Ohio happens to be my home state so I’m pretty familiar with fun things to do around each of its major cities. I recently took a fun road trip to Cincinnati Ohio and Newport Kentucky to celebrate my husband’s birthday. We went to a few favorites and a couple of new places we want to share so, here is a super easy & fun itinerary to do if you find yourself spending 2 days in Cincinnati, Ohio. You can also check out part of our day in Cincinnati @roadtrip_plans on Instagram.
(Itinerary links are available at the bottom of this post)
Day 1:
The drive is about 2 hours for us from Columbus, so we arrived in Cincinnati around 10am. We grabbed brunch at Taste of Belgium. They have multiple locations around the city and you can’t go wrong with any of their waffle dishes. These are easily the best Belgian Waffles we’ve found in the state so far (bring on your recommendations if you have them!). If you love chicken and waffles with the perfect sweet & spicy balance like I do then these are the best chicken and waffles you’ve ever had (beating out the previous champion of The Bodega in Columbus, sorry Bodega!)
After we had our waffles we crossed the bridge into Newport Kentucky. If you feel like walking, I suggest taking the Purple People Mover bridge, but we drove over this time to visit the Newport Aquarium. This is one of my all-time favorite aquariums and it has something for all ages. You can watch friendly sea turtles and manta rays pass by you in their humongous viewing area, sharks swim all around you when you pass through the 360-degree glass tunnels. They have numerous touch pools for manta rays, nurse sharks, sea urchins, and more. You’ll find fish you didn’t even know existed and you can choose to exit by walking OVER the shark tank, we actually watched a shark come up and swim below us!
Note: As of the writing of this post Newport Aquarium is still doing timed tickets, I recommend buying your tickets online before your trip to guarantee you get the entry time you want (there is no required exit time once in the aquarium).
We headed back over to Cincinnati to check into our hotel. We had a great stay at the Hilton Garden Inn at Cincinnati. I’m a Hilton rewards member so I always choose to stay at a Hilton affiliated hotel to rack up points- if you haven’t picked a hotel brand to build loyalty with yet, I recommend starting now to make the most of your stay and get free nights!
After check-in it was time to do some shopping – you HAVE to go to Jungle Jim’s International Supermarket. Even if you do nothing else in Cincinnati this trip is wild and if you really want to look at everything expect to spend a couple of hours here. It is a giant international grocery store with sections for all over the world from the US to Japan and everywhere in between, you can find some really unique and tasty items. It’s especially great if you’ve traveled to different countries before and have some foods you miss. Andy and I always pick up Jaffa Cakes (England) and Matcha KitKats (Japan) because we struggle to find them anywhere else and they’re some of our favorite international snacks.
Once we finished at Jungle Jim’s we had reservations to board the Cincinnati dinner train, so we changed into our more formal attire and hopped aboard a 1940’s train adventure. The food was incredible, they had entertainment by the Queen City Sisters who sang 1940’s tunes all evening, and we happened to get in the train car with the owner of the dinner train who told us all about the history of the consist (the group of train cars). We were treated with history about Cincinnati as well and after our 3-course meal we were allowed to wander the train and even blow the whistle!
Afterwards we chose to head back down to Smale Riverfront Park for a walk by the water. This area usually has something cool going on, for example once for a few years there was a big observation Ferris Wheel that offered gorgeous views of the city and the river, unfortunately the wheel is no longer there, but head down anyways, you never know what you’ll find!
We grabbed a late-night drink at Taft’s Ale House, which I can’t recommend enough. They had great small bites, a cool atmosphere because it’s built inside an old church, and there is a good variety of their beer to choose from. It was a great way to end the night.
Day 2:
We got up early and drove a little out of our way to go to Trader’s World. Traders world is a giant flea market, so if you love searching for unique and interesting items, this is worth the drive. Breakfast was a stop along the way at Stan the Donut Man’s donuts which is part of the Butler County Donut Trail. I have a blog post coming out about that later as it’s something Andy and I do every summer, but can be done any time throughout the year, even in multiple trips and at the end you get a free t-shirt!
After Trader’s World we trekked back down to Cincinnati and decided to visit the Zoo. The Cincinnati Zoo is not the biggest zoo I’ve ever been to but they do have some really great animal exhibits, it’s easy to walk, and it made for a fun afternoon. We also elected to eat lunch in the zoo and they have some good options and plenty of clean tables available.
It was time for us to head home, but it wouldn’t be a typical trip without at least one more food stop so we grabbed a quick dinner at Skyline Chili before, which is famously from Cincinnati, so we stopped in. It sounds insane to put chili and cheese on a pile of spaghetti noodles, but it was really good and definitely an experience you should have at least one time if you’re in the area. If you’re not feeling adventurous enough for a 3-way (yes, that’s what it’s called 😉), I hear their chili dogs are also incredible.
That was our quick 2-day trip to Cincinnati! We have plans to go back again soon so if you live in Cincinnati or have been nearby, please let me know what you recommend doing and read-on for the abbreviated itinerary and honorable mentions!
Abbreviated Itinerary Links:
Newport Aquarium (Now requires timed tickets, book at least 24hr in advance)
Jungle Jim’s International Market
The Cincinnati Dinner Train (books months in advance)
Honorable Mentions:
We’ve enjoyed these places on other trips to Cincinnati, they just didn’t make the cut this time.
Findlay Market (local vendors selling local goods)
Dayton Airforce Museum (not technically Cincinnati but we usually visit both when in the area)
King’s Island Amusement Park & Water Park
William Howard Taft Historic Site
I hope you’ve been inspired to take a trip to Cincinnati Ohio! If you’ve already been there, leave a comment with your favorite spot, I’d love to check it out the next time I go.
Ready to hit the road? Let’s get planning! Click here to check out our plans and choose which one is right for you. Afterwards you’ll take my Epic Adventure Quiz and together we will plan your dream road trip. Email me at [email protected] if you have questions!
-Taysia