Things to Do in Cincinnati When It's Cold AF Outside

Dine Al Fresco While Staying Warm at These Restaurants and Bars

Just because the mercury's dropping doesn't mean you have to move the party inside. There are a number of restaurants, bars and breweries in the Queen City offering ways to eat, drink and stay warm on their patios and rooftops this winter, whether you're looking for an igloo to cozy up in with your friends and family or if you want to gather 'round a firepit with other winter revelers. You can find a list of places where you can eat, drink and be cozy outside this winter in the link above.

Go Ice Skating or Do Curling at Fifty West

7605 Wooster Pike, Columbia Township
Fifty West Brewing Company transformed its burger bar campus into a winter wonderland for the season, complete with ice skating, curling, bonfires and more. The popular, family-friendly 40’x80’ ice skating rink this year features upgraded ice and skates. Admission is $10 per person — children under the age of 4 can skate for free — and admission includes skate rental and an hour of ice time. The rink has a timed reservation system that allows up to 70 people to skate at a time. Patrons can also rent lanes for curling (a sport where players slide stones on ice toward a target) for up to eight people for $60 an hour. Curling lane rentals are available every weekend from 8-10 p.m. Fountain Square also has its ice rink out through Feb. 19.

Hit the Slopes at Perfect North

19074 Perfect Lane, Lawrenceburg
Embrace the cold and get out in the fresh air for a variety of winter sports and fun at Perfect North Slopes. Perfect North offers plenty of freshly powdered hills for both skiing and snowboarding, as well as lessons for those wanting to learn how to pizza and french fry their way downhill. Visitors can also glide downhill in snow tubes, and when it’s time to warm up, visit the Lodge for a snack and hot beverage.

Watch the Penguin Parade at the Cincinnati Zoo

3400 Vine St., Avondale
Penguin Days at the Cincinnati Zoo offers discounted admission from now until March 8. The highlight of Penguin Days is the Penguin Parades, featuring the zoo’s king penguins. The zoo says this is the final year for Penguin Parades before their aging parade stars retire, so this winter is the perfect time to go. Penguin Parades are held every Saturday, Sunday and holiday Monday at 11 a.m. as long as it’s colder than 50 degrees out. The first parade will be Saturday, Jan. 13 and the final will be Sunday, Feb. 25. During Penguin Days, visitors can also enjoy weekend animal encounters, including otters, elephants, painted dogs and more.

Enjoy the Fusion of Opposites at Moerlein Lager House’s Fire & Ice Event

115 Joe Nuxhall Way, The Banks
Warm up a bit this winter with a fusion of opposites at Moerlein Lager House’s Fire & Ice weekends. Every Friday, Saturday and Sunday until Feb. 18, Fire & Ice guests can enjoy fire performers, drink luges at the Ice Bar, ice displays, fire pits and live ice carving demonstrations. Moerlein will also still have heated dining igloos available to rent, as well as the four-lane Ice Slide that was introduced during Christkindlmarkt this past holiday season.

Get Sticky at Cincinnati Nature Center’s Sweet Maple Syrup Days

4949 Tealtown Road, Milford
Winter is maple season at Cincinnati Nature Center. Sweet Maple Syrup Days runs through February with a variety of maple sap-themed activities and events. You can go on a guided sap-collecting hike, get a behind-the-scenes look at the tools used to turn sap into syrup, learn how to collect sap and make syrup in your own backyard and even enjoy a date night featuring food, stories and, as Buddy the Elf would say, SYRUP. And the last two weekends in February, you can celebrate all things sweet and sticky with Maple Fest, where you can sample maple beer, collect sap in the sugarbush and enjoy games and activities.

Take a Walk on the Wild Side at Krohn Conservatory

1501 Eden Park Drive, Walnut Hills
Located in historic Eden Park, the Krohn Conservatory is an aluminum-and-glass Art Deco destination (in the shape of an upside-down heart) filled with more than 3,500 plant species from around the world. Permanent displays include a rare orchid house, a steamy tropical room, a succulent-filled desert space and a fun walk-through rainforest rock waterfall.

Make a New Feline Friend at Purrfect Day and Kitty Brew Cafes

Purrfect Day Cafe: 25 W. Eighth St., Covington; Kitty Brew Cafe: 6011 Tylersville Road, Mason
One of the best things about winter is getting to take the time to snuggle up with a furry friend. Greater Cincinnati is home to two cat cafes where you can reserve a time to get in some kitty cuddles. Purrfect Day Cafe usually has about 15-20 cats you can pet and play with, and at Kitty Brew, you can usually find up to 25 cats. And, if you fall in love with one of the feline residents, you can fill out an adoption application to bring home your new furry family member. Also, both Purrfect Day and Kitty Brew Cafe have their cafe portions separated from the cat lounge, so you can just stop by for a coffee and pastry while admiring the cats from afar.

Try a Different Kind of Workout

Fly Bungee Fitness: 394 Wards Corner Road, Loveland; Swift Movement: 4460 W. Mitchell Ave., Spring Grove Village; Climb Cincy: 1708 Blue Rock St., Northside
If being more active is a New Year’s resolution for you but the traditional gym experience isn’t really your thing, Greater Cincinnati offers plenty of fun, alternative ways to move your body. Some different activities include bouncing and dancing in a bungee harness at Fly Bungee Fitness, learning some sweet parkour moves at Swift Movement or pushing yourself to the summit at a climbing gym like Climb Time in Oakley.

