Things to do in Cleveland

Food · Ohio City

A 1912 Guastavino-tiled market hall with a clock tower, still running as a working produce and butchers' market rather than a food court.

Local tip: Go early on a Friday or Saturday. Sunday and Monday it is shut, and by late Saturday afternoon the good stalls are cleared out. The outdoor produce arcade is materially cheaper than any supermarket in the city.

Culture · University Circle

One of the wealthiest art museums in the US and, unusually, free to enter — an encyclopaedic collection with outstanding Asian and medieval holdings in a 1916 Beaux-Arts building with a glass atrium spliced into it.

Local tip: Free general admission, always, with no ticket needed. Wednesday and Friday evenings it stays open late and is nearly empty. The armour court is what everyone who grew up here remembers.

Nature · Between Cleveland and Akron, 30 minutes south

Ohio's only national park — 33,000 acres of river valley, waterfalls and a canal towpath, threaded by a heritage railway.

Local tip: The Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad runs a bike-aboard service: cycle the Towpath Trail one way and take the train back with your bike for a few dollars. Brandywine Falls is the postcard; the Ledges at sunset is the better walk.

Neighborhood · West side, across the river from downtown

Two adjoining nineteenth-century neighbourhoods on the west bank — Ohio City around the market and the breweries, Tremont a hill of church spires, galleries and the city's densest restaurant strip.

Local tip: Tremont's Lincoln Park is ringed by five churches from five different immigrant communities, all within one block. Walking that circuit explains more about Cleveland's history than any museum here does.

Landmark · North Coast Harbor, downtown

I.M. Pei's glass pyramid on the lakefront, holding the genre's archive — Cleveland got it because a local DJ coined the term and the city ran a campaign to win the bid.

Local tip: The permanent exhibits are in the basement and are the substance; the upper floors are quick. Go on a weekday morning. Combine it with the Great Lakes Science Center and the steamship next door rather than treating it as a whole day.

Landmark · East side, above University Circle

A 285-acre Victorian garden cemetery holding President Garfield's tomb, John D. Rockefeller's obelisk and Eliot Ness's ashes, plus a chapel with a Tiffany stained-glass window designed by Louis Comfort Tiffany himself.

Local tip: Free, open daily, and almost empty. Climb the Garfield Memorial's balcony for the best view of the city and the lake that anyone will give you for nothing. The Wade Chapel window is worth the trip on its own.