Things to Do in Columbus, Ohio

In Columbus, Ohio, the highlights are walking the brick lanes of German Village, eating your way around North Market, joining the monthly Gallery Hop in the Short North, spending a day at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium, and, from late August to November, feeling the city turn scarlet and grey for an Ohio State football Saturday. Columbus is Ohio's capital and its largest city. It is a young, university-driven place where most of the good stuff sits within a few kilometres of the Statehouse dome, so two or three days go a long way.

For the full overview, read our guide to the most famous landmarks in the USA.

This guide is built for visitors arriving from anywhere in the world, often on a longer trip around the United States. It groups the sights by neighbourhood, gives you realistic time estimates, and flags the details that catch first-timers out, from parking near the Horseshoe to the one evening each month when the Short North gets very busy.

How we put this list together: Our travel desk checked every attraction against its official website or the city's tourism board in October 2026, and kept only places that are open year-round or run on a reliable seasonal schedule. Each entry tells you where it is, how long to allow, who it suits and one honest drawback. Prices change often in the US, so we name a price only where it is free or clearly published.

Columbus attractions compared at a glance

Most Columbus sights are free or cheap and sit close to downtown: German Village, North Market, the Short North and the Scioto Mile cost nothing to walk. The ticketed day-fillers are the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium in Powell and COSI on the riverfront. The table gives each attraction’s area, time and cost; full entries follow.

Seven of the twelve cost nothing to enter, so a Columbus trip can be cheap if you plan around them. The central cluster, from the Statehouse and Topiary Park to the Scioto Mile, COSI and the Veterans museum on the west bank, is close enough to cover on foot over a day. The zoo in Powell is the outlier and needs its own day and a car, while the conservatory and the Ohio State campus are easiest by bus or rideshare. Two to three days covers the city.

12 best things to do in Columbus, Ohio: full guide

The twelve best things to do in Columbus, Ohio, are German Village, North Market, the Short North Arts District, the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium, COSI, the Scioto Mile, Franklin Park Conservatory, Topiary Park, the Ohio State campus and Ohio Stadium, the National Veterans Memorial and Museum, the Ohio Statehouse and the Columbus Museum of Art.

German Village

About 1.5 km from Capitol Square, just south of downtown beyond I-70/I-71, German Village makes the best first walk in Columbus. This 19th-century neighbourhood was laid out by German immigrants who worked in the breweries and factories along the river. The lanes are still paved in red brick, the cottages are small and close together, and the front gardens are kept with real care. It is the most photogenic part of Columbus and the easiest place to understand how the city looked before the highways.

Start at The Book Loft at 631 South Third Street, an independent bookshop that sprawls through 32 small rooms in a row of old buildings. It is easy to lose an hour here. Two blocks away, Schmidt's Sausage Haus traces its family business to 1886 and is known for bratwurst, the Bahama Mama sausage and cream puffs the size of a fist. Finish in Schiller Park, the neighbourhood's green centre, where a local company stages free Shakespeare in summer.

The honest catch: brick pavements are uneven, so wear proper shoes, and street parking is tight on weekend evenings. Walking is free, it takes 15 to 20 minutes on foot from downtown, and a weekday morning or early evening is the best time. Couples and first-time visitors should do the walk before lunch, then eat at Schmidt's (local prices) before the dinner queue forms.

North Market

Set up by a city ordinance in 1876 as one of four public markets in Columbus, North Market at 59 Spruce Street, between downtown and the Short North, is the only one still trading. Today it is a covered hall of more than 30 independent merchants, which makes it the fastest way to taste the city in a single stop. You can move from Polish pierogi to Vietnamese noodles, Ohio cheese, fresh bread and spice blends within a few metres.

Locals come for lunch and for small-batch ingredients to take home. For visitors it doubles as a rainy-day plan, since everything is indoors, and as a cheap way to feed a family with different tastes: entry is free and you pay per stall. Look for a Buckeye, the chocolate-dipped peanut butter sweet named after the nut of Ohio's state tree.

Weekend lunchtimes are crowded and seating fills fast. A weekday visit just before noon is calmer, and the Short North starts a block away.

Short North Arts District

Between downtown and the Ohio State campus, the stretch of North High Street up to around 5th Avenue is the Short North. It is lined with galleries, independent boutiques, cocktail bars and some of the city's best restaurants, and lit steel arches cross the street after dark. Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams started in Columbus and has a shop here. Wandering is free, and COTA buses run the length of High Street.

The big night is Gallery Hop, held on the first Saturday of most months. Galleries stay open into the evening, street performers take the pavements and the whole strip fills up. Come on a weekday afternoon to browse quietly. For atmosphere, come for the Hop, book dinner in advance and park in a garage early or take a rideshare.

