Thanksgiving looked a bit different this year, in a good way. Our daughter’s Thanksgiving break was not long enough for us to bring her home, so we packed up and headed to Cincinnati. We brought my parents and our dog with us, so we rented a cute Airbnb in the Oakley Square neighborhood of the city. We knew nothing about the area but fell in love with it within a few hours of settling in.

The neighborhood was very walkable, and a nice downtown area was just down the block. We could easily walk to restaurants and shops and groceries, and a great brewery was available within a quick drive. While the area is about a 15-minute drive to campus, it did make for a nice getaway over break. Here are a few places we visited that you should check out in Cincinnati.

Jungle Jim’s

Jungle Jim’s International Market has two locations in Cincinnati and should not be missed if you consider yourself a fan of food. I won’t say much more since I have already written a post dedicated to the store.

Cincinnati Zoo

The Zoo is one of the most famous destinations in Cincinnati for a good reason. It is most notably known for its famous hippos, Fiona and Fritz, but the Zoo has so much more to offer. It is a beautiful place to walk around and experience. The whole place gives me Disney Animal Kingdom vibes, with theming down to animal tracks in the cement walkways.

We went later than we would usually visit because we were on two missions, one to see the newest hippo Fritz and to enjoy the Festival of Lights once it got dark. The weather cooperated, and the temperature stayed warm enough for the hippos to be outside. The temperature has to be above 40 degrees for them to come out. We were lucky to see all four hippos before the sun started setting and the holiday lights came on.

As you can tell from the pictures, the lights were beautiful and were a great way to kick off the holidays. We stopped for a snack and beer before continuing our walk. It was a great experience. If you can’t make it to Cincy, see if your local Zoo does holiday lights. It’s worth checking out.

Newport, KY

On our first trip to Cincinnati, we tried to drive downtown only to find out there was a baseball game at the time and decided we wanted to avoid the traffic. So that happy accident led us to cross the bridge to Newport, Kentucky. We returned to Newport on this trip to show my parents and get a late lunch. We were in the Newport on the Levee area, full of shops, restaurants, and an aquarium. We ate at the Hofbräuhaus and enjoyed a German meal in a fun environment. After all that good food, we needed to walk off our meal, so we walked around the shops and restaurants along the river and enjoyed the view of Cincinnati.

Downtown Cincinnati

On our way back to the Airbnb, we decided to stop downtown so that John could take some drone footage. We stumbled upon a holiday market and checked that out while John took his drone for a flight around the area. This area has professional football and baseball stadiums with plenty of places to eat and drink.

MadTree Brewing

We discovered that MadTree Brewing was only a mile from our Airbnb, so we made a couple of trips there during our stay. The tasting room is beautiful, with a friendly and relaxed feeling. The beers were great too. They had good-looking pizzas there too, but we were always too full when we arrived from previous meals. It was a perfect place to unwind from a busy day and discuss what we saw and did.

That pretty much sums up this trip. On previous trips, we have done other things in Cincinnati that I need to share with you, like Over-the-Rhine, which includes Findlay Market and Rhinegeist Brewing. We will discover more in the next 3 1/2 years of travel there, and I can’t wait.