It's an exciting time to
visit Cleveland. The past year has added a vibrant chapter to the Cleveland
story and the rest of the world is taking notice as Cleveland has been listed
as one of only 12 US destinations in Travel
+ Leisure's "Best Places to Travel in
2015."
The article cites recent
and future developments including new hotels, restaurants and the city's
ability to attract millennials, the return of LeBron James and the 2016
Republican National Convention. When compiling the list, editors looked for
places that they felt were "changing
the travel map." Below is the full list of Cleveland travel hotspots
mentioned by Travel + Leisure. Have
something to add? Share it using #ThisisCLE and #BestPlaces2015.
Highlighted Cleveland hotspots:
Hotels
The Westin Cleveland
Downtown
- The Westin Cleveland Downtown's
$64 million renovation, completed in May 2014, resulted in a contemporary
484-room hotel featuring a state-of-the-art fitness center, business
center and in-house Starbucks. The attached farm-to-table restaurant, Urban Farmer,
serves local and organically sourced food from the region.
The Metropolitan at The 9
- Classing up Cleveland's East 9th
Street is an Autograph Collection Marriott hotel called The Metropolitan
at the 9. This swanky hotel features 156 well-appointed rooms complete
with bold interior design and glasswork, relaxingly open spaces, lavish
beds and linens, and unique facilities including an indoor dog park and
movie theatre.
Aloft Cleveland Downtown
- The Aloft Hotel, managed by
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, includes contemporary rooms with
tech-forward sensibility and a vibrant, social atmosphere. The $20 million
development includes 150 rooms and 3,000 square feet of meeting space in
the bustling Flats East Bank development.
Neighborhoods
Ohio City
- Across the Cuyahoga River, west of
Downtown, this Cleveland neighborhood is home to Cleveland's culinary
mecca, the West Side Market, and is a craft beer and culinary hotspot with
many local artisan boutiques.
Uptown
Dining
Flying Fig
- As one of the area's pioneers of
the locally-grown food movement, Flying Fig, a charming Ohio City
restaurant, offers dishes that utilize farm-fresh ingredients to create
seasonally inspired menus.
Mitchell's Ice Cream
- Mitchell's Ice Cream offers
handcrafted, small batch flavors that utilize local, grass-fed dairy and
fresh seasonal ingredients. With its ninth location now open in Ohio City,
Downtown visitors now have easy access to decadent, seasonally inspired
ice cream deliciousness.
The West Side Market
- The West Side Market, Cleveland's
culinary mecca, was once where turn-of-the-century immigrants found their
native foods and spices. Today, it features the same artisanal, cultural
foods with more than 100 booths featuring the freshest selection of
fruits, vegetables, meats, dairy, produce, bakery, ethnic foods and
international delicacies.
Provenance
- As part of The Cleveland Museum of Art's $350
million expansion and renovation, fine-dining restaurant, Provenance,
offers floor-to-ceiling window views that overlook Wade Park and the Fine
Arts Garden, providing a spectacular backdrop to the Chef Doug Katz driven
menu. Offerings include the trademark seasonal menu items perfected by
Katz, prepared with a worldly flare to compliment the world-class
collections within the museum.
Attractions
Museum of Contemporary Art
Cleveland
- The new facility, opened in late
2012, is the first piece of architecture designed by London-based Farshid
Moussavi in the United States. The space itself is a work of dramatic
geometric art, and provides MOCA the ability to display a diverse array of
innovative flexible exhibitions, programs and the art of our time.
2015 Developments:
Kimpton Cleveland Downtown
- Renovations have started at the
boutique Kimpton Hotel, located on East 9th Street in Downtown Cleveland.
With 122 rooms, the hotel will also have 24 luxury apartments within the
building, as well as a specialty restaurant on the first floor. The $50
million redevelopment also will include 7,400 square feet of meeting
space.
Hilton Cleveland Downtown
- Hilton Worldwide will operate a
new $260 million, 600-room convention center headquarter hotel slated to
open in 2016. The Hilton hotel, which will be designed by Atlanta
architecture firm Cooper Carry and owned by Cuyahoga County, will provide
55,000 square feet of meeting space while sitting more than 20 stories
high on the campus of the FirstMerit Convention Center of Cleveland and the Global
Center for Health Innovation.
Cleveland Institute of Art
- The $75 million expansion and
renovation of the Cleveland Institute of Art will be complete in early
2015. The project includes a three-story atrium, new art galleries and a
new auditorium for the Cleveland Cinematheque.
Mabel's BBQ
- Cleveland-born celebrity chef
Michael Symon is opening this East 4th Street hotspot, named after his
childhood dog, in spring 2015. The restaurant will feature what Michael
deems "Cleveland-style barbeque" with the sauce utilizing the
made-in-the-CLE staple, Bertman Ball Park Mustard.