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Accolades and Awards
National accolades keep coming for Cincinnati USA as a premier destination for conventions, meetings and leisure travel. With recognition in publications such as USA Today, CNN.com and Esquire magazine, Cincinnati is recognized not only as a top destination for all ages, but also a community that strives for innovation, quality of life and regional growth.
Accolades + Awards By Category
Below is a sample of Cincinnati USA's most recent designations:
Cincinnati was included in US News & World Report's "Top 100 Places to Live in 2017."
Careerbliss.com listed Cincinnati as one of the happiest cities to work in 2017.
Cincinnati ranked No. 8 on Glassdoor's list of Best Cities for Jobs in 2017. The list is based on hiring opportunities, cost of living and job satisfaction.
US News ranked Cincinnati among the Top 40 places to live in 2016.
Cincinnati is also one of the best places to live in the United States, according to a 2014 ranking from Livability.com
Cincinnati came in #5 on Wallethub's 2014 list of best cities in America for foodies. Researchers analyzed 18 metrics including cost of groceries, number of restaurants per capita, grocery stores per capita, and the prevalence of affordable eateries. WalletHub then ranked 150 of the nation’s most populous cities to find out the best and worst places to get your eat on.
The Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG) swept the 2017 Skytrax World Airport Awards, earning the following accolades:
- No. 1 - World's best airport in the 5-19 million passenger category
- No. 1 - Best regional airport in North America
- No. 2 - Best airport in North America
- No. 2 - World's best regional airport
- No. 5 - Best airport staff in North America
- No. 26 - Highest ranking U.S. airport among world's top-100 overall best airports
Results were determined by more than 11 million completed surveys completed by passengers representing 100 different nationalities in more than 240 international airports in the last year.
In a list of top airports worldwide by AirHelp, CVG ranked the No. 6 best airport in the world. CVG was the only U.S. airport to make the top-10 on the list.
Circa listed Cincinnati as one of the top cities for young adults in 2017.
This 2016 Forbes article ranked Cincinnati in the top 20 cities for young people. The cities were ranked based upon the number of jobs made available for young professionals, as well as the cost of living.
A 2014 Time Magazine business article highlights a list compiled by Apartments.com of the best cities for new and recent graduates. The list takes into account affordability; it favors cities where the average rent for a one-bedroom unit is less than 25% of gross median income. Career opportunity is a big consideration; no cities with unemployment above 7% make the cut. The list also takes demographics into account; weight is given to cities with more people aged 25-29.
In 2017, Successful Meetings named Cincinnati a Top 10 City for Stretching a Dollar.
Forbes magazine declared Cincinnati the fifth most affordable metropolitan area to live in the United States. Forty-nine other metropolitan areas were compared and figures such as median asking price of homes on the market and median salary pay were considered.
In March 2014 Cincinnati was voted one of the top five most affordable cities to buy a home in the country by HomeInsurance.com. HomeInsurance.com used the number of mentions on best places to live, most affordable places to live, and other lists to qualify the top 5 cities.
In 2017, ZipRecruiter ranked Cincinnati as the No. 5 best city to work in in the U.S. Cincinnati ranked among the top in the country due to low competition in a variety of top industries, including healthcare, government and business.
Site Selection named Cincinnati as one of the top locations in the country for economic development. The magazine also named Cincinnati as one of the world's most competitive cities for business.
Site Selection magazine ranked Cincinnati among the top 10 metro areas for new and expanding businesses for 8 consecutive years. Coming in at No. 6 in the nation, Cincinnati had 247 businesses that met the magazine's ranking criteria of growth.
Cincinnati also earned marks from Expansion magazine, which ranked it among the hottest 50 cities according to site location consultants.
Cincinnati has been ranked in the top 10 cities that could be on the brink of becoming the next Silicon Valley by Bright.com. The list was based on technology job openings and consistent tech sector growth over the past year.
