds our souls

Is it chili or meat sauce? Yes. Cincinnati-style chili is not what most people outside the Queen City would think of when you say “chili,” but most Cincinnatians will automatically picture the thin, meaty sauce slathered over a hot dog or spaghetti. The dish gets a lot of disdain from non-locals, but to us, eating it is practically a spiritual experience.

Okay, maybe we wouldn’t go that far, but it’s pretty damn good and the thought of not being able to easily grab coneys or ways while out to lunch or dinner would break our hearts. And beyond our chili chains, Skyline and Gold Star, there are tons of mom-and-pop chili parlors ready to dish up this deliciousness.

Our chili is great, but so is the rest of our dining scene

Yes, we love our chili, our Graeter’s Ice Cream and our goetta. But apart from those Cincinnati delicacies, the Queen City also has a blossoming dining scene. This past year alone, Cincinnati has welcomed highly anticipated restaurants like Covington rooftop restaurant and bar Opal, Jose Salazar’s wine bar Safi, pasta-centric Wildweed, contemporary and high-end establishment Alara, New American restaurant Court Street Kitchen, Eastern European kitchen Sudova and American brasserie The Davidson.

And those are just the new spaces. We can't forget the popular dining strongholds like Sotto, Boca and The Precinct, just to name a few of the many.

Our pro-sports teams always give you something to cheer for

Cincinnati is scrappy and always sees the value in rooting for the underdogs. Sure, more often than not the Reds and Bengals will break your heart. We’re still not over the Bengals losing the AFC Championship to the Kansas City Chiefs in 2023, or when Joe Burrow got hurt the following season.

And yeah, the Reds will give you hope and immediately dash it and very likely won’t make the playoffs again this year, but even when things are bad, our sports teams know how to keep their fans hooked, and we remember there is always next season. And let’s not forget about the hope and joy FC Cincinnati brings as they consistently rank at the top of MLS.

Our museums are world-class

Housed in Union Terminal, a beautiful, Art-Deco-style former train terminal, that also served as the inspiration for the Super Friends’ Hall of Justice, the award-winning Cincinnati Museum Center isn’t just one big museum, but a museum complex with endless things to explore and learn. There are three main museums — the Cincinnati History Museum, the Museum of Natural History and Science and the Children’s Museum, plus a space for traveling exhibits, the OMNIMAX theater, a culinary studio and lab, the Nancy & David Wolf Holocaust & Humanity Center and a Cincinnati history library and archives.

And we have not one, but two art museums. The Cincinnati Art Museum is free to visit and is home to art in all kinds of mediums, spanning thousands of years, from ancient Roman vases to contemporary masterpieces. The Taft Museum of Art is housed in an 1820s mansion that was home to prominent Cincinnatians like Martin Baum, Nicholas Longworth, David Sinton and the Taft family. It features fine art from European and American artists, as well as Chinese porcelain, European watches and American furniture from the 19th century. You’ll also want to take the time to admire the murals by African American artist Robert S. Duncanson.

And that’s also not even touching on our quirkier museums, like the Pyramid Hill Sculpture Park and Museum, with its 70 outdoor sculptures and a museum featuring both ancient sculptures and contemporary exhibits; the American Sign Museum, which is pure Americana and tells the country’s history through an oft-ignored medium; the Lucky Cat Museum, home to tons of Maneki Neko (the beckoning cat sculptures popular in Japanese culture) in various styles; and the Vent Haven Museum, where you can admire a collection of ventriloquist dummies.

Cincinnati is the place to be for book lovers

A recent report from Explore ranked Cincinnati in the top 10 U.S. cities for book lovers, and it’s easy to see why. For avid readers, Cincinnati is rich in libraries (the Cincinnati Public Library ranks second in the country for circulation, behind New York City) and independent bookstores like downtown’s Ohio Book Store, which features five floors full of secondhand books, plus a book repair space; Downbound Books in Northside, Hidden Chapter in Ft. Thomas and Household Books in Walnut Hills (and coming soon to College Hill), plus many more.

We’ve also found space in literary history, most notably our infamous bootlegger George Remus is said to have been the inspiration for Jay Gatsby in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. (It’s also worth noting Cincinnati couple Sara and Gerald Murphy hung out with Fitzgerald and inspired Nicole and Dick Diver in Tender is the Night.)
Cincinnati also is home to many authors who have featured the Queen City in their works, like Emily Henry, Leah Stewart and Jessica Strawser.

