Cincinnati sits on the Ohio River where Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana meet. It's a Midwestern city with a genuine character — German immigrant heritage, a serious food tradition (Cincinnati chili is unlike any chili elsewhere), and a walkable downtown that has bounced back from decades of decline.
Over the Rhine is the neighbourhood most worth exploring: a dense grid of 19th-century Italianate brick buildings that somehow survived urban renewal, now home to independent restaurants, bars, and a lively street scene anchored by Washington Park and the magnificent Victorian Gothic Music Hall. The Cincinnati Art Museum in Eden Park is free and excellent. The Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal — a stunning Art Deco train station — is one of the most beautiful buildings in Ohio.
The Cincinnati Reds play downtown at Great American Ball Park, with the Ohio River and the Roebling Suspension Bridge as a backdrop. Beneath the city runs the country's largest abandoned subway system, built in the 1920s and never used. The Cincinnati Zoo, the second oldest in the US, and the Cincinnati Observatory on Mount Lookout are both worth the trip out of downtown. The city's location on the Ohio makes it easy to combine with Louisville (90 minutes west) or Columbus (90 minutes north).