Healthy Travel Guide: Cincinnati

We toured Cincinnati to find the best, most nutritious restaurants the city has to offer. Here's a unique guide to good eating and great exercise for hungry travelers.

How we did the math:
This series is meant as a fun guide to experiencing a city through the Cooking Light lens. All calculations are rough estimates and should be seen as a starting point for your own adventure.

Calorie burns were estimated using this calculator. The approximations are based on how vigorous the activity level is for a 150-pound woman—for example, a stroll around a farmers’ market was calculated at a lower burn than when we tell you to pick up the pace.

We estimated steps at an average of 2,000 steps per mile walked.

All calorie calculations for the meal selections we recommend were rough estimates based on inputting similar dishes and ingredients into this calculator.

Though known for its German-American heritage, Cincinnati is home to a surprising number of French-inspired restaurants, and the French Crust Café is one of the best. Order the crunchy Swiss granola with Ohio’s Snowville yogurt and a cup of coffee. Afterward, walk to one of the city’s architectural and cultural gems, the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, which marks Cincinnati’s crucial role in the Underground Railroad.

Burn: 102 calories
Eat: 448 calories

The Ohio River snakes along the Kentucky border, and its bridges provide a picturesque path for cycling. Rent a Red Bike and ride along Riverside Drive past 19th-century manses; then head south toward East Fourth Street to cross the Licking River on the John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge into Newport, Kentucky. Reward yourself with a strawberry torte at Katharina’s Café, a beloved German bakery (pictured). Then drop off your bike in Newport, call an Uber, and head back.

Burn: 237 calories
Eat: 206 calories

Tell your driver to take you to The Rookwood restaurant in the Mt. Adams neighborhood. Order the heirloom beet salad with fennel, feta, and curried cashews, and the grilled chicken sandwich with tomato aioli and wild mushrooms. Then walk to the Church of the Immaculata, climbing the 96 steps to the front door. You’ll be afforded beautiful views of downtown and the Ohio River. Now walk back downtown, and head to Over-the-Rhine, a 19th-century German neighborhood central to the downtown boom.

Burn: 165 calories
Eat: 612 calories

Stroll lower Vine Street over to Main Street for a locally brewed Rhinegeist beer at Japp’s, located in a 19th-century wig store. Make your way to Race Street and walk onward to Findlay Market, which boasts dozens of meat and produce vendors, a great way to get a taste of what’s cooking in Cincinnati.

Burn: 200 calories
Drink: 120 calories

Downtown Mita’s, chef/owner Jose Salazar focuses on the foods of Spain and Latin America. Start with the watermelon gazpacho (pictured) and a Spanish cheese plate before digging into the seafood-rich pozole.

Eat: 1,187 calories

Head across the street to Orchids at Palm Court and tap into your inner F. Scott Fitzgerald with an old-fashioned at the bar in this opulent Art Deco-style dining room. Relax and reacquaint yourself with a new kind of Midwestern living.

Drink: 155

TOTAL STEPS: 11,800
NET CALORIES: 2,024