The number of parks and hiking spots makes enjoying the outdoors extremely accessible

A 2023 study from Trust for Public Land ranked Cincinnati’s park system as one of the best in the country, with us coming in at No. 6 out of the U.S.’s 100 largest cities. Noteworthy in the study: Cincinnati scored high when it came to equity in access to parks by race and income. The study found 88% of residents live within walking distance (about half a mile or a 10-minute walk) of a park.

And Cincinnati’s parks are beautiful, with a few like Smale Riverfront Park, Eden Park and Mt. Echo Park offering sweeping views of the city and Ohio River. Mt. Airy Forest, the city’s largest park, has several miles of hiking trails, a disc golf course and mountain biking trails, as well as Everybody’s Treehouse, Ohio’s only wheelchair-accessible public treehouse, an arboretum and dog park.

Outside the city, you also have Hamilton County’s Great Parks, which is currently working on several exciting projects, like some new trails along the Little Miami River, a trail connecting Lunken Airport to Sawyer Point, building out the master plan of its new Westwood park and a proposed trail system linking the county’s western neighborhoods and parks via a series of blueways, or water trails, and shared-use trails along the Great Miami and Whitewater rivers.

As for hiking, that’s plentiful here too. Western Wildlife Corridor manages several nature preserves and hiking trails on the city’s West Side, and Cincinnati Nature Center offers 20 miles of hiking trails across prairies, wetlands, forests, ponds and streams at its two preserves: Rowe Woods and the members-only Longbranch Farm. For more intense hiking and rock climbing, Hocking Hills in eastern Ohio and Red River Gorge in central Kentucky are just short drives away.

The creativity in Cincinnati is unmatched

Creativity and creative people are abundant in Cincinnati. We don’t know if it's the pain-in-the-ass weather that often keeps people inside and looking for things to do and ways to express themselves or if there’s just something magical and inspiring about the Queen City, but if you’re looking for a place with a robust arts and culture scene that often punches above its weight, we got it.

Whether it’s a musical at the Aronoff, a modern take on a Shakespeare play at the Cincinnati Shakespeare Company, a show at the Cincinnati Ballet or a symphony at Music Hall, there is always a show or performance to see.

There’s also numerous art galleries, like Wave Pool, the Pendleton Art Center, 21c and Weston; free public art, like downtown and Over-the-Rhine’s plethora of murals; and BLINK, the largest art and light festival in the country, returns this year as well.

Cincinnati also has a strong local music scene, and lots of famous tours stop here (Taylor Swift, anyone?). Not to mention you can see quality live music any night of the week in a variety of genres.

Cincinnati has a robust craft brewing scene and something for every beer drinker

If you’re a beer drinker, there’s likely a Cincinnati-made brew that you’ll love. Cincinnati is a beer town with a rich brewing heritage that has undergone a renaissance in the last decade. Numerous breweries have cropped up in that time, and heavy-hitters like Rhinegeist, MadTree, Braxton Brewing and Urban Artifact are leading the charge in crafting innovative brews.

They also aren’t afraid to branch out into other beverages like ciders, hard seltzers and hard tea, and many other breweries across the city offer everything from stouts and hazy IPAs to fruited sours and mead. And did we mention there are tons of open-air spaces (a.k.a. DORAs) where you can walk around and enjoy your drink?

Cincinnati’s history is everywhere you look

Cincinnati is an old city by U.S. standards, having been founded just a few years after the end of the Revolutionary War. And while of course the city has grown and changed, you can tell Cincinnati values its history.

For example, visit Over-the-Rhine to see the largest and most intact historic district in the United States. The neighborhood is home to several 19th-century landmarks like Washington Park, Music Hall and Findlay Market, as well as the Brewing Heritage Trail where you can learn more about how beer helped build our city. You can even take a tour with American Legacy Tours to venture beneath OTR’s streets into the former beer tunnels.

You can also take a walk around downtown and take notes of the historical markers celebrating Cincinnati’s history — from the spot on Fifth Street where Abraham Lincoln spoke to crowds just a year before he was elected president to the site of the first public place of worship and the statues honoring the founding of the Black Brigade, the first Black unit with a military purpose in the Civil War.

The people

The people of Cincinnati are a strong mix of Midwestern kindness and Southern hospitality, and we often joke about the “Where did you go to high school?” question, but we just see it as a small way to connect with each other and see if we have any friends in common or if we know your family. People here are quick to help when needed, and we’ll jump at the chance to share our favorite things about our beloved Queen City (see the full list above). Keep being you, Cincinnati. We love ya.