I’ve spent 8 years of my life living in the greater Cincinnati area and another 6 years in Dayton, OH.  Given the amount of rain in the forecast for this year’s Cincinnati event, I thought I would share some thoughts on good places to visit for food and entertainment.

Food: Many Local Foods are Available on Site, I will Try to Highlight a Few Others

Opera Cream – This tasty local candy is likely at its best when made at Schneider’s Sweets in northern Kentucky.  If you do duck into Kentucky, I have a forthcoming post on bourbons to try that will feature my friends at Modern Thirst.

Montgomery Inn – People rave about it

LaRosa’s Pizza – This is available on site, but I like it a lot.

Here are some other restaurants that have achieved recognition

Local Specialties from the Video – While some of the foods in the video are from other regions of Ohio, Goetta, Skyline Chili and other Cincinnati Chilis, and Grippo’s Chips are all Cincinnati specialties.  I became a vegetarian late in 2011, but I have had all of these before going vegetarian.  The vegetarian chili at Cincinnati Chili establishments is typically good. Cincinnati Chili with meat is generally something people either love or hate.  I liked it prior to going vegetarian.  Goetta was never something I liked, but I can see why some people like it.  Grippo’s has way too much sodium and bbq powder on their chips in my opinion.  Grippo’s pretzels should probably come with coupons for blood pressure medicine.

Fun Places

Kings Island is directly across from the tennis center and creates a skyline of roller coasters and other thrill rides.  It also features a large water park.  Kings Island is a great way to spend a day if you like amusement parks, water parks, and/or variety shows.  It would also be hard to get lost if you are staying near the tennis center.  Similarly, The Beach waterpark is in Mason, OH, but I have never been there so I can’t really say much about it other than it is there.

Coney Island is another amusement park option.  It is less expensive than Kings Island and also features a nice water facility.  Most of the rides are spinning carnival rides that don’t take up much space.  If you like rides that spin, this could be the place for you.  If not, the single roller coaster is nice, but Kings Island’s variety of rides is probably a better call.

The Cincinnati Zoo has a wide variety of animals, but it certainly made global headlines earlier this year.  The Cincinnati Zoo just opened an exhibit for hippos.  The Newport Aquarium is quite nice and has a gigantic alligator named Mighty Mike as well as the world’s only captive breeding pair of shark rays.

Cincinnati boasts a great park system.  Eden Park may be my favorite, but Ault Park and others are good ways to spend a day as well.