With Kids! 
Our long weekend didn’t end up looking anything like I’d planned, but we discovered enough to entice any wheelchair traveler with a visit to Cleveland… and even uncovered some accessible wonders for locals!
Whatever your reasons for traveling to Cleveland, I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised by just how much it has to offer for all types of families. Cleveland is making an effort for accessibility and inclusion for both locals and tourists, making it a great place to visit for all types of families!
Here are some wheelchair friendly family favorites – with a little something for everyone!
See the Sights
The following are some of the more standard Cleveland attractions – all with good wheelchair accessibility. We didn’t end up making it to all of them, but after researching accessibility they all made it onto our original itinerary.
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
The standard draw is the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. It’s an accessible museum, with accessible amenities, but my kids are all under the age of 9 and don’t know a thing about rock and roll. We went to Cleveland and didn’t go to the museum.
Shhh… Please don’t tell anyone. This could ruin my name as a travel writer.
Cleveland Museum of Natural History
The Cleveland Museum of Natural History is fairly standard on the inside. There’s an interesting collection of local fossils, an impressive exhibit of gems, an earthquake simulator, and all the science exhibits you’d expect to find. The real added perk here is the zoo out back! We didn’t realize how much was there, until it was too late and we had to leave. Now you know not to make that mistake. Don’t be fooled by the museum’s size – leave enough time to explore both indoors and out.
The main entrance is currently under construction, but the entrance through the parking garage is wheelchair accessible. There is also street parking available just outside of the museum.
Cleveland Historical Museum
This Western Reserve Historical Society museum focuses on the history that has been made in Cleveland. The museum is just across from the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, so if you’re doing both in the same day there’s no need to re-park.
Admission is $2 with your ACCESS pass, and that includes your carousel ride!
Great Lakes Science Center
Voted in the nation’s top three for science museums, Great Lakes Science Center is worth a visit. The museum is accessible throughout. They don’t offer an admission discount, but make sure you have your parking ticket validated for a cheaper rate, before you leave (this applies to all guests).
Cleveland Botanical Garden
The Cleveland Botanical Garden has accessible paths through both indoor and outdoor garden spaces, making it a good destination at any time of year. The Perennial Playspace, a permanent exhibit within the garden, is enough to fill your day with creative play, building, plant exploration, and hands on and sensory activities.
Admission is $2 with your ACCESS card.
moCa
moCa is a contemporary non-collecting museum that celebrates the art and artists of our time. This is contemporary art! Cleveland artists decide what’s on the walls, and the exhibits are ever changing.
Admission is free! Click here for parking locations.
Do the Parks
This is where we found our accessible wonders! Plan to extend your stay to make use of the parks and programs welcoming all abilities.
Farmpark
We visited Lake Metroparks Farmpark for their maple syrup event and were blown away by the farm’s attention to inclusion. The gardens, science center, café, farm buildings, trails and indoor playground are all wheelchair accessible (the playgrounds have limited all-abilities equipment, but the surface is easy to navigate). We were getting ready to hoist the wheelchair onto the tractor and wagon ride when the driver offered to lower the lift. A wheelchair friendly tractor and wagon ride!
Nature Trails
The farmpark is only one of the many parks run by Lake Metroparks. Girdled Road Reservation is a 1000-acre park known for its flora & bird variety. Parts of the trails are accessible and there is a wheelchair accessible observation deck that looks out over Big Creek Valley. You’ll be amazed by the view! I bet it’s nothing like what you expected from a visit to the Cleveland area.
Adaptive Activities
In addition to making their parks accessible for all, Lake Metroparks offers programming for all ages and abilities to help people connect with nature. You can check out a list of programming here, for anything from adaptive biking and paddling to crafting and building.
All Abilities Play
Preston’s HOPE is the largest all abilities playground we’ve ever encountered. It’s really multiple playgrounds in one enclosed area. They have it all – an imagination Village, with make-believe houses that are connected by a raised walkway, play theatre, a sand area and traditional playground area with swings, tunnels and slides.
Bathrooms are closed during winter months.
Foodie Finds
I’m not a local and can’t give a comprehensive food guide, but I need to highlight these finds that absolutely blew me away.
LockKeepers
LockKeepers is fine dining, and outside the norm for our family travel blog. In fact, if I had correctly read the online menu and not just scanned prices that turned out to be appetizers, we wouldn’t have eaten here. And we would’ve missed out on an incredible experience!
They don’t have a printed children’s menu, but they were happy to come up with some offerings, or to create smaller portions. They didn’t have coloring pages, but they found some old paper menus for the kids to use. We were the only family in the restaurant, but we were treated like royalty, not intruders.
Best restaurant lasagna I’ve ever had. Everything was perfectly crafted and we all enjoyed an unusual evening of elegance.
Gentile’s
Gentile’s is a market style bakery with Italian take-out that will blow your mind. After you shop for any imported Italian goods you’ve been missing in your life, you can take home an array of freshly made cannoli, tiramisu, Sfogliatelle, pizzelles, Napolean squares, creme puffs and other European treats.
We thought we were just stopping for dessert, but once you catch a whiff from the kitchen, you’ll leave with more. Their selection of sandwiches, pastas and pizzas won’t disappoint.
West Side Market
The West Side Market is the oldest operating indoor/outdoor market space in Cleveland, and it’s full of delicious reasons to visit. Again, I’m not the local – I just look for long lines and get in them!