Anna’s New York Blog in August – A surprising visit to Cincinnati

Anna Budeyri

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Recently I was invited to participate in a corporate training program which was about to take place in Cincinnati. I was really passionate about attending the training but not sure if the location was “nice”. I was even thinking that it would be better to wait a bit longer for the same training to happen somewhere else. My opinion about Cincinnati was completely formed based on what other people had told me. Although I had been in Cincinnati once 15 years ago, I did not remember anything about the city and I had to rely on others’ point of view.


Before rejecting the participation in the training I discussed it with my husband. We jointly decided that even if Cincinnati seems like “the middle of nowhere”, it would be still nice for me to see people living there, their hobbies and interests. The US does not only consist of NYC, Miami and Los Angeles. There are many more places in the country and in order to fully understand the culture, we need to see it from all the angles. While discussing it, my husband also got intrigued and decided that he would join me on the trip.

We planned 5 days for the trip in order to have some free time after the training to explore Cincinnati and around. I wish we had planned for more…

The Cincinnati area completely amazed us. Every single venue we visited was significantly above our expectations! Here is what we liked the most about the city:

• Great restaurants: There was not a single time when we did not say “this was an amazing meal”! All of the restaurants are very authentic, with lots of creativity being put into the design of the spaces and the design of the menu. Our all-time favorite is “Harvest” in Louisville, Kentucky, (a bit more than one hour drive away from Cincinnati) which served an amazing brunch menu.
• Great architecture: One of Cincinnati’s neighborhoods is called “Over the Rhine”. It used to be a working class district and has recently undergone major renovation with most of the old houses being restored. The neighborhood is now a trendy area with restaurants, shops and yoga studios. The area looks simply amazing and it would be hard to find such a neighborhood in NYC or other US big cities. The district attracts young and creative people and I believe that more and more tourist will soon come and explore it.
• Great cultural life: Every single day there is something happening in Cincinnati in multiple locations, let it be concert, exhibition or performance. We managed to go to a few events, our favorites were: (1) the Reggae Music Festival with hundreds of people dancing on the street and (2) the “Da Vinci the Genius” exhibition uncovering details of Leonardo Da Vinci’s life and work. The quote “simplicity is the ultimate sophistication” has been deeply stuck in my mind since then.

After the trip it feels like we have discovered a hidden treasure city. Definitely, Cincinnati is by far better than its reputation. The city has given us some wonderful memories during fantastic five days. On top, it has fired my interest to see more of the places which are not on the cover of the standard tourist guides.

I promise I will keep you posted on future exciting ventures!