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10 Best Free Things to Do in Cleveland

November 13, 2023

Maybe you’re in town for a wedding, a sporting event, a conference, or even just find yourself passing through Cleveland in your travels. Whatever the reason, you probably landed and thought well, this is all I’ll be doing! But Cleveland, Ohio will surprise you! We have so much more than just sports and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame! There’s plenty to explore, plenty to eat, and most importantly plenty of free stuff to do! You’ll be happy you stumbled upon this post as you explore the 10 best free things to do while you’re in Cleveland!

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At #10 we will start with this iconic scene from The Drew Carey Show. He put Cleveland on the map as something other than “the mistake on the lake” in the 90’s. You may recall the song Cleveland Rocks by Ian Hunter that was covered for the TV Show by The Presidents of the United States of America. The cast ran through the streets of the city, including past this free view of the city to see in The Flats.

The Flats keeps evolving every year. Some of its newest additions have been a Country Bar Welcome To The Farm and a Coffee Shop The 27 Club (owned by Clevelander Machine Gun Kelly.) There’s a number of bars and restaurants to explore in this area which has a West Bank and an East Bank. My personal favorite is the East Bank. There are plenty of places to sit and watch as the boats come in and out from Lake Erie. You can park your boat along this area too so it’s always fun to people watch and walk around exploring the views. At night, the bridge gets all lit up from below and creates a really pretty ambiance.

You can also head over to Brew Dog in The Flats, it’s a 2 minute drive over a bridge from the main area of the East Bank. It’s a great spot to hang out outside and play games, watch live bands, and even catch the Guardians game’s Fireworks from the stadium!

To explore over here, there is free parking in front of Collision Bend, otherwise the cheapest lots are a small lot across from Collision Bend or the Front Ave Parking, it’s off of Front Ave in front of Margaritaville. It’s free to park at Brew Dog.

The West Side Market is a classic Cleveland Experience! Cleveland is a surprisingly diverse city with a number of different cultures spread throughout it. Instead of trying to visit each of these neighborhoods, The West Side Market showcases all those different cultures together in one place with food! There’s fresh produce from local farmers, homemade sausage & keilbasa, fresh crepes, fresh pasta, pierogis, Cambodian Cuisine, Mexican specialties, freshly taped Ohio maple syrup and honey, gyros, Hungarian/Greek/Jewish/Etc pastries, hot dogs, … I mean you name it they probably have it here!

To make the most of your experience here, try a “smokies” (handcrafted smoked meat sticks), a Nutella crepe, some pierogis and/or a gyro, and one of the amazing desserts showcased throughout the market!

Make sure you head up to the second floor, which has a balcony that overlooks the whole market. It’s the best seat in the house!

There’s free parking along all the neighboring streets or there is a large cheap lot right behind the market.

Edgewater Park is a long waterside park in Cleveland that has a beach! Yes, we have beaches on Lake Erie! You can spend the day here down by the water, but I like to just stop by to take a walk out onto the pier or to sit on the hill by the Cleveland Sign and take in the views.

You can see the whole city up here by the sign.

It’s all free parking lots over here.

Ok, yes, this is a grocery store, but hear me out! The architecture here is so worth the trip! It gives you a glimpse of Cleveland’s golden era. It also makes for a great stop to grab a drink and a make your own charcuterie. Grab some cheese, meats, and crackers or buy something already prepackaged. Heinen’s also has a full food court here with both hot and cold foods. Their main pull is their wine and beer tasting area.

If you go up to the second level, you can get a wine tasting card. Here, you can try tastes of wine for like $1-2 or try more expensive wines but not have to pay for a whole glass or bottle. Of course you can buy a glass or a bottle if you want to after you try them. Heinen’s is always rotating their inventory for the seasons so you’ll have a different experience each time you go.

There is free or quarter metered parking on the streets surrounding Heinen’s. If you plan to walk around for a while the cheapest lot is a short walk away located next to Prospect and E 8th street.

Let me just tell you, Cleveland Public Library has it’s own top 10 things to do in it! It is so big with so many cool things to see and do! You can get a flyer that will guide you from the check out desk. You could spend a whole day here exploring! It’s basically a museum!

I highly recommend going to the tenth floor to see the views of the city. Last time I was there they had an art exhibit called The Archive which was an immersive exhibit with dried flowers and enchanting scents, so definitely see an exhibit. I was also mind blown by the Special Collections where I saw what original contracts used to look like… they were made in stone! (See Photo Below)

There is are a number of free parking and quarter metered parking around the library’s surrounding streets. If you plan to walk around for a while the cheapest lot is a short walk away located next to Prospect and E 8th street.

