Cleveland offers clearly distinct highlights for visitors: theater history and science downtown, waterfront activities at Edgewater Park, and other cultural and green spaces. If you’re looking for a hotel in Cleveland, you can first decide what you want to shape your stay: stages and exhibitions, or time in the park. West Side Market and Rockefeller Park Greenhouse add a municipal market and a botanical garden to the mix. These distinctions help you organize your days by theme, rather than giving equal time to culture, science and the outdoors.

Waterfront and Outdoor Activities at Edgewater Park

Edgewater Park is the westernmost park in Cleveland Metroparks’ Lakefront Reservation. Its shoreline spans 9,000 feet. The park has dog beaches and swimming beaches, and offers cycling and other biking activities. The 9,000 feet of shoreline make the park’s connection to the water tangible, while cycling and biking provide a distinct focus for activities. This makes it easy to think of Edgewater as a place for water and movement alongside the city’s stages and exhibitions.

Theater History and the Market

Playhouse Square is in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, and is the world’s largest theater restoration project. Its five original venues—Mimi Ohio, Connor Palace, KeyBank State, Allen and Hanna—were built in the 1920s. The theaters’ construction dates give the restoration project a specific historical context: the project’s significance and the history of its original stages can be considered together. On select Saturdays, Playhouse Square offers free, volunteer-led historical tours. Check the specific dates if a tour is important to your stay.

West Side Market tells a different story of the city. It opened to customers on November 2, 1912, and is Cleveland’s oldest continuously operating municipal market. This adds an institution of city life to the selection of theaters.

Science Downtown

Great Lakes Science Center is located in downtown Cleveland. It has hundreds of hands-on interactive exhibits and is home to the NASA Glenn Visitor Center. So, alongside its many interactive exhibits, the science center also includes a named visitor center. If you’re including science in your travel plans, you’ll find a different focus here than at Playhouse Square, with its theater history.

At the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, the Visitor Hall is free and open to the public. The free CircleLink shuttle passes by the museum’s Wade Oval entrance. As the service route may change, check the current route before you travel.

Green Spaces with Different Highlights

Rockefeller Park Greenhouse adds a botanical focus: it is a municipal botanical garden and greenhouse in Cleveland. In contrast to Edgewater Park, the emphasis here is on the botanical garden and greenhouse, while Edgewater is defined by its shoreline, beaches and cycling. The nature options therefore offer distinct experiences: shoreline and beach activities at Edgewater Park, and a botanical garden and greenhouse at Rockefeller Park Greenhouse.

This thematic approach can help you choose a hotel in Cleveland. First consider whether theater, science, market history or green spaces should shape your stay. This lets you plan your trip around your interests and choose the right focus for each day.

Discover More Destinations

Discover more destinations: Lakewood, Valley View, Solon, Brook Park, North Olmsted, Independence, Brecksville, Bay Village

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