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I actually heard Cleveland is really cool and fun, super underrated.
Not that some people on here would know as the extent of their city knowledge is NYC, LA, SF, Boston and/or Miami. Not trying to be rude but like, visit Cleveland first THEN judge.
The list for Lonely Planet is all cool cities. And in North America, Philadelphia and Montreal are awesome cities to visit. I've never been to Kansas City.
The Travel & Leisure article was very long and seems more random, I didn't read that one in detail yet.
My husband was born and raised in Cleveland, we lived in Shaker Heights for a year and I had fond memories. (Although I did suffer S.A.D.-I can do long winter, but gloomy overcast all day long can be really hard on the mood and energy. Many locals shared their S.A.D with me so I knew I wasn’t alone.)
I love Shaker Heights.
CLE is not a “glamorous” city but if you’re a classic music, art, and Colonial architecture lover you’re in for a treat. The past glory of the Gilded Age of Cleveland is still visible and living in Shaker I was constantly amazed by the craftsmanship and the detailed artisanal commitment to the various of Tudor, Victorian, Colonial and Georgian architecture. The string of nice Eastern suburbs such as Chagrin Falls are more New England (Case Western Reserve came from the colony of Connecticut of the now Northeastern Ohio where CLE is.) than Midwest.
People are generally very warm, unpretentious and often in for the joke of self-deprecating CLE humor.
Since I’m an architecture nerd, I’m absolutely in love with many Gilded Age artful works such as Heinan (upscale supermarket) in Downtown CLE on Superior, google it, it’s SO beautiful. The restaurants such as Marble Room is in this old bank building that’s absolutely opulent and grand, same as Blue Point Grille. Edwin, Red and Gigi are all great restaurants I still reminisce often. The Chinese restaurant Li Wah is honestly straight out able to compete with the best Chinese restaurants in bigger cities like NYC/L.A/S.F/Boston. It’s THAT good.
Whoever mentioned the Playhouse Square chandeliers up thread was 100% correct. They are about 300 lbs each. Took our daughter to Severance Hall for concerts all the time when we lived there, I got to appreciate the more intimate atmosphere of the smaller city (yet high quality amenities in this sort.) that it almost felt like a village-like Sunday afternoon marquee banquet thing for local people to enjoy a Mozart or Schubert.
CLE also has plethora of outdoor “emerald necklace” Metroparks for outdoor greenery, biking….etc.
I watch real estate listing all over the world as my daily sport, I’m pleasantly surprised Cleveland housing market is selling like mad. It’s actually not that affordable anymore in many areas.
Yes it’s underrated.
Summer is the best time to visit CLE. It’s never overly hot, it’s lush and green, very pleasant and lovely.
People do like to drag Cleveland--and beat up on that city, really bad.
But it has some really cool neighborhoods and a lot going on. It has its fair share of rough, less than desirable areas, and dangerous areas too--but there are many bright spots and good things happening.
The lakeshore is beautiful in many areas when the weather is nice.
ainsley1999: Housing affordability has become a nationwide problem. I recently received in my work email a pitch for a study that revealed that the house price-to-income ratio is above the level where someone making the median income can afford to buy the median-priced house in every one of thd counttry's 50 largest cities.
Cleveland, Kansas City and Philadelphia all have reputations for being affordable places to live. Those reputations are being eroded, and, it appears, not because of factors peculiar to those cities.
ainsley1999: Housing affordability has become a nationwide problem. I recently received in my work email a pitch for a study that revealed that the house price-to-income ratio is above the level where someone making the median income can afford to buy the median-priced house in every one of thd counttry's 50 largest cities.
Cleveland, Kansas City and Philadelphia all have reputations for being affordable places to live. Those reputations are being eroded, and, it appears, not because of factors peculiar to those cities.
I agree with you. I study houses/real estate/wealth management so what you said above rings true. Basically in order to afford a $500k house with the current interest rate a couple/an individual needs to make combined $200k to get the approved mortgage. The lenders usually look at the income/debt ratio as your monthly mortgage should not exceed 28% of your gross income.
Another study showed (and I saved all the information from various firms as my study) L.A is the most unaffordable market where a household spends approximately 76% of its income on monthly housing whereas Cleveland spends 25% (the lowest nationwide.), topping with the low inventory in almost every major city, no wonder in places like Shaker Heights (beautiful historic housing stock, very high property tax though.)almost every house is “pending” or “contingent”. I’m seeing more and more “foreclosure” in FL but at the same time my in-laws’ house in Naples FL doubles its value in less than 2 years. In Los Angeles you have a 1.9 million one story cottage formerly working class neighborhood in San Pedro with no garage and ripped carpet.-it’s a jungle out there.
CLE, Kansas City and Philadelphia are all pretty solid cities and deserve more attention. All have beautiful opulent architecture which is my kind of gem. Montreal has so much character and energy. I’m generally not a big fan of Vegas but it’s definitely a fun city for a short visit. (I’m going to see U2 at Sphere next week. Sphere is going to attract more people to visit Vegas…..)
Last edited by achtung baby; 11-20-2023 at 09:32 AM..
Reason: Spelling
mhays25 isn't wrong, but I'm not sure I'd call the lists "clickbait" in the way that term is usually understood.
The travel guides and sites don't repeat choices from year to year because their aim is to get their visitors/readers/viewers going to different places all over the globe; why have them go to the same places year after year? I'm pretty sure they wouldn't pick places that don't have much to offer the curious traveler.
My issue is the headline. If they were counting the "best," they'd be similar every year.
Their aim is also to sell clicks and copies, so they make sure every region is included and don't shy away from controversial pronouncements.
(bolding mine)
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