Another study by Business Week named Cincinnati the No. 3 city for Biggest Growth in Tech Jobs naming companies such as IBM, Technology Solutions, Cincinnati Bell and General Electric.
Forbes ranks Cincinnati as one of top opportunity cities - and where it may be easier to make your mark. The business site put together its 2014 list of "19 Opportunity Cities" and named Cincinnati No. 18.
Best City for Seniors
With low cost of living and affordable housing, coupled with a variety of cultural attractions, Sperling's BestPlaces named Cincinnati USA the twenty-first best city for senior citizens. The study analyzed nearly 50 categories such as various senior living facilities, comprehensive medical care, specialized transportation services, and a significant senior population.
Healthiest City
Men's Health magazine named Cincinnati among the fittest cities in the country for children (Ranked No. 3, only Seattle and New York rank higher than Cincinnati). Rankings included how frequently adults are physically active; the percentage of overweight of obese adults; the number of children's sport camps; and the number of fast-food restaurants per capita.
Best City for Nightlife
Forbes Magazine announced its latest line-up of the Best Cities for Singles 2006. Out of the 40 largest continental U.S. metropolitan centers, Cincinnati USA ranked No. 1 for its nightlife based on the number of restaurants, bars and nightclubs per capita in the region.
Most Livable Communities
Bestowed by the non-profit organization Partners for Livable Communities, Cincinnati was listed as one of 30 cities across the nation whose innovations have brought vitality and growth to their regions and improved quality of life. Cincinnati is the only Midwestern city and one of the nine large markets nationwide to be named to the list.
Smart Asset named Cincinnati the No. 5 best city for foodies in 2017 due in large part to its access to fresh, local ingredients. Cincinnati has the seventh-most community-supported agriculture and farmers’ markets per 100,000 residents.
VegNews magazine has named Cincinnati one of five surprisingly veg-friendly cities in its latest print issue. Several vegan-friendly "must visit" restaurants and retailers include Park + Vine, Loving Hut, Melt Eclectic Deli, Myra's Dionysus and Shanghai Mama's.
Safest City
Forbes magazine conducted a statistical analysis of the 40 largest metropolitan areas and ranked them based on four categories of danger: violent crime rates, workplace deaths, traffic deaths and natural disaster risk. Cincinnati ranked ninth overall for safest cities.
Best Walking City
Cincinnati USA was named the Best Walking City in Ohio and ranked 20th in the nation, according to Prevention magazine and the American Podiatric Medical Association. The study ranked 100 cities in the United States on a list of criteria ranging from the number of walking commuters and low crime rates to the number of cultural attractions and pet owners.
Cities that Rock
Esquire magazine ranks Cincinnati as seventh on its top 10 list of "Cities that Rock". Cities were chosen based on the talent in their music scenes, venues and record stores.
Cincinnati's musical history includes Syd Nathan's King Records, which produced tracks from James Brown, John Lee Hooker, the Stanley Brothers and Hank Ballard in the 1940s and '50s to Bootsy Collins, Greg Dulli (Afghan Whigs) and Peter Frampton.
The Queen City ranked No. 13 out of the 150 largest U.S. cities in 2017’s Most Fun Cities in America list from the personal finance website WalletHub.
In a list compiled by Bert Sperling, creator of Money magazine’s annual “Best Places to Live” placed Cincinnati among the top 20 fun cities in the United States. The list based the ranking by reviewing “fun” characteristics of top U.S. cities such as the number of sports teams, restaurants, types of retail, arts performances, and city budget spent on recreation.
Comparing numerous recreational type categories like movie costs, and average open hours of breweries, Smart Meetings placed Cincinnati USA as #6 on the "Most Fun Cities in the US" List.
Cincinnati was dubbed the nation's best city for Oktoberfest celebrations by WalletHub in 2017 for its annual Oktoberfest Zinzinnati celebration, one of the city's largest festivals and the largest of its kind in the U.S.
Smartasset lists Cincinnati as a top city for beer drinkers in their 2016 Study.
