Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal

1301 Western Ave., downtown, Cincinnati.

Phone 513-287-7000. Toll-free 800-733-2077.

Monday-Saturday 10 am-5 pm, Sunday 11 am-6 pm.

The last of the great art-deco railway stations in the U.S., Union Terminal houses an impressive collection of museums. (For remnants of its past, notice the tile mosaics.) Plan to spend a full morning or afternoon there if you intend to see all three museums and an OMNIMAX show.

Younger visitors will enjoy the Cinergy Children's Museum.

Cinergy Children's Museum

1301 Western Ave., downtown, Cincinnati.

Phone 513-287-7000.

Monday-Saturday 10 am-5 pm, Sunday 11 am-6 pm.
The workings of science are explored through play at this museum, which is the biggest attraction at the Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal. There's a play area for toddlers. Older children can learn about hydropower and solar energy. Kids' Town explores how children live around the world.

Contemporary Arts Center

115 E. Fifth St., Cincinnati

Phone 513-345-8400.
Monday-Saturday 10 am-6 pm, Sunday noon-5 pm.

free on Monday.
While you're strolling around downtown, take time to visit this art museum, which moved into new quarters in spring, 2003. Now located in the Lois and Richard Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art, it has an eclectic collection of works in all mediums by internationally known artists, as well as locals on their way up in the art world. (This is where Robert Mapplethorpe's controversial photographs caused a stir.) Designed by British architect Zaha Hadid, the building itself is a work of art.

Harriet Beecher Stowe House

2950 Gilbert Ave., downtown, Cincinnati

Phone 513-632-5120

Tuesday-Thursday 10 am-4 pm. Free, but donations are appreciated.
The author of Uncle Tom's Cabin was inspired to write about the evils of slavery while living in this house, a former seminary that's now a museum dedicated to her and to the Underground Railroad. Stowe lived there until 1850 and later won acclaim for her antislavery writings.

Museum of Natural History and Science
1301 Western Ave
513287-7000
More than 125,000 square feet of exhibits spread over two levels focus on regional natural history. The museum features immersion exhibits designed to bring guests into the setting. The Children's Discovery Center offers interactive exhibits on the human body and on the impact of human settlement in Cincinnati over the last 400 years.

Taft Museum
316 Pike St
513-241-0343
The Taft is one of Cincinnati's treasures, recognized as one of the best small art museums in the country. Built as a home in 1820, its final residents were Anna and Charles Taft (half-brother of President William Howard Taft) who used their combined fortunes to travel the world collecting paintings and decorative arts.