The Cleveland Experience

From renowned cultural institutions to vibrant neighborhoods, inspired food and beverage offerings, action-packed sports and popular greenspaces, engaging experiences can be found around almost every corner in Cleveland.

Cleveland Culture

• Art aficionados can admire the nearly 45,000 items on display at the world-renowned and always free Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA). The museum brings classics to life with cutting-edge interactive technology that helps patrons engage with the expansive collection. Designed by world-renowned artist Rafael Viñoly, a three-story-high atrium provides visitors with a space to reflect on their art immersion or enjoy a snack or meal from the museum’s locally curated café and restaurant, Provenance.
• Visitors can follow the massive, outdoor chandelier to Playhouse Square, the city’s home base for performing arts. Illuminated marquees and opulent theaters, including five restored to their grand 1920s splendor, welcome guests to the largest performing arts center outside of New York City.
• Orchestra lovers around the globe recognize Cleveland as home to one of the best. To be exact, the Cleveland Orchestra ranks as one of the top five orchestras in the world. Spectators can enjoy performances at Blossom Music Center during the summer and Severance Hall in the winter months.
• The Museum of Contemporary Art (moCa) captures the attention of visitors to the city’s Uptown district even before they step inside. Internationally acclaimed architect Farshid Moussavi designed the four-story hexagonal building finished with a reflective steel façade. Once inside, visitors can ogle the ever-changing exhibits that include installations, photos, paintings, sculptures and audio and video works.
• Delicacies such as beef tongue and Christmas-Ale-flavored bacon, fresh produce and filled-to-order cannolis await visitors to Cleveland’s West Side Market. The more than a century-old food lover’s paradise is in the Ohio City neighborhood. The subway-tiled, barrel-vaulted concourse is home to more than 100 food stands, many of which have been family-operated for generations.
• Visitors can walk among dinosaurs and human’s early ancestors at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. Guests can meet “Happy,” a 70-foot-long, 14-foot-high Haplocanthosaurus dinosaur that is the most complete adult specimen of its kind and the oldest sauropod on exhibit anywhere, and “Lucy,” a life-size replication of one of the earliest known hominids. With the first phase of a $150 million renovation now complete, guests can explore Cleveland’s natural bio-diversity in the Perkins Wildlife Center and Woods Garden.
• The Cleveland History Center explores the city’s roots with stories from the 1790s to today filling exhibit galleries. Rarely seen images, films, artworks and artifacts – like the first Cleveland map and LeBron James’ 2016 NBA Championship season shoes – illustrate the triumphs and tragedies that define the city. Fashionistas can browse the costume collection while the restored Grand Carousel from long-ago Euclid Beach welcomes riders to hop onboard. Auto enthusiasts can revel in the more than 140 historic vehicles on display in The Crawford Auto Aviation Collection.
• It’s Christmas all year-round at A Christmas Story House. Fans of the movie “A Christmas Story” can relive the magic of the holiday classic as they tour the famed house and view props from the movie including Randy’s snowsuit, toys from the Higbee’s department store window and Ralphie’s Red Rider BB Gun. For the ultimate fan experience, visitors can reserve the house for overnight stays or reserve a suite in the neighboring Bumpus House.

Root, Root, Root for the Home Team

• Inside the newly renovated Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, you can almost taste the excitement when the Cleveland Cavaliers step onto the court. If you can’t find seats to a game, join in the merriment outside the arena at one of several bars or restaurants on East 4^th Street.
• Win or lose, Cleveland’s football pride is infectious. Visitors can get into the spirit by adorning themselves in brown and orange, tailgating in the Muni Lot and then snagging seats in the Dawg Pound at FirstEnergy Stadium to cheer (or bark) for the Cleveland Browns.
• Visitors shouldn’t miss the chance to cheer on the Cleveland Indians at Progressive Field. The stadium features local grub and brews from fan favorites including Melt, Barrio, Great Lakes Brewing Co., Happy Dog and Market Garden Brewery.
• Relive all the great moments in football history at the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton. The museum pays homage to the greats of the game and features interactive exhibits that put the visitor in the center of the gridiron action.

Live on the Wild Side

• Adventure-seeking visitors need not travel far from Downtown Cleveland to find thrills. Located 60 miles west of Cleveland, visitors can experience the ultimate rush of adrenaline with some of the world’s tallest and fastest rollercoasters at Cedar Point Amusement Park.
• The greatest stories and biggest names in rock and roll live on at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Multiple theaters, interactive stations and special exhibits tell the story of one of the world’s most powerful art forms. The Rock Hall is dedicated to exploring the past, present and future of music and the cultural context from which it emerges.
• See the world through a different set of eyes, more than 3,000 to be exact, at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo. Spanning 138 acres just outside of Downtown, the Zoo is home to more than 600 species in numerous habitats, including the recently expanded Rosebrough Tiger Passage and Asian Highlands.
• At the Greater Cleveland Aquarium, located in a late 19^th-century brick landmark structure that once generated electric power for Cleveland’s streetcar lines, visitors can walk through the SeaTube, a 230,000-gallon tunnel that stretches 175 feet and is home to sharks, stingrays, eels and salt-water fish.
• Visitors who like to press their luck should head to JACK Cleveland Casino in Downtown Cleveland to try one of the 1,600 slots or 125 table games. Housed in the historic Higbee Department Store building, the casino embraces Cleveland history and celebrates its charm. Just outside the city, MGM Northfield Park brings the excitement of Las Vegas to Cleveland. With more than 200,000 square feet of gaming space and more than 200 nights of on-site harness racing at the adjacent Northfield Park grounds, visitors can bet and win big. Guests can also take in a concert at the acoustically perfect 1,900-seat Center Stage music hall.
• At the Great Lakes Science Center, visitors can explore science, technology and engineering through more than 340 interactive exhibits. Inquisitive guests can get up close to the 1973 Skylab 3 Apollo Command module in the NASA Glenn Visitor Center, climb aboard a historic Great Lakes freighter and see an immersive film at the Cleveland Clinic Dome Theater – featuring the world’s first giant dome cinema laser system.

Connect with Nature

• Cuyahoga Valley National Park provides a natural oasis as the winding Cuyahoga River gives way to dense forests, rolling hills and open farmlands. Visitors can discover mile after mile of green space filled with waterfalls, covered bridges, more than 100 hiking trails and elevated ledges with expansive views. For a relaxing excursion, visitors can travel through the park on the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad.
• The Cleveland Metroparks encircle the city in parkland so visitors are never far from a spot to connect with nature. Multipurpose trails stretch for miles throughout 23,000 acres of parks, which includes 18 reservations, five nature centers and eight golf courses.
• Twenty lush gardens full of dazzling colors and beautiful plants await visitors at the Cleveland Botanical Garden. Inside an 18,000-square-foot glasshouse, patrons can interact with rainforest and desert biomes and even make friends with a butterfly or two.