USA Today listed Cincinnati as one of the “10 great beer festivals” in the summer, Okotberfest-Zinzinnati is recognized as the world’s second-largest authentic Oktoberfest. In fact, the mayor of Munich annually decrees Oktoberfest-Zinzinnati as the largest in the world outside of his domain.
Fodor's Travel Blogger named Cincinnati's Mecklenburg Gardens one of the Best Beer Gardens in the United Staes. At almost 150 years old, it is Cincinnati's oldest functioning restaunt as well as one of the oldest beer gardens still in operation.
Citing its many craft seasonal holiday brews, Treavelocity named Cincinnati as one of the top 15 cities for seasonal brews.
Travel + Leisure listed Cincinnati among the 50 Best Places to Travel in 2017. Cincinnati was the first of only seven U.S. cities to be included in the roundup.
Lonely Planet recently named Cincinnati No. 3 on their list of top 10 U.S. Travel Destinations. The travel guide says the city has become a "worthy weekend getaway" citing attractions such as the riverfront, the Art Museum, Findlay Market and the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center.
Smartest City
Cincinnati was ranked one of the nation's 10 smartest cities in a 2013 Movoto blog list. The bloggers analyzed the 100 most populous cities in the United States based on six pieces of criteria that included universities and colleges per person, libraries per person, education level, media per person, museums per person and public school rank. Cincinnati came in among the top of the list as a result of its library system and number of colleges and universities per capita.
The Cincinnati USA Convention & Visitors Bureau, Greater Cincinnati hotels and attractions are consistently honored with awards for outstanding customer service and other honors. Please take a glance at our accomplishments.
Cincinnati USA Convention & Visitors Bureau
Most recently, the Cincinnati USA CVB has received the following awards, all based on receiving top votes of meeting planners:
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2013 & 2014 Platinum Choice Award by Smart Meetings magazine. The Platinum Choice Awards - a coveted industry honor, with winners selected by top meeting professionals and Smart Meetings readers - recognized 130 hotels and 50 convention and visitors bureaus across North America. The Cincinnati USA CVB was the only CVB recipient in Ohio.
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2015 Gold Service Award by Meetings and Conventions magazine (1986-1987, 1990-1991, 1994, 1996-1997, 2002-2015). In addition, the CVB was awarded the 2006 Gold Awards Hall of Fame.
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21st Successful Meetings Pinnacle Award in 2015 (1991-1995, 1997-2005, 2008-2015)
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2003 "Award of Excellence" from Corporate & Incentive Travel
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2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2015 Middy Awards from Ohio Association of Convention and Visitors Bureaus (OACVB)
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2004, 2005, 2006, 2015 Ruby Awards from Ohio Travel Association (OTA)
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2007 Public Relations Society America Blacksmith Award Finalist
Convention Centers + Event Space
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The Duke Energy Convention Center has been named the winner of the 2012, 2013 & 2014 Facilities & Destinations Prime Site Award.
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The Sharonville Convention Center has been named a finalist by the Business Courier and the U.S. Green Building Council Cincinnati Regional Chapter in the 2014 Green Business Awards competition.
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In 2017, MeetingSource ranked Cincinnati among the top-12 convention cities in the U.S.
Hotel Accolades
21c Museum Hotel
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AAA Four-Diamond Hotel since 2014
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21c Museum Hotel Cincinnati has been named the #1 Hotel in the Midwest, #2 Hotel in the United States and #29 in the world in the 2014 Conde Nast Traveler Readers’ Choice Awards.
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Cincinnati’s 21c was one of only two U.S. hotels included on Departures.com 2014 list of top 10 hotel bathrooms.
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21c Museum Hotel Cincinnati was named to Travel + Leisure magazine’s 2014 It List of Best New Hotels.
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#1 Hotel in the US, #1 Hotel Midwest, #11 in the World 2013 Condé Nast Traveler Readers’ Choice Awards.