At its north end the district meets the university; at its south end it runs into the Arena District, home of the Columbus Blue Jackets ice hockey team.

Columbus Zoo and Aquarium

Families should give a full day to the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium in Powell, north of the city. It is the region's biggest family attraction and became nationally known through the television appearances of its longtime director Jack Hanna. Animals are grouped by region, with areas for Africa, Asia, Australia and the Islands, North America and a polar bear habitat, plus a manatee exhibit inside the aquarium section.

Allow five to seven hours. The grounds are large, there are rides and shows for younger children, and in summer the adjoining Zoombezi Bay water park adds a separate ticketed option. Holiday lights in winter are a popular evening event. Entry is ticketed, so check the zoo's website for current prices, and arrive at opening to see the busiest exhibits before school groups do.

The caveat is distance: it is about 30 minutes' drive from downtown and public transport is limited, so a car or rideshare is the practical choice.

COSI Center of Science and Industry

Facing downtown from the west bank of the Scioto River, COSI is one of the best hands-on science museums in the Midwest and the obvious rainy-day choice. Galleries cover space, the ocean, energy and the human body, there is a planetarium and a giant-screen theatre, and live demonstrations run through the day, so check the demo schedule as soon as you arrive.

It works for teenagers and adults as well as small children, which is rarer than it sounds. Tickets are required, and the planetarium and films may cost extra; plan on three to four hours. Walk across the Broad Street bridge from downtown, then combine it with the National Veterans Memorial and Museum next door and a riverfront walk back.

Weekends and school holidays get loud and busy; a weekday afternoon is noticeably calmer.

Scioto Mile and the riverfront parks

Runners, families and anyone on a budget end up on the Scioto Mile, a free chain of parks, paths and fountains along both banks of the river downtown. It is where Columbus goes to run, cycle and sit by the water, and it links neatly to longer trails heading north and south. Any downtown hotel is a short walk away.

Bicentennial Park has an interactive fountain that children love on hot days. The riverfront is also the stage for the Columbus Arts Festival each June (held 12 to 14 June in 2026), with hundreds of visual artists and several music stages. Bikes from the CoGo share scheme, parked nearby, make it easy to cover the whole loop. Evenings from May to September are best, and sunset from the bridges gives the best light.

In winter the paths are quiet and exposed to the wind, so keep the visit short.

Franklin Park Conservatory and Botanical Gardens

A glass Victorian-style palm house is the centrepiece of this conservatory in Franklin Park, about 10 minutes by car east of downtown, surrounded by themed biomes, outdoor gardens and a community garden campus. It holds a permanent collection of Dale Chihuly glass art, and the coloured glass set among the plants is the main reason many people come.

Seasonal butterfly exhibitions in spring and holiday displays in winter add variety, so it works in any month, and a grey winter day is when the warm, bright glasshouses feel best. Couples and photographers will enjoy it most.

Entry is ticketed. Allow about two hours.

Topiary Park

Georges Seurat's painting A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte is recreated in clipped yew at Topiary Park, 480 East Town Street, the most unusual stop in Columbus. The figures, boats and even a small dog stand around a pond as if the canvas had been turned into a garden. It was designed by the Columbus sculptor James T. Mason.

It takes half an hour to see, it is free, and the city lists its hours as 7 am to 11 pm. It sits about 10 minutes' walk from Capitol Square, close to the Columbus Metropolitan Library and the Columbus Museum of Art, so it slots into a downtown day easily. Stand by the pond facing the figures to see the composition as Seurat painted it. Late spring and summer show the yews at their fullest.

Ohio State campus and Ohio Stadium

Ohio State University, about 5 km north of downtown in the University District, is one of the largest universities in the United States, and Buckeyes football is close to a civic religion. Home games are played at Ohio Stadium, nicknamed the Horseshoe, which seats more than 100,000 people. On autumn Saturdays from late August to November the city empties into the university district, tailgate parties fill every car park and the marching band is a show in itself.

On non-game days, walk the Oval, visit Mirror Lake and look in at the Wexner Center for the Arts for contemporary exhibitions and film. The Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum on campus holds one of the largest collections of comics and cartoon art in the world. The campus is free, and COTA buses run up High Street.

Game days are fun but demanding: ticket prices vary widely and are expensive for big rivals, traffic is heavy and hotels across the city raise prices. Sports fans should check the home schedule before fixing dates; everyone else should book early or avoid those weekends.

National Veterans Memorial and Museum

Opened on 27 October 2018 at 300 W. Broad Street on the west bank of the Scioto, this museum tells the stories of American veterans through their own letters, voices and objects. Battles take a back seat. The spiral concrete building is striking, and the roof terrace gives one of the best views of the downtown skyline, so go up before you leave.

Outside, the Memorial Grove is a quiet landscaped park for reflection. Visitors from abroad often find it a useful way to understand how military service shapes American families and politics.

