Hi moms. We will be spending a weekend in Cincinatti for the fun nof it. What I need to know is what are the best things to do, where to eat, and how to do it all with out spending a fortune. So any recommendation and cost saving tips are welcome.
A little background. We will be traveling as a family and all activities need to be family friendly ie a 4 year old and a 2 month old will be happy. We love the out doors but want to have indoor activities planned because we do not plan on the weather cooperating. We are new to this part of the country so everything will be new to us.
Thanks all of you, I can always depend on the moms for great advice.
Thanks Mamas. We wnded up going to the Aquarium and the Zoo. While there was snow on the ground when we arrived it was over 60 the day we left and thought the zoo would be good. We spent a little more than we wanted but loved both things. The parks were so flooded that they were out.
Go to the Newport Aquarium (right across the River in Kentucky). We drive from Columbus to go there. It's awesome and worth every penny.
Cincy has a great aquarium (it's actually in Newport, KY), as well as a fun Natural History Museum and a small Children's Museum (both located in Museum Center). If the weather does cooperate, there is also an awesome zoo.
Buy your tickets in advance (Kroger sells them) for discounted rates.
I highly recommend the Museum Center. There are 3 museums in 1, including an excellent children's museum. If your 4-y-o is into trains at all, make sure you stop in the Cincinnati museum before heading straight to the kids museum.
If the weather does cooperate, the zoo is great and there is a nice walk along the river downtown (with a huge playground).
Enjoy!
I don't know if others have mentioned this already or not, but definitely go across the river into Covington, KY to the Newport Aquarium and Newport on the Levee! I think it was about $20 per adult to get into the aquarium, but it was so worth it - I took my 2 year old there and she had a great time. She got to pet sharks, and see "nemos", jellyfish etc. She was in heaven. It took us about 3 hours to see everything, and it's stroller friendly. Outside the aquarium there is live music, a little mall, and it's nice to walk around. Covington is a cute town too - you can take horse and carriage rides, and it's very historic. Have a great trip!
Places: Kings Island in Mason, EnterTrainment Junction in West Chester, Cincinnati Zoo in Clifton (my kids LOVE our zoo!), Newport Aquarium in Newport, KY, The Beach Waterpark in Mason, Great Wolf Lodge in Mason, Coco Key in Sharonville, outlets in Monroe
Restaurants: Skyline Chili, Penn Station, LaRosa's, Graeters Ice Cream, Frisch's, and best for last Montgomery Inn (boathouse on the river or Montgomery- they are both DELICIOUS!!)
Also, before your trip, check halfpricecincy.com and cincysavers.com
Edit: If its this spring/summer, go to a Reds game! We have a great stadium and I find it to be family friendly- I have 4 boys, 8,5,4,2
I hear they have a wonderful kids museum and if you are a member of another museum, there might be a discount..... I would also suggest staying at a hotel with a pool, could be fun and relaxing.... The Newport Aquarium is fun but pricey...see if you can find a deal online. When we went down for the weekend, I did a goggle search and found a deal that included hotel and aquarium tickets, might be worth looking in to, anyway to save a buck on things you would do anyway. (they had deals for zoo, museum, Reds game, etc.) I went on-line to find the site, can't remember which one it was, there are a bunch so check them all out - have a great time!!
I am from Cincinnati - not sure what area you will be in but for downtown Cincinnati, I would definitely recommend the Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal - the Childrens' Museum is worth every penny. The whole thing is totally hands-on and you can spend hours in there without the children getting bored. In Mt. Adams, there's the Krohn Conservatory - it's free. Then if you're near Sharonville, find Sharon Woods - they have a visitor center with an in-door play area that is really fun especially if you're the type of parents that get in there and play with the kids. They only charge a dollar or two per kid. As for somewhere to stay, I would go to hotels.com - look for a Days Inn or something like that with an in-door pool. When my two kids were little I would let them swim a little after being out all day and they would have no trouble sleeping. A great place to look for info is the visitor centers at rest stops on the highways. Seriously! People don't realize how much info those places actually have. Good luck and hope you have fun!!
The aquarium!!! And the zoo is good as well:)
Theres the Union Terminal Museum. It has a childrens museum which is kind of neat. Theres 2 other museums as well and an omnimax of course this costs money.
The Zoo is nice but that costs money also.
Sawyer Point would be good for a warm day. Its outdoors but has a serpentine wall that runs along the river, play area for kids, Tennis and volleyball courts. Its FREE.
