Columbus Travel Guide

In the lively Midwest town of Columbus, the state capital of Ohio, you’ll find a spacious metro area with a lively air and a youthful vitality.  Named after the Italian explorer credited with giving us America and one extra bank holiday a year, it’s the most highly populated city in Ohio, thanks to the fast rate of growth fueled by both a strong state government and the massive Ohio State University (with the largest student population in the United States).  Columbus sits as the central hub in a very large wheel of some of the nation’s largest cities, including Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and Indianapolis.

Whether planning a vacation to Columbus or anywhere else in the rest of the Great Lakes region, you should know that the winters are long, with stinging icy winds, larges amounts of snow, and night temperatures that frequently plummet to well below zero.  Better weather and warmer temperatures start to arrive around May, and by July and August it can even get hot and sticky.  For these reasons, it’s spring and autumn—squeezing in around the edges—that constitute the most pleasant times to plan a Columbus vacation.  Those traveling in the winter months should expect a greater possibility of delays from snowy weather. This also imposes a greater challenge when trying to isolate discount airfare to Columbus.

Due to its proximity to so many other great cities, Columbus is in very high demand as convention city.  Its large and well established business base, along with a strong educational foundation, is also very attractive to its many visitors.  When seeking out accommodations, downtown hotels tend to be a little pricier than those scattered around the freeway exits.  However, from the award winning Hyatt on Capitol Square, to thriftier places such as Holiday Inn, there is usually something available in most price ranges if you’re adamant enough about tracking it down. 

With such a central location, Columbus is able to offer an abundance of cultural and culinary treats for the willing traveler.   There may be as many as a hundred restaurants within a small area in the downtown district, reflective of the fine foods waiting to be experienced there.  Columbus is home to several notable buildings, of which the Greek-Revival State Capitol is the most prominent and worth a visit.  Close by is the Franklin Park Conservatory, where beautifully sculpted gardens and indoor biomes make up a spectacular site that is at its most active in spring and early summer, and is also the location of General William Tecumseh Sherman’s famous “War is Hell” speech.  Indoor sports is a very popular activity in Columbus, and you’ll always find a Blue Jackets (hockey) or Destroyers (arena football) game at near maximum capacity.

Bus service in Columbus is not by any standard one of the greatest in the nation, but you will find that it can take you to the most visited places in the city, which really gets you as close as a few blocks from almost anywhere within the central part of the metro area.  Walking is an option as well, a favorite to those staying within the downtown district on convention business.  This part of town is very pedestrian-friendly, with most attractions located no more than a 20 minute walk away from each other.   At its core, Columbus was engineered to be car-friendly.  Extensive, reasonably-priced parking is available at almost all destinations.  Downtown is the one major exception, where things can get a little tight during weekdays and peak activity months.  Still, you should be able to find small, independently-owned surface lots throughout the city on most occasions.