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2013 "Timmy” Awards for Excellence in Historic Rehabilitation “Best Historic Rehab Utilizing New Markets Tax Credits” National Housing & Rehabilitation Association.
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Fodor’s Travel announced that 21c Museum Hotel Cincinnati has been recognized as a 2013 Fodor’s 100 Hotel Award winner in the Creative Conversions category.
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21c Cincinnati has been named to Condé Nast Traveler Magazine's prestigious 2013 Hot List
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2013 Urban Land Institute Global Awards of Excellence
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2013 Preservation Award Cincinnati Preservation Association, Rehabilitation category
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2013 Award of Excellence in Historic Preservation and the Honor Award in Interior Architecture AIA Pittsburgh
The Cincinnatian Hotel (Downtown Cincinnati)
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The Cincinnatian Hotel is listed as one of the Top 10 Historic Hotels in America by ForbesTravelGuide.com
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4 Diamond Rating from AAA for 27 consecutive years
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Mobil Travel Guide four-star rating for 22 consecutive years
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Travel + Leisure 2002 & 2006 "World's Best Business Hotels"
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Cincinnati Enquirer 2006 5 Star Rating for The Palace Restaurant
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Conde Nast Traveler 2004 and 2001 Gold List "World's Best Places to Stay"
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Travel + Leisure 2001 "25 Stylish Hotels in America for Under $200"
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USA Today 2002 Top Ten Places to have "Afternoon Tea"
Hilton Cincinnati Netherland Plaza (Downtown)
Hyatt Regency Cincinnati (Downtown Cincinnati)
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American Society of Interior Designers, 2013 Design Excellence Award
Millennium Hotel (Downtown Cincinnati)
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Pinnacle Award for Meeting Excellence
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MPI Silver Plate Award for Best Meeting
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"Excellence in the East" award from Meetings East magazine
Renaissance Hotel (Downtown Cincinnati)
The Residence Inn at the Phelps (Downtown Cincinnati)
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Named the No. 1 hotel in the Residence Inn brand for guest satisfaction, scoring the highest of 621 Residence Inns in the U.S. The survey is done by its parent Marriott International
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Ranked No. 19 out of 650,000 hotels in the U.S. for service in the TripAdvisor 2013 Traveler’s Choice Awards
The Westin Cincinnati (Downtown Cincinnati)
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4 Diamond Rating from AAA for 12 consecutive years
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Hotel Team Convention Services Award, from Starwood Hotels and Resorts
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World's Best Frequent Guest Program; Starwood Preferred Guest Program, voted on by 222,000 frequent travelers from around the world
Kingsgate Marriott Conference Center at the University of Cincinnati
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Certificate of Excellence Award by TripAdvisor (2013)
Restaurant Accolades
Arnold's Bar and Grill
Boca Restaurant
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Four Diamond Rating from AAA for 16 consecutive years.
Boca was named one of the best French restaurants in the United States by Travel + Leisure Magazine.
Eli's BBQ Restaurant
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Eli's BBQ was ranked #3 on Business Insider's list of the nation's best barbecue restaurants,
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In addition, Eli's BBQ was the only restaurant in Cincinnati – or Ohio – to be named to Yelp's Top 100 Places to Eat in the U.S. for 2015.
Graeter's Ice Cream
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Cincinnati's Graeter's ranked 6th out of 12 on U.S. News and World Report's list of America's Best Ice Cream. The report highlights the French Pot process as well as signature flavors such as Butter Pecan, Cinnamon and Black Raspberry Chocolate Chip.
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Cincinnati's famous Graeter’s Ice Cream named Best Sweet at Food Network 2014 South Beach Wine & Food Festival.
Kaze
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Kaze in Over-the-Rhine was ranked among OpenTable Inc.’s 2014 Diners’ Choice Award winners for the Top 100 Hot Spot Restaurants in America.
