Things to Do in Ohio State University Campus

Ohio Stadium tour

Even if college football isn't your thing, stepping into the Horseshoe gives you goosebumps. The tunnel still smells faintly of turf and old popcorn, and when the guide flips on the stadium lights, the empty stands glow amber against the gray autumn sky. You'll walk the same cracked concrete where Archie Griffin once trotted, the sound of your footsteps swallowed by 100,000 vacant seats.

Thompson Library's 11th-floor reading room

Ride the whisper-quiet elevator to the top and you'll find a cathedral-like space with oak tables and leaded-glass windows overlooking the entire city. On clear days, downtown skyscrapers glint on the southern horizon while campus rooftops stretch below like a red-tile carpet. The hush up here is almost physical, broken only by the occasional page turned or laptop lid snapped shut.

Wexner Center for the Arts

The building itself is a puzzle of gridded steel and shifting perspectives; inside, the galleries smell of fresh wall paint and the faint ozone of digital projectors. You might catch a Korean video installation that makes the floor vibrate beneath your sneakers or a student film screening where the director nervously twists a pen in the back row.

Olentangy River Trail bike loop

Rent a bike near the Rec Center and follow the paved path that hugs the Olentangy for five leafy miles. Herons flap overhead while the river smells of silt and cut grass. In spring, reeds hiss in the wind. You'll pass kayakers splashing under the Lane Avenue bridge and maybe spot a professor walking a golden retriever that refuses to stay on leash.

Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum

Tucked beneath the Wexner, this place smells like old newsprint and graphite. You'll see hand-drawn Calvin & Hobbes strips taped to light tables and a 1917 Krazy Kat original where the ink has browned to sepia. Kids on field trips giggle at vintage superhero sketches while grad students hover over Japanese manga drafts with magnifying lenses.

South Campus Gateway - former hotels turned student apartments, surprisingly quiet on weekends

Lane Avenue corridor - chain hotels with easy stadium access and rooftop bars that smell of hops

University District north of 17th - Victorian houses sliced into Airbnb rooms, porches creak under backpackers

Short North (10-minute bus ride) - art deco boutiques and espresso machines that hiss past midnight

Downtown High Street - taller beds, glass lobbies, weekend rates drop when conventions leave

Clintonville - tree-lined streets, bungalow rentals, and coffee shops where professors grade over oatmeal