I recently stumbled upon this gem while I was cutting across to meet some friends at some bars and restaurants on East 4th Street. They were setting up inside for a wedding and my eyes bugged out of my head. The Arcade or “Cleveland’s Crystal Palace,” as it was known back in the day, is Cleveland’s first building to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places! And I can see why! There’s also the 5th Street Arcades a block away which has more open stores in it for those of you looking to shop. Both are worth a walk through as you explore the best free things to do in Cleveland.

There’s a number of free parking or quarter metered parking in the area. If you plan to walk around for a while the cheapest lot is a short walk away located next to Prospect and E 8th street.

Public Square and Tower City tend to work hand in hand with each other. When there is a special event Tower City will have something going on inside while Public Square has something outside. For example, since the Holiday Season is coming up, Tower City will be all decorated as will Public Square. The Ritz Carlton inside Tower City will even host a number of gingerbread houses throughout the hotel. I’ve gone for sporting events and even free concerts like The Killers! There’s always pop up events depending on what’s going on in the city as well.

It’s best to pay to park at Tower City’s parking lot for these events.

The Free Stamp is one of my favorite memories as a kid growing up in Cleveland! This sculpture by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen is located in Willard Park and I think it’s the coolest free thing to see in Cleveland. I mean you’re just driving and then this huge giant stamp just jumps out at you, all but stamps FREE on your face, and reminds you that we live in freedom. It’s even cooler now as an adult.

The area around the stamp is fun to explore as well. Right down the street is the Cleveland Convention Center. They have all kinds of free events going on depending what is going on in town. If there’s something fun going on in town, make a stop and pick up from free handouts on the lawn outside! There’s usually a bunch of food trucks around here too.

There’s a number of free or paid quarter parking on the surrounding streets.

If you come to Cleveland on the right weekend, there is all kinds of free stuff going on in this part of town! Voinovich Bicentennial Park hosts a number of events by all kinds of organizations so if you are in town, honestly the best thing to do is just google “Voinovich Bicentennial Park” and whatever is going on will pop up. Same thing goes for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. They often have free events going on outside or in their entryway depending on what’s going on in town.

Walking around this area is fun in itself. There’s great views of Lake Erie, the Cleveland Browns Stadium, The Great Lakes Science Center, The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, the massive Steamship SS William G. Mather, and there’s another Cleveland Sign to take pics in front of with all of these as the backdrop!

One of my favorite pop ups so far has been “Icefest” which I just randomly stumbled upon walking when I was with friends downtown going to eat at Nuevo.

There is paid quarter parking on the street or a few different options for parking garages. They’re all affordably priced unless there’s a Brown’s Game. Then park farther away and just take one of those pay as you go electronic scooters down. You’ll see them dropped off all over the city.

Wendy Park is a secret little escape in Cleveland. It’s a little hard to find but totally worth the adventure. One of my favorite things to do here is come during Monarch Season. This area becomes a butterfly paradise as they rest in the trees after flying across Lake Erie.

Wendy Park hosts of number of free events like concerts, art, dancing, fishing, and volleyball just to name a few. It’s also a great spot to have a picnic, bird watch in this sanctuary, and just chill away from the crowds that somewhere like Edgewater attracts.

It also hosts amazing views of the Cleveland Harbor West Pierhead Lighthouse. It looks especially cool in the winter as the ice freezes around it. Did you know that Lake Erie actually freezes? That’s yet another reason to come down by the water and experience Cleveland from the lake up!

This area is a park and has it’s own parking.

If you really enjoy the outdoors, the Cleveland Area is filled with a number of amazing Metroparks with waterfalls and hiking trails. I’m just scratching the surface for free things to do in Cleveland by giving you the easiest ones to explore Downtown. We have a whole west side and east side of Cleveland filled with things to do, then you add festivals to the mix and you may not want to leave!

If you find yourself headed this way, make sure you check out some of my other videos and posts. Even though at first glance, Cleveland may seem tiny, it’s actually pretty spread out. There’s a lot to experience in every suburb!

I hope this post helps you navigate Cleveland better!

Check out my Cleveland Playlist on Youtube or my Cleveland Shorts if you want visuals of where I talked about today! I’ll leave a highlight video of one of the free festivals down below…

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Thanks! - Emily

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