Cleveland City Guide

The city of Cleveland is located in the US state of Ohio towards the north eastern part of the state on the southern shore of Lake Erie and near the mouth of the Cuyahoga River.

Cleveland was founded in 1796 and due to its strategic location near the Erie-Ohio Canal; that links the Ohio River to Lake Erie; it went on to become an industrial powerhouse that hosted industries like shipbuilding and oil refining. Industrial activity gave birth to several tycoons in Cleveland who have contributed massively to the growth and development of the city’s key areas.

However, over the years, heavy manufacturing declined and with it Cleveland also shed its gritty, industrial image and became a bustling metropolis equipped with various green spaces, trendy clubs, restaurants, mega malls, museums and other cultural attractions that draw many visitors to its erstwhile industrial shores. The development is evident for vacationers who can trawl around the The Rock and Roll Music Hall of Fame or laze around in the many gardens.

Cleveland real estate growth was initially influenced by the proximity of water bodies such as Lake Erie and the Cuyahoga River.

In general, the west side of Cleveland grew to become more industrial in nature and came to be inhabited by a predominately working class population while the east side of the river came to be occupied by a wealthier and more educated populace. The city’s Downtown area around Public Square soon became the financial district and railroad hub of the city.

Downtown Cleveland continues to be the epicenter of the city that is home to several sporting and cultural attractions like Progressive Field, Playhouse Square and the theater district along Euclid Avenue as well as other neighborhoods like the historic Warehouse District and Flats Village.

Additionally, Downtown Cleveland also contains a large concentration of diverse Cleveland hotels including most of the luxury hotel properties in the city. Downtown Cleveland offers a popular accommodation choice for visitors to Cleveland though the University Circle district located on the west side of the city is also a favored choice as it offers a plethora of reasonably priced hotel options along with discount hotels and other budget accommodation choices.

The ‘rock and roll’ hall of fame is perhaps Cleveland’s most prominent vacation attraction. The term ‘rock and roll’ itself was coined by a local Cleveland DJ, Alan Freed in the early 1950s and it is for this reason that this homage to the American music form of rock and roll is based in Cleveland.

This museum is housed in a glass and porcelain structure that is situated in downtown Cleveland and was designed by world famous architect I.M. Pei in 1993 though the museum opened its doors to the public in September 1995.

The extensive permanent collection of the museum features thousands of rock and roll artifacts that honor music’s brightest and biggest names like Elvis Presley, the Beatles, U2 and the Rolling Stones along with a host of new artists as the museum endeavors to explore the past, present and future of music.

The Great Lakes Science Center is located on the shore of Lake Erie, housed in a glass fronted building which complements the glass structure of the close by Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The Great Lakes Science Center is one of the largest science museums in the US and offers 375 interactive exhibits that relate to various subjects like planet earth, sports, music, the environment and technology. The Great Lakes Science Theater hosts the only OMNIMAX Theater of the region as well.

The beaux-arts building that houses the Cleveland Museum of Art in downtown Cleveland was established in 1916 and it hosts one of the world’s best art collections representing each continent, each time period and each genre of art.

The artworks of great masters like Picasso, Monet, Rodin, Pollock, Van Gogh, Cassatt as well as the works of local Cleveland artist George Bellows are featured in the museum’s extensive permanent collection. This is a must visit place for art connoisseurs and aficionados on Cleveland vacations.

The Playhouse Square complex is Cleveland’s cultural powerhouse that is made up of five theaters – the Allen, the State, the Ohio, the Palace and the Hanna.

This theater complex is the second largest cultural center in the US after New York City’s Lincoln Center. All these theaters stand side by side on Euclid Avenue though the Hanna stands half a block away on 14th Street.

These theaters were established in the 1920’s when they showed silent films and theater productions. Nowadays, they host various entertaining acts as well as classic movies along with the annual Great Lakes Theater Festival.

Progressive Field is the home of the Cleveland Indians, the city’s professional baseball team. The Progressive field stadium opened in 1994 on the site of the former Jacobs Field stadium. The stadium is a prominent attraction for baseball fans who frequent Cleveland for vacations.

