Cleveland, OH Road Trips

Cleveland is named after Moses Cleaveland, a veteran of the American War of Independence and distant relative of U.S. President Grover Cleveland, who surveyed the area and founded the city in 1796. Cleveland is the urban center of Northeast Ohio, with 363,000 people in 2020. It is the center of the 15th largest combined metropolitan area in the United States. From 1890 until 1970, Cleveland was ranked as one of the 10 largest cities in the U.S. Like most U.S. cities, Cleveland began to lose population to suburban areas in the 1960s and 1970s. However, in the mid-1980s, Cleveland earned the nickname the "Comeback City" as the urban core experienced a dramatic revitalization process that continues today. As its "comeback" has continued, the official moniker is now the New American City as Cleveland has rightfully earned the reputation as a model of effective public-private partnership for urban planning. Despite the common perception that Cleveland is an industrial town, just beyond the automotive and steel plants, a clean and beautiful downtown rises at the mouth of the Cuyahoga River on the southern shore of Lake Erie (often marveled over by visitors who are surprised you can't see the other side, i.e., Canada). Like other cities in the so-called "rust belt", Cleveland has endured growing pains as it makes its transition from a manufacturing-based economy. While Cleveland continues to play a leading role in building the U.S.

Most attractions in Cleveland are Downtown. These include the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland Museum of Natural History, and the Cleveland Botanical Gardens, all in and around the University Circle neighborhood. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame & Museum, Great Lakes Science Center, and the Steamship William G. Mather Maritime Museum, are all on the lakefront. Churches: Particularly visit the Tremont district in West Side (where the movie The Deer Hunter was filmed) and the Church Square district along Euclid Avenue between Downtown and University Circle (where you can see a broad sampling of houses of prayer, many of which are used by their second or third generations of faith). There are also several monumental churches in near east side suburbs of Cleveland Heights and Shaker Heights along Cedar Road, Fairmount and Shaker Boulevards.

Enjoy a game with the world's best sports fans. Cleveland is home to the second longest span of sold out baseball games (5 consecutive seasons in the late 1990s), the largest American League baseball attendance (72,086 on 8/9/1981) and the birthplace of Monday Night Football (9/21/1970). But given its storied sports past coupled with its weathered but dedicated fan base (ESPN named Cleveland the "Most Tortured Sports City"), terms like The Drive, The Fumble, The Shot, The Move, The Decision, 2 More Outs will ring in the ears of Cleveland sports fans for generations to come. After the Cavaliers finally ended the city's half-century long championship drought in 2016, The Block will also ring in fans' ears, but with a far happier note. Win or lose, Clevelanders (obviously) just love sports. No "mistake" about it! - Lake Erie. The shallowest and warmest Great Lake (with the most vibrant fishery) defines Cleveland's northern border and provides many opportunities for boating, fishing, swimming and walks. Cleveland boasts more miles of shoreline than any other city in the world, providing enjoyment from before Memorial Day to past Labor Day for boaters, fishermen and beach bums. Sailers, boaters, waverunners and jet skiers enjoy the lake with marinas, piers and boat launches available all along America's North Coast. Fishing is popular more than three seasons of the year with healthy populations of Walleye and Perch in Lake Erie.

Cleveland is host to a wide variety of restaurants and is culinarily much more diverse than an outsider might suspect in the Midwest drawing on large enclaves of ethnic neighborhoods and immigration (Ohio City, Slavic Village, Parma, Hough, Little Italy, Chinatown and others). Certainly, Eastern European food and Soul food are big in a city where Hungarians, Slavs, Poles, Czechs, Bohemians and Southern African Americans were drawn to the steel and automotive industries in the late 19th and early 20th centuries; however, recent emigres have spiced up the mix, adding many more influences including Indian, Chinese, Southeast Asian, Puerto Rican and Central American, Middle Eastern and Mediterranean. In the mid-1990s Cleveland was in step with the resurgence of the restaurant industry, and has many restaurants on-par with their larger-city counterparts, many of which are located in the Historic Warehouse District, the Flats, Ohio City, Tremont, the Gateway Neighborhood and along the Restaurant Row in the East Side suburbs. In fact, the area boasts of 6 AAA Four Diamond restaurants, the most between New York and Chicago. Today's Cleveland goes beyond your grandfather's sausage and pierogi steel town. Most restaurants in Cleveland are closed on Sunday and many have reduced hours or are closed on Monday. Cleveland has two varieties of spicy mustard that are found at sports games and sports pubs, Stadium and Bertmans. Local fans are very opinionated about which one is best, similar to how Americans generally prefer either Coke or Pepsi.

