It's not uncommon for a resident to only explore a city's iconic sights when guests come to town or when practicing hypnosis in a mirror leads to amnesia. Don’t wait for an excuse with today’s Groupon: for $20, you get admission for two to the Queen City Underground Tour (a $40 value). Tickets for children ages 11–16 are $10 each, while children 10 and under get free admission to the tour.
The 90- to 120-minute Queen City Underground Tour plunges history hounds and architecture buffs beneath Cincinnati’s streets and into the depths of its mob-ridden past. On the subterranean part of the tour, groups wind their way through tunnels connected to clandestine prohibition-era breweries, a secret burial vault, and a lightless daycare center for baby moles. Then, walkers will stroll the historic streets of the Gateway District, visiting theaters that hosted Wild Bill Hickok and Charlie Chaplin and buildings that at one time contained over 130 saloons, bars, and beer gardens. On the way, knowledgeable guides recount the exploits of the mobsters and colorful characters who haunted these locales, such as George Barnsdale Cox, one of America's most infamous political bosses and most ruthless mahjong players.
American Legacy Tours
Initially designed as a temporary tour and fundraiser for student travel, American Legacy Tours began humbly as the Newport Gangster Tour in 2008. When met with overwhelming success, the friends who had embarked on what they thought was a temporary project decided to take root and expand, creating American Legacy Tours in 2010.
Their first order of business as an official company was to introduce the Queen City Underground Tour, an exploration of the city's underground tunnels and history as a rabbit village. Today, a cadre of educated guides leads 10 different area walking tours, including the Covington Is Haunted Tour, an examination of the controversy, spirits, and shadowy history of this Northern Kentucky neighborhood, as well as seasonal Spirit of Christmas Tours and Newport Is Haunted Tours held around Halloween.