The Cleveland Botanical Garden is the nation’s oldest civic garden that dates back to 1930 and extends over 7.5 acres. This garden is divided into various smaller gardens like the herb, the wildflower, the rose, the perennial and the Japanese gardens, which hosts 3000 species of trees and shrubs. The Cleveland Botanical Garden also has a garden library that aims to teach youngsters about gardening besides offering information to visitors on horticulture and landscaping.

The weather in Cleveland follows the Midwest seasonal pattern though it is influenced greatly by Lake Erie that tempers the effects of heat waves and causes the snow during winters; especially on the east side of the city.

Generally July is the warmest month in Cleveland and is characterized by average temperature highs of 71.9 °F (22.2 °C). January is the coldest with average temperatures of 25.7 °F (-3.5 °C).

Based on these weather patterns, it can be surmised that the best time to visit Cleveland is during summer and early fall when the weather is best suited.

If you are planning to fly down to Cleveland, we suggest you try out the cheap air tickets available with us. Once you land there, the airport is well connected by public transport and reaching to your destination is no difficult task.

Cleveland has a mass transit system, which in 2007 was elected by the American Public Transportation Association as the best in the US. Cleveland’s mass transit system is operated by the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (RTA) and comprises of public buses and a rail system, which features both light and heavy rail systems.

In 2008, the RTA also introduced a system of rapid transit buses collectively known as the Healthline. They were named so by the Cleveland Clinic and University Hospitals, who purchased the naming rights for the project, which was known as the Euclid Corridor Transportation Project since it operated along Euclid Avenue from downtown through University Circle. The public transport system in Cleveland also features taxis but these are usually expensive.

Having said that, car rentals in Cleveland are always an option for those who want to drive around the city on their own during Cleveland vacations.

Cleveland offers numerous shopping opportunities in the form of shopping centers, malls, and numerous individual shops and boutiques. Popular shopping malls in and around Cleveland include the Avenue at Tower City, Crocker Park at Westlake, Legacy Villa at Lyndhurst, Beachwood Mall, Eton Shopping Center and Great Northern Mall. These malls have outlets of well known American stores like Nordstrom, Sak’s Fifth Avenue, Ann Taylor, Brooks Brothers and more along with numerous dining and entertainment outlets.

Besides, these malls Cleveland also offer the popular shopping and dining locale of the West Side Market, which has been an institution in Cleveland since 1912. The market, which is housed in a Cleveland architectural landmark, is populated by bakeries, butchers, delis, a Middle Eastern shop, a wide assortment of produce and fresh seafood vendors.

If you enjoy browsing for and buying antiques then Lorain Road, which is located on Cleveland’s West side, is one shopping area that you must visit. It is filled with outlets of antique dealers. You can get furniture, jewelry, books, and glassware, paintings, toys, souvenirs and other vintage odds and ends.

Cleveland offers a wide variety of restaurants that offer a wide range of cuisines like Contemporary American, Brazilian, Italian, Middle Eastern, Thai. Mexican and Southwest cuisines and some of the most popular restaurants in Cleveland include eateries like Lola(American ), Brasa Grill(Brazillian), Blue Pointe Grille(Seafood) Degan’s Kitchen and Bar( American), Anatolia Café(Middle Eastern), Buca de Beppo(Italian), Nuevo Acapulco(Mexican) and Lopez Southwestern Food Club.

Cleveland offers numerous opportunities for nightlife entertainment and is populated by an assortment of dance clubs, comedy clubs, jazz clubs, cocktail lounges, brew pubs. Neighborhoods like the Warehouse District in Downtown Cleveland, University Circle are the places to head to.

Some of the city’s most popular nightlife haunts according to recent surveys feature joints like The Velvet Dog (Warehouse District), The Metropolis Nightclub(Westside Cleveland), Fat Fish Blue( Downtown), Scripts Nightclub(Downtown) Barking Spider Tavern(University Circle) and Flannery’s Pub (Downtown)