Start from 68 curated places around Indianapolis, IN, then choose the recommendations that fit your guests.
Restaurants & cafés
Bluebeard
A Vonnegut-named New American room in a 1924 Fletcher Place warehouse where the menu changes constantly around local produce and house bread from the bakery next door. It's been the city's reference point for serious-but-unfussy dining for over a decade and still earns the reputation.
Beholder
Jonathan Brooks' second restaurant, a near-eastside dining room with two bars and a globe-spanning small-and-large-plates menu that changes on a whim. It's the city's go-to special-occasion seat that still feels like a party rather than a hush.
Trails & outdoors
Indianapolis Cultural Trail
An eight-mile landscaped urban path looping the six downtown cultural districts, dotted with public art, native plantings, and protected lanes. It's the flat, fully paved way to see Mass Ave, Fountain Square, and the canal on foot without a car.
Monon Trail
A 27-mile former rail line, flat and paved, running from downtown up through Broad Ripple and into the northern suburbs. The Broad Ripple-to-Nora stretch is the social heart, lined with cafes, ice cream, and dense tree cover.
Things to do
The Children's Museum of Indianapolis
The largest children's museum in the world, five floors deep with dinosaurs, a real Dale Chihuly glass tower, a carousel, and an outdoor sports campus. It's the no-brainer rainy-day or any-day stop for anyone traveling with kids.
Newfields
The art museum and garden campus doubles as an entertainment anchor with rotating blockbuster exhibitions, seasonal evening events, and a beer garden in warmer months. Daytime art, evening light shows, and seasonal festivals make it a full outing.
Landmarks & sights
Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument
The 284-foot limestone tower at the center of Monument Circle is the literal and emotional bullseye of downtown. The cage-windowed observation deck at the top is closed for construction through 2026, but the promenade-level gift shop is open and the basement Colonel Eli Lilly Civil War Museum (free) is the part most visitors walk right past.
Indianapolis Motor Speedway
The 2.5-mile oval that hosts the Indy 500 is open year-round through its museum and grounds tours. Outside of race month you can take a bus lap of the track and kneel to kiss the Yard of Bricks at the start-finish line, which is the thing locals actually bring out-of-town friends to do.