Any suggestions for visiting Cleveland?

[EPCOTatNight]

Wow, really?! Could you just not post next time please?

OP you've gotten a lot of great suggestions. I hope your family enjoys their visit!

"What's so good about Cleveland?"

"You like it?" "You think Cleveland is cool? I've never heard anyone say, 'I'm going to Cleveland on vacation.'"

 

[tOSU]

"What's so good about Cleveland?"

"You like it?" "You think Cleveland is cool? I've never heard anyone say, 'I'm going to Cleveland on vacation.'"

Poster right before you said they are going to Cleveland.

Let me guess you haven't been to Cleveland lately, if ever?

Oh by the way Sean Payton should be banned from football, not "freed".

 

[EPCOTatNight]

Poster right before you said they are going to Cleveland.

Let me guess you haven't been to Cleveland lately, if ever?

Oh by the way Sean Payton should be banned from football, not "freed".

Ooh, a Sean Payton dig. If he's banned, at least he'll have a ring to retire with.
Anyway, yes I have been to Cleveland. My grandfather lives there. My post was a joke, kind of like your city. Relax, just another joke. Seriously, google any sentence of my original post and you'll get it.

 

[mrsklamc]

Thanks again for the suggestions. We've nailed down a weekend in July and my FIL is interested in an Indians game so FireDancer your specific suggestions are exceptionally helpful.

 

[etoiles]

Definitely eat at Melt.

Thank you for this suggestion! We are staying one night in Cleveland on our way home from our road trip to Toronto and this place looks awesome! I want to eat at least four of the sandwiches on the menu!

http://meltbarandgrilled.com/menu/

even better since I did check out the Symon restaurants but he is waay to into his pork (fries in lard printed on menu) for me (vegetarian) to eat there so this is a great alternative!

 

[FireDancer]

Thanks again for the suggestions. We've nailed down a weekend in July and my FIL is interested in an Indians game so FireDancer your specific suggestions are exceptionally helpful.

You are welcome and I hope you like our city as much as I do. If you have any additional questions shoot me a PM.

 

[CynBeth]

We will be in Cleveland in a few weeks on vacation. We will be seeing an Indians game during our few days there. We are also visiting Detroit for a few days and will attend a Tigers game. And we will spend a day in Canton. After visiting Disney at Thanksgiving we had to do a smaller scale trip in the summer and we love seeing different MLB ballparks and are looking forward to seeing the other attractions in those cities.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

Great Lakes Science Center is nice, plus it's right on Lake Erie, so I assume you can do something on the lake. If you are going in late July, you could visit Browns training camp, assuming that's in the city (the Eagles train 60 miles away from Philly, not sure about other teams).

 

[FireDancer]

We will be in Cleveland in a few weeks on vacation. We will be seeing an Indians game during our few days there. We are also visiting Detroit for a few days and will attend a Tigers game. And we will spend a day in Canton. After visiting Disney at Thanksgiving we had to do a smaller scale trip in the summer and we love seeing different MLB ballparks and are looking forward to seeing the other attractions in those cities.

Are you doing anything besides the Football HOF? There isn't really a whole lot tourism-wise down there besides the HOF and the Hall of Fame game. If you like minor league baseball there is the Indians AA team in Akron which could make for a good sports day. HOF during the day and minor league game at night.

If you are going in late July, you could visit Browns training camp, assuming that's in the city (the Eagles train 60 miles away from Philly, not sure about other teams).

The Browns train in a suburb named Berea. It isn't a bad drive from downtown, I pass their facility every day on the way to and from work. Here is a map if anyone is interested.

 

[giantstoindy]

Gotta love Cleveland! It definitely has personality. Our favorite attraction is the Botanical Garden, favorite restaurant is Melt Bar and Grilled, favorite beach is Lakefront and favorite neighborhood is Little Italy.

 

[Laura66]

Fire dancer is spot on! Also - you can look me up for a meet!

 

[CynBeth]

Are you doing anything besides the Football HOF? There isn't really a whole lot tourism-wise down there besides the HOF and the Hall of Fame game. If you like minor league baseball there is the Indians AA team in Akron which could make for a good sports day. HOF during the day and minor league game at night.



We just planned to see the football HOF in Canton so we only planned the 1 day there. It is our last day of vacation and we have to get up early the next day to drive home so we figured after we finished the HOF we would just rest. Thanks for the suggestion though.

 

[mrsklamc]

Laura- sorry I just saw that! Would have been lovely but the in-laws (and DH) don't get Disney or the DIS and would have found it a bit strange.

