10 Best Things to Do After Dinner in Cincinnati

Over-the-Rhine is the boho heart of hipster Cincinnati. The neighbourhood spans nearly 1.5 miles as it arcs through the northern half of the city. The best way to get there is on the vintage Cincinnati Street Automobile, which rattles up regularly from the vibrant Riverfront area.

Once there, expect to be inundated with sleek cocktail spots and craft beer lounges. There's Ghost Baby, a subterranean drinking lounge with The Great Gatsby undertones. There's Lost & Found, a mixology hotspot where shakers fly this way and that. "OTR", as Over-the-Rhine is known to the locals, packs in by far the coolest array of night-time venues around.

The Riverfront district is a veritable must for first-time visitors to the Queen City. It brushes along the edge of the Ohio River with its body-packed malecons and big sports stadiums, creating one of the most popular gathering points in the downtown.

At night, you can gaze back at the twinkling lights of the CBD and get stuck into stacks of bars and broil houses, including the famous Moerlein Lager House, with its very own microbrewery. The whole area – and the bars here – pack to bursting on game days, when flocks of Cincinnati Reds fans emerge from the Great American Ball Park. There are also late-night running tracks and picnic neighborhoods all along the Riverfront.

Green and leafy Mount Adams is the arty hub of Cincinnati. It's draped over a series of hills and slopes to the east of the CBD, with the Ohio River to the south and the interstate running to the north. The best way over is by bus. There's a stop on Paradrome Street on the north side of the neighbourhood.

Weekdays in this historic corner of the town are generally quiet. They are perfect for strolling the blocks in awe of the handsome Victorian homes and European-style frontispieces. Come the weekend, things are cranked up a notch as partiers and students flock to the famous taverns of Mount Adams. You can join them by making for St. Gregory Street, the main thoroughfare. Expect to find everything from craft beer dives to hookah lounges there.

The Cincinnati Music Hall is among the most prestigious classical music and performance venues in the state, if not the whole of America. You can hardly miss it. The building is a designated National Historic Landmark that lords over Elm Street with its grand Victorian Gothic façade. You can easily walk to it from anywhere in the Over-the-Rhine neighbourhood.

Home to acclaimed institutions like the Cincinnati Opera and the Cincinnati Ballet, this is the spot to look to if you want to fill your evenings with a touch of high culture. It also might draw the ghost hunters out there, since the Cincinnati Music Hall is hailed as one of the most haunted places in the whole USA.

Make the Playhouse in the Park your choice if you only have time to visit one theater during your stay in Cincinnati. One of the first-ever regional theaters to make a name for itself right across the United States, it's located in Eden Park up in Mount Adams, right in the thick of the main arts district of the city.

The stage here gained notoriety for its premiers of plays by the likes of Tennessee Williams back in the ‘90s. It's been the recipient of Tony Awards and other accolades for its championing of performance art on a regional level. Today, that continues and the box office showcases movie adaptations and musicals by big-name directors throughout its main season.

Sundry and Vise is a cocktail bar in Cincinnati, with a difference. Nestled right into the thick of the Over-the-Rhine district, it's a mainstay of the city's weekend drinking scene. But folk come as much for the tipples as they do the interiors…

Duck behind the unassuming entrance and you'll be greeted by a curious tin-clad roof and threadbare leather seats, backed up by industrial-chic lighting and shabby-chic brick walls. That's the backdrop for sampling fine in-house beverages such as the Night Cure – a mix of bourbon and honey – or the Garnet – a specialty blend of Jamaican hibiscus syrup, gin, and bitters.

Hard Rock Casino Cincinnati is the largest gaming space in the whole city, offering 100,000 sq ft of gambling hall to play with. It's also downright easy to get to, being sat just off E Central Parkway, only a 15-minute walk from the Central Business District and under 10 minutes from the south side of Over-the-Rhine.

Gamblers can look forward to the full shebang of table games, from roulette to blackjack. There are also dedicated poker tables for those who want to channel their inner Steve McQueen out of The Cincinnati Kid. And you'll get to drink at the onsite Hard Rock Café as you go.

Nostalgia Wine & Jazz Lounge combines a curated list of red and white wines with live music 3 times a week. It's another of the top-rated bars that beckon in the midst of the cool Over-the-Rhine neighbourhood, Cincinnati's burgeoning nightlife district.

Both the beverages selection and the music policy are aimed at highlighting and championing female and minority American winemakers and performers from the region and beyond. It's the sort of place where patrons can enjoy a glass of crisp Moscato to long nights of R&B, or settle in for a whiskey sour with a backing track of moody soul.

The Great American Ball Park is hallowed ground for many a citizen of Cincinnati. The home of the Cincinnati Reds, it hosts Major League Baseball showdowns throughout the season from its place in the heart of the happening Riverfront quarter of the city.

Game days are a rambunctious affair and promise travelers a taste of the real Cincinnati. MLB matches involving the Reds will usually start at just after 7 pm, lasting a couple of hours and sometimes more. Afterward, be sure to do as the locals do and head for the nearby alehouses and beer halls to debrief all those home runs.

Findlay Market is one of the main retail quarters of Cincinnati. It's wedged into the OTR – Over-the-Rhine – quarter between all those happening cocktail joints and beer halls, making it a great option if you want to add some shopping to your evening itinerary to break up the beverages.

There's history, too. This is actually the longest continually operated marketplace in Ohio. You'll see that in the Victorian-era architecture that dominates the outside. There are loads of outlets to get through, selling everything from farm-raised veg to organic fruit, pet food to homeware. Some nights in the summer also bring live bands to the space for Music at the Market.