Make Your Own Candle at The Candle Lab

1325 Vine St., Over-the-Rhine; 7454 Beechmont Ave., Anderson Township
Candles are one of the top things people think of when it comes to “hygge,” a Danish and Norwegian word that becomes popular in the winter because of its evocations of being cozy and making the most of cold weather. To hygge up your space a bit, you can visit The Candle Lab, which offers pour-your-own candle-making where you can create a custom candle and scent from over 100 fragrance oil options. You can choose from a variety of sizes, many of which are under $25, or create custom-scented aromatic mists, reed diffusers or wax tarts instead.

Feel One With Nature at These Greater Cincinnati Hiking Destinations

Don’t let the cold keep you inside all winter! Lace up your hiking boots, bundle up and get some fresh air by hitting one of Cincinnati’s many trails. You also don’t need to go it alone; Great Parks of Hamilton County is hosting its annual Winter Hike Series every Saturday through Feb. 3. Each week features a hike at a different Hamilton County park AND you get soup at the end. For a comprehensive list of some of Greater Cincinnati’s best hiking trails, check out the link above.

Catch a comedy show at Commonwealth Sanctuary

522 Fifth Ave., Dayton, Ky.
Fight off the seasonal depression with a night of laughs at Northern Kentucky’s only dedicated comedy club and listening room. Located in a historic former Methodist church, Commonwealth Sanctuary offers weekends packed with entertainment, including many local comedians. The venue also hosts Comedy Lab, a comedy open mic night every Sunday to help both budding and veteran comedians work on their jokes.

Peruse All the Floors in the Ohio Book Store

726 Main St., Downtown
Ohio Bookstore is a book lover’s paradise: This shop features FIVE floors full of books and magazines – over 300,000 items in stock at any given time. And as a rare and used book store, you never know what literary gems you’ll discover. And if you need a book that needs repairing or a custom binding, Ohio Bookstore can do that as you explore.

Catch a Cyclones Game at Heritage Bank Center

100 Broadway St., The Banks
Even if you don’t know much about hockey, Cincinnati Cyclones’ hockey games are always a good time. The crowds are full of energy and the action on the ice is mesmerizing. The Cyclones also know how to throw a party with their creative theme nights, like Star Wars and Marvel Superhero nights, and plenty of giveaways and $2 beer nights. The Cyclones’ season ends with Fan Appreciation Night on April 5.

Explore Centuries of Art at the Cincinnati Art Museum

953 Eden Park Drive, Mt. Adams
The Cincinnati Art Museum features a diverse, encyclopedic art collection with more than 67,000 works that span from the ancient world to modern times. Walk through time to examine artifacts and artwork from thousands of years ago, browse locally crafted paintings and furniture or think about the symbolism and colors in an Impressionist piece. The museum also hosts traveling exhibits, like Clearly Indigenous: Native Visions Reimagined in Glass, a striking display of more than 100 glass works from 33 artists that exemplify Indigenous traditions and knowledge through the medium of glass. Interpretations of Indigenous basket, textile and pottery practices are expertly crafted through various glass-working techniques and styles. The exhibit runs from now until April 7.

Fill Your Cart With Food From All Over the World at Jungle Jim’s

5440 Dixie Highway, Fairfield; 4450 Eastgate S. Drive, Eastgate
Jungle Jim’s is an amusement park for foodies, and not just because of its kitschy statues and animatronics. The huge store (more than 6 acres) contains equal parts weekly shoppers scanning the aisles for super fresh seafood, exotic produce and international eats from more than 70 countries and visitors wandering, mouths agape at the wacky decor, likely with a beer in hand. The singing soup can is a beloved sight to snap a photo of; same goes for the elaborate restroom hidden behind a port-a-potty facade. This Disney World of grocery stores also offers nearly 1,500 different kinds of hot sauce, and the aisle is pretty hard to miss: It’s the one with the giant fire truck on top of it.

See What’s Under the Sea at Newport Aquarium

1 Levee Way, Newport
Newport Aquarium aims to take visitors beyond the glass of their tanks and discover the wonder of the underwater world. Named one of the top 10 aquariums in the country by USA Today’s 10Best, Newport Aquarium is home to some of the sea’s coolest animals. Walk over the Shark Bridge, a tightrope bridge over the shark tank, or explore a long-ago sunken ship and see the creatures that call this accidental reef home in the exhibit Shipwreck: Realm of the Eels. One of the newer exhibits is Hatchling Harbor, a 25-foot-long tank home to a new ecosystem for hundreds of colorful animals, many of them babies. You can also meet the aquarium’s four shark rays, including the famous Sweet Pea, laugh at the penguins’ antics and see a rare white alligator.

Play It Forward at the Play Library

1306 Main St., Over-the-Rhine
As nonprofit Play Library — which loans out and houses toys, board games and more fun — states on its website, Play is, "Just like a regular library. But it's totally different. It's pretty much the best place in the world." The space houses the Cincinnati Toy History Museum, plus games for adults, teens and younger kids alike. The space itself is true to its namesake: toys and board games line shelf after shelf and whimsical doodle-like murals stretched out along the walls, and it has a collection of over 1,000 board games. Memberships to the library are just $15 a month and allow you to rent and take home games and toys, plus your membership fee “plays it forward” and helps out families who can’t afford one.

Catch a Free Show at MOTR Pub

1345 Main St., Over-the-Rhine
Get out of the cold and warm up with a drink and some great free music. MOTR has free shows — featuring both local and national artists — DJs or other events almost every night of the week. There is no cover charge for any of these performances. Just simply show up and get ready to rock.

See the Latest at the Contemporary Arts Center

44 E. Sixth St., Downtown
With changing exhibits, performances, an eclectic gift shop and a hip cafe, the Contemporary Arts Center offers plenty of indoor fun when the weather is frightful. Admission is always free and CAC’s offerings are unlike anything else you’ll find around town.