Metropole (at the 21c Museum Hotel)
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Top 50 New Restaurants in America-2013 Bon Appétit Magazine
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2013 Best Hotel Breakfast, Cincinnati Magazine Best of the City Awards
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Condé Nast Traveler’s 15 Best New Restaurants in the Midwest 2014 list
Nicola's Restaurant
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Four Diamond Rating from AAA for 7 consecutive years.
Orchid's at Palm Court (at the Hilton Cincinnati Netherland Plaza)
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AAA Five-Diamond, 2017. Orchids at Palm Court is once again the only restaurant in Ohio and one of only 64 in the USA to earn the AAA Five-Diamond award.
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OpenTable - named Orchids to its 100 Most Romantic Restaurants in America for 2016 list.
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2016 Forbes Travel Guide gives a Four-Star rating for the fourth consecutive year
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AAA Five-Diamond, 2015. The only restaurant in Ohio and one of only 63 in North America to receive this distinction.
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Hilton Hotels & Resorts' #1 Food & Beverage Hotel in the USA - 2015, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010
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OpenTable -Top 100 in USA including #7 Best Restaurant in the USA - 2009-2014
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American Culinary Federation’s “Award of Excellence” two-time winner
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American Culinary Federation's USA Chef of the Year - 2011
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Wine Spectator Award Winner
Palace Restaurant (at The Cincinnatian Hotel)
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Wine Spectator's 'Award of Excellence' 1999-2013.
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Four Diamond Rating from AAA for 28 consecutive years.
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Has been a Dirona Member since 1997 with the 'Award for Excellence in Dining'
Rhinegeist Brewery
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Ranked as one of the top 10 new brewers in the World by RateBeer.com
Sotto
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Sotto in downtown Cincinnati was ranked among OpenTable Inc.’s 2014 Diners’ Choice Award winners for the Top 100 Hot Spot Restaurants in America.
Sundry & Vice
The Celestial Restaurant
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Four Diamond Rating from AAA for 2016
Attraction Accolades
Cincinnati Art Museum
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Tied with four museums, including the Metropolitan Art Museum in New York and the Art Institute in Chicago for best art museum, Zagat Survey's U.S. Family Travel Guide
Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal
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USA Today listed the Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal as one of the "10 great places to cherish choo-choo heritage." Completed in 1933 as a busy Midwestern rail hub and later restored in 1991, the 10-story art deco structure continues to amaze visitors to this day.
Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden
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Ranked 13th of 50 national attractions, Zagat Survey's U.S. Family Travel Guide
Kings Island
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The group American Coaster Enthusiasts ranked King Island's Banshee third on its 2014 list of the 10 Top New Roller Coasters.
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Best Kids' Area in the World, Amusement Today newspaper
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The Beast roller coasters finished first in the Discovery Channel's online survey of top wooden roller coasters. The ride is featured in the show Top 10 Coasters.
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Ranked 4th overall attraction in "child appeal' category, Zagat Survey's U.S. Family Travel Guide
Newport Aquarium
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In 2014 the Newport Aquarium was ranked the No. 9 U.S. aquarium in an article written by US City Traveler’s founder Taylor Goldblatt, whose work has been featured by National Geographic, “The New York Times”, “Lonely Planet”, “The Washington Post” and Travel Channel.
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Newport Aquarium was named one of the Best U.S. Aquariums by Travel Channel in 2013
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No. 1 Aquarium in the Midwest and one of the 25 top rated attractions in the country, Zagat Survey's U.S. Family Travel Guide
Newport on the Levee
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Zagat Survey selected Newport on the Levee as the #1 Shopping/Mall Attraction for Families in the United States
Playhouse in the Park
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One of the most coveted awards in the entertainment industry, the Regional Theatre Tony Award has recognized Cincinnati’s Playhouse in the Park for its continued artistic achievement in 2004 and 2007.
The Banks
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APA's National Planning Excellence and Achievement Awards honor the best planning efforts and individuals that create communities of lasting value. The Banks was awarded the 2013 National Planning Excellence Award.
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