Entry is ticketed and a visit takes about two hours. Walk across the Broad Street bridge to reach it; COSI is next door, so families can split up and meet again.

Ohio Statehouse

Capitol Square's Ohio Statehouse is a Greek Revival building with a flat-topped drum where most state capitols have a dome. Inside you can see the rotunda, the restored House and Senate chambers and a small museum on Ohio government. It sits in central downtown, walkable from most hotels.

Free guided tours run on weekdays on the hour from 10 am to 3 pm, and on weekends from noon to 3 pm, starting in the Map Room on the ground floor (as of October 2026). Tours are cancelled on state holidays and some event days, so check the Statehouse calendar the day before. The first tour of the day has the smallest group, and the hour is rain-proof.

Bring photo ID for the security check.

Columbus Museum of Art

American and European paintings, a good photography programme and a large interactive centre where visitors are encouraged to make things fill the Columbus Museum of Art at 480 E. Broad Street in the Discovery District. It is a manageable size, so you can see the highlights in two hours without museum fatigue. Entry is ticketed.

The museum is a 10-minute walk from Capitol Square and close to Topiary Park and the Metropolitan Library, which makes this corner of downtown a good half-day cluster for art lovers and families with older children. Check the website for any free-entry evenings, which change by season.

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How to plan two or three days in Columbus

With two days, spend the first around downtown and the river: the Statehouse tour in the morning, Topiary Park and the art museum after lunch, then a sunset walk on the Scioto Mile. Make the second day about neighbourhoods: German Village in the morning, North Market for lunch and the Short North in the evening.

A third day is for the zoo with children, or for the Ohio State campus and the Veterans museum without them. If you are in town on a football Saturday, give that day to the game and keep everything else for the days around it. If your dates include the first Saturday of the month, move the Short North evening to that night to catch Gallery Hop.

Columbus works well as one stop on a wider Midwest trip. Chicago, Cleveland and Cincinnati are all within a day's drive, and our guide to the best road trips in the USA covers routes that pass through Ohio.

Best time to visit Columbus, Ohio

Late spring to early autumn is the best time to visit Columbus. From May to October the riverfront, patios and festivals are in full swing: the Columbus Arts Festival is in June, the Ohio State Fair takes over the fairgrounds in late July and early August, and football season starts at the end of August. Autumn adds colour to the trees in German Village and Schiller Park.

Winters are cold and often grey, with some snow. Museums, North Market and the conservatory are all indoors, and hotel prices drop, so a winter city break still works if you pack properly.

For packing, July averages a high of about 29°C (85°F), while January averages a high of about 3°C (37°F) and a low of about −6°C (22°F). The city gets around 72 cm (28 inches) of snow in a typical year, so winter visitors need a warm coat, gloves and waterproof shoes for the brick streets of German Village.

Getting to and around Columbus

John Glenn Columbus International Airport (CMH) is about 15 minutes east of downtown. It mainly serves domestic routes, with only a few flights to Canada and seasonal holiday routes abroad, so most international visitors connect through a larger US hub such as Chicago, Atlanta, New York or Washington. Search connections on our flights page. Entry rules for the United States depend on your passport (a visa or, for eligible nationalities, ESTA); check the official US government portals and our visa section before you book.

Downtown, the Short North and German Village are close enough to walk between, and COTA buses run along High Street. For the zoo, the conservatory and the suburbs, a car or rideshare saves a lot of time. COTA's free downtown CBUS circulator stopped running in March 2020 and, as of October 2026, COTA lists it as not in service, so ignore older guides that recommend it. Downtown hotels put you within walking distance of most sights; compare options on our hotel page.

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Practical tips for visiting Columbus

Before you book, check the Ohio State football schedule, because home game weekends fill hotels and raise prices across Columbus. Time a Saturday for the Short North Gallery Hop, wear walking shoes for German Village’s brick lanes, rent a car for the zoo in Powell, and budget for the 8% Franklin County sales tax added to shelf prices.

• Check the football calendar. Home game weekends fill hotels and raise prices across the city. Look at the Ohio State schedule before you fix dates.
• Time the Gallery Hop. The Short North is at its liveliest on the first Saturday of the month. Book dinner ahead that night.
• Wear walking shoes. German Village's brick lanes and pavements are uneven and hard on thin soles.
• Rent a car for the edges. Downtown is walkable, but the zoo in Powell and the conservatory are much easier by car.
• Pack for changing weather. Summer can be hot and humid; spring and autumn swing between warm and cool in a single day.
• Carry ID. You need photo ID for the Statehouse security check and to order alcohol anywhere in Ohio.
• Add tax to shelf prices. Prices in Columbus are shown before tax. Franklin County's combined sales tax has been 8% since 2025, and hotel bills add local lodging taxes on top.

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