Just wanted to thank everyone for their wonderful suggestions! We were just there for a quick weekend and I couldn't have imagined I would love Cleveland so much! We stayed downtown and walked to Tower City, Progressive Field (no one mentioned their 8 ft tall Mickey Mouse!) the Rock Hall, Great Lakes Science Center, Goodtimes III river/lakes cruise, and took a cab to melt. Would have loved to spend a week at least, didn't even get to explore
University Circle, Tremont, etc. Firedancer I can see why you love your city! Thank you all!

 

[ohiomom28]

Sorry to hijack I have been looking at hotels for a possible long weekend either for the Bengals/Browns game in October or Memorial Day. My DH is a big Browns fan and we have been to Cincy to see them but never to Cleveland! I've never been more north than Columbus and lived in Ohio my entire life! Thanks for all of the suggestions!

Posted from DISboards app from Android

 

[mrsklamc]

We stayed at the Hampton Inn downtown (my MIL's selection.) It was good walking distance between the things we did (except Melt) and had the best included breakfast of any hotel I've seen. (I can describe it in more detail if you are interested.) You should know, though, that there is nowhere to park except valet which costs $20 a day.

If you are going to a game there is also an 8' statue of Mickey in Indians attire; I keep meaning to learn to post pics but it looks like this: http://www.amazon.com/Cleveland-Indians-All-Star-Mickey-Parade/dp/B004B9ZMCW and is in section...107 or 104.

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

I've heard the "Christmas Story" House is in Cleveland. I cannot say whether or not it is a good attraction...because I have never been there, but I would really like to go see it.

 

[FireDancer]

Laura- sorry I just saw that! Would have been lovely but the in-laws (and DH) don't get Disney or the DIS and would have found it a bit strange.

Just wanted to thank everyone for their wonderful suggestions! We were just there for a quick weekend and I couldn't have imagined I would love Cleveland so much! We stayed downtown and walked to Tower City, Progressive Field (no one mentioned their 8 ft tall Mickey Mouse!) the Rock Hall, Great Lakes Science Center, Goodtimes III river/lakes cruise, and took a cab to melt. Would have loved to spend a week at least, didn't even get to explore
University Circle, Tremont, etc. Firedancer I can see why you love your city! Thank you all!

I'm glad you liked it. Cleveland really gets a bad rap because we often make the national news for the wrong reasons but I love it here.

 

[avalanche1977]

I've heard the "Christmas Story" House is in Cleveland. I cannot say whether or not it is a good attraction...because I have never been there, but I would really like to go see it.

Ehh. It's maybe 30 minutes of your time. Not really that great, honestly.

 

[avalanche1977]

I gave these recommendations a few weeks ago, thought I'd copy and paste for this thread:

There's plenty to do, depending on your tastes.

The East 4th district has many great restaurants and hang-outs, my favorite being Iron Chef Michael Symon's Lola Bistro restaurant.

Less than a five minute walk from East 4th is the newly-opened Horseshoe Casino, which has slots and some table games. Haven't been there yet, as I'm not much for gaming, but the buzz is positive.

The Greater Cleveland Aquarium is on the west bank of the Flats, in the Powerhouse building. It just opened earlier this year, and while not a full-day attraction, I bet you can have fun for an hour or two. Also on the west bank of the flats is one of my favorite concert venues, the Jacobs Pavilion.

You can see an Indians game at Progressive Field, one of the nicer ballparks around (then again, I'm biased). There's also the University Circle area, which houses the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Natural Science Museum and a few other places worth visiting.

Mentioned above, the West Side Market is a nice foodie place, and has just kicked off their centennial celebration this summer. Plus, the market happens to be in one of the more upcoming areas of town (the West 25th area), especially if you like BEER. Great Lakes Brewery, Market Garden Brewery, Bier Markt, and lots of other places are within minutes (some even seconds) of the market. Explore more about the West 25th area on Yelp.

And this is just off the top of my head. If you're willing to do more exploration, I can probably suggest other stuff too.

Addition: The Great Lakes Science Center is right next door to the Rock Hall. Some great exhibits, and an Omnimax movie theater as well.

 

[mrsklamc]

Ah yes, DH did quite well at the $1-$2 poker table. I really wanted to try the burgers in their food court too, but the Hard Rock Cafe won out cause it fit the theme, I guess.

I also noticed, since we mostly walked, that the curbs were mostly made of what I assume was granite. Random info, but quite unusual!

Couple other things I noticed- the library had a courtyard that made me wish I had a few hours just to sit and read. Also, the two CVS's near our hotel both closed at 6 on Saturday evening and didn't open again until Sunday at 10. I was pretty surprised that a downtown didn't have a 24 hour drugstore.