There are plenty of bars in Cleveland - most are located Downtown. However, many are closed on Sundays and some have reduced hours or are closed on Mondays. 1 Great Lakes Brewing Company. The restaurant is in the Ohio City district of Cleveland. The microbrews are available at many bars, restaurants, grocery stores, and even gas stations. The restaurant has gunshots in its walls from Eliot Ness, the former Cleveland Chief of Police, and the FBI man who busted the mob in the early 20th century. (updated Nov 2018)

Hotels are mostly located Downtown, with a few additional East Side options around University Circle, and some properties near the airport on the far West Side. The only hostel in the city is in Ohio City on the West Side. Neighboring suburbs also provide numerous lodging choices.

1 Cleveland Hopkins International Airport (CLE IATA), ☏ +1 216-265-6030. 13 mi (21 km) southwest of Downtown. The RTA Red Line Rapid Transit provides frequent and fast rail service from the airport to downtown. $2.50. (updated Jul 2019) 2 Burke Lakefront Airport (BKL IATA), 1501 N Marginal Rd. A small airport downtown right on the shore of Lake Erie that handles private jet, business, and general aviation traffic. Ultimate Air Shuttle offers twice daily flights to Cincinnati from Burke. (updated Jul 2019) 3 Akron-Canton Airport (CAK IATA). 50 mi (80 km) south of Cleveland in Akron. Served by most major U.S. airlines. (updated Jul 2019) 4 Cuyahoga County Airport (CGF IATA) (In northeastern Cuyahoga County.). Serves private planes as a General aviation airport. (updated Jul 2019) Four two-digit interstate highways serve Cleveland: Interstate 71 runs primarily west before heading due south into the suburbs, and most directly connects downtown to Cleveland Hopkins International Airport (via Ohio 237), the lower west suburbs (via I-480), the southwest suburbs, and eventually the state capital of Columbus. The curved section of I-71 that runs between W 25th Street and I-90/490 is referred to as the Metro Curve, due to its proximity to MetroHealth Medical Center. Interstate 77, shown on maps as the Willow Freeway is Cleveland's oldest freeway, and heads due south from the Innerbelt along the east side of the Cuyahoga Valley and most directly connects downtown to the south suburbs, southeast suburbs (via I-480), Ohio Turnpike (I-80), and the city of Akron.

Cleveland might be one of the easiest cities in the world to navigate. There are almost no one-way streets, because the city was planned to have "European Avenues" (which resulted in the foresight to make them broad enough for vehicular transportation that couldn't have been imagined in the late 1700s). Traffic is generally not a problem relative to other major U.S. metro areas. Throughout the downtown area, purple signs direct visitors to let you know where you are and what district you are in. The streets that run north-south are numbered, except for Ontario Street (the north-south street bisecting Public Square). Numbered streets are named "West", west of Ontario and "East", east of Ontario. (Broadview Road becomes the primary geographic boundary between 'East' and 'West' addresses to the south of the city.) The major east-west streets are generally named as "avenues". Finding an address is simple as well. Numbers on north-south streets increase as you head south from Lake Erie, numbers on east-west streets increase as you head away from downtown and coincide with the numbered streets (i.e. 6500 Detroit Ave is located at the corner of Detroit Ave and W 65th St). Odd addresses on north-south streets are for buildings on the east side of the street, and even addresses are on the west side; on the west side of Cleveland, odd addresses on east-west streets are located on the south side of the street, while even addresses are on the north side—the reverse is true for east-west streets on the east side of Cleveland.

When driving at night in the city, stay in your car along major urban corridors (like Euclid, Chester and Carnegie Avenues heading east and Detroit and Lorain Avenues heading west). At night, you may want to avoid inner city neighborhoods and the City of East Cleveland in its entirety. Many of the city's so-called "rough" neighborhoods are on the east side. However, tourists in general wouldn't have any reason to visit these neighborhoods, and University Circle on the east side, where all the city's main cultural institutions are, is safe. Eastern inner-ring suburbs such as Cleveland Heights, University Heights, Beachwood and Shaker Heights are all very safe. The city of Cleveland is ranked 7th in violent crime rate among major US cities. When walking at night, avoid eye contact, walk assertively, stay in lit areas, be aware of your surroundings, and travel in groups if possible.