Cleveland is a thriving city in Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state of Ohio. The city lies on a series of irregular bluffs parallel to Lake Erie and cut by the Cuyahoga River, Big Creek and Euclid Creek. Cleveland has easy access to the Hopkins Airport, which is only about five miles away from the city center. Many natural and man-made attractions offer tourists a variety of world-class destination options around the city.
Among the many natural attractions located in various areas of Cleveland, the Cleveland Cultural Gardens is one of the most popular destinations for both tourists and locals. This collection of gardens provides a good representation of the varying ethnicities making up the population of Cleveland and its suburbs. It showcases 24 distinct cultural gardens including African-American, American Indian, Chinese, British, Polish, Irish, Latvian, Czech and many other European ethnicities.
The Cleveland Metropolitan Parks System, better known as "The Metroparks," offers a large park system that forms a shape of an emerald necklace around the city. Other popular parks in the area include the Cedar Point Amusement Park, known as "The Roller Coaster Capital of the World," the more than a century-old Euclid Beach Park and the vintage-looking Memphis Kiddie Park.
Downtown Cleveland provides many opportunities for walking and bus tours. The area's diverse architecture offers sights of picturesque and mostly historical government and civic buildings such as the City Hall, Cuyahoga County Courthouse, Cleveland Public Library and the Public Auditorium. The downtown also houses the Terminal Tower, a prototypical Beaux-Arts skyscraper that opened in 1930. It was the tallest building in North America outside New York City until 1967.
Two newer landmarks at the Public Square can also be accessed through a trolley tour. This includes visits to the skyscrapers Key Tower and the BP Building. The Cleveland Grays Armory, described as the "downtown castle," allows tourists to walk around one of the oldest remaining buildings in the area predating the Civil War.
Historic homes in Cleveland are a combination of homes converted into public museums and homes that have remained as private residences up to this day. The Old Stone House and the Nicholson House are open as museums operated by the Lakewood Historical Society. Meanwhile, there are a number of California Ranch-style homes dating from the 1950s to the 1960s found in historical neighborhoods like Forest Hills, Bay Village and Old Brooklyn, home to the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, the historic Riverside Cemetery and Drew Carey's boyhood home. The neighborhoods typically welcome visiting guests wanting to immerse themselves with the history and culture of these homes.
Historic churches in the area feature a number of century-old places of worship with Gothic-style architecture. Tourists can visit the Holy Rosary Church, St. Stanislaus Church, St. Rocco's Church, St. Paul's Church and Immaculate Conception Church.
Cleveland houses the Cain Park, a large artistic and cultural space consisting of an outdoor covered theater and amphitheater and an art gallery. The University Circle is also home to the Cleveland Institute of Music building, which is a stone's throw away from the Cleveland Botanical Gardens and a number of art and history museums including the Cleveland Museum of Art, Museum of Contemporary Art, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum and Cleveland Museum of Natural History.
Downtown Cleveland's Playhouse Square showcases many performances from the Opera Cleveland and the Great Lakes Theater Festival. It also showcases a variety of concerts, Broadway musicals and cultural shows.
