One of the most beloved breweries in the Circle City is Sun King Brewery located in a downtown Indianapolis warehouse and open to the public each and every Thursday (from 4-7pm), Friday (from 1-7pm), and Saturday (from 1-4pm) for free beer-tasting.  Sun King can only be found in Indiana at one of 150 bars, restaurants and liquor stores, but if you’re not entirely sure where to go, check out their store locator I-phone app!

Photo: ejr021@gmail.com

Another city favorite is The Upland Brewing Company located just south of the trendy area known as Broad Ripple.  Originally from Bloomington, IN, the Indianapolis location is a funky, eclectic tasting room where you can order a 4-oz. sample and then take a growler or keg of your favorite beer home with you!  They’re Maibock beer is absolutely delicious, but don’t take my word for it!

Other visit-worthy beer locales include Broad Ripple Brewpub, the oldest brewpub still operating in Indiana and Brugge Brasserie, known for its beers and grub straight from Belgium.

If you’re not the beer-drinking type, or prefer a good glass of wine instead, Indianapolis also has its fair share of wineries.  The Indianapolis Wine Trail connects 6 different wineries in the area, ranging from urban locations to vineyards bordering the city.  You can pick up a “Trail Passport” at any of the 6 locations.  The Indy Wine Trail also sponsors a wide variety of events all year round including the Indianapolis Big Tent Wine Event on September 22nd, which benefits The St. Vincent Foundation and features “hundreds of wines from five continents.”  If you’re in town the weekend of October 15th and 16th, you might want to check out the Indy Wine Trail’s Chili Cookoff.

Photo: ejr021@gmail.com

Accommodation

Unfortunately Indianapolis has only one hostel, Indy Hostel ($22-26/night) that is not within easy walking distance to Indy’s major attractions, though it is very close to Monon Trail, a bicycle path that runs through the city (see below).  A night at an Indianapolis hotel will leave you with nothing to spend on anything else if your budget is $50 (or even $70), so you might have to get creative with your accommodations.  For the more adventurous folks out there, you may want to consider couchsurfing.com, a website that connects travelers from around the world with locals offering up their coach for a night or two – for free.  Otherwise you might have to shack up with a friend in the area or consider pitching a tent.

Photo Courtesy of Henry Burrows (http://www.flickr.com/photos/foilman/2713470024/)

Transportation

Indianapolis buses do not run very regularly, but the fare is fairly cheap.  For one day, you will pay a total of $4, though the low price might not exactly offset the headaches caused by the confusing, not extremely dependable system.  Instead, you may want to consider renting a bicycle for a few hours either through DG Bicycles (which rents bikes for $24 for 3 hours) or Wheel Fun Rentals (which rents a “cruiser” for $8/hour or $20/half day).  Renting a bike to ride along the city’s canal and through White River State Park is a popular pastime for locals looking to enjoy this particularly beautiful part of town on the weekend.  You can also take a ride to the trendy Mass Ave district or lively Broad Ripple Village.

Indianapolis actually has quite a few walking/biking/rollerblading trails which give visitors and locals easy access to many of the city’s exciting districts.  The Indianapolis Cultural Trail connects Mass Ave and the Canal & White River State Park to Fountain Square, Indiana Avenue, and the Wholesale District. The Monon Trail connects downtown Indianapolis to Broad Ripple, while White River Wapahani Trail follows along the White River, traveling through the city from the northeast to the southwest.

If you’re not into biking, walking is free!  Indy is a great place for pedestrians, especially since many of the city’s must-see sites are located within walking distance of one another.  A great place to start is the tourist center located at the Indianapolis Artsgarden.

Photo Courtesy of Serge Melki (http://www.flickr.com/photos/sergemelki/3057493734/sizes/m/in/photostream/)

Food and Beverage

Urbanspoon.com has a list of some of the best (and cheapest) food in Indianapolis. Some other can’t-go-wrong options include Siam Square, a new Thai restaurant located in the Fountain Square District (lunch entrees are all $8.99 and include soup and a spring roll) and Bourbon Street Distillery, a favorite among college students.  This restaurant/bar has a great outdoor patio and an amazing Bourbon Street Burger!

Sightseeing

Once you have your hostel booked, your transportation planned out and your sights set on some food, it’s time to dig a little deeper and discover all that Indianapolis has to offer.  To stretch your dollar while not compromising on having a good time, you may want to consider taking advantage of some of these free things to do in Indianapolis.  Keep in mind, too, that the Indianapolis Museum of Art offers free admission to their permanent exhibitions and botanical gardens, which are well worth the trip to Indy in and of themselves!   

From the re-naming of one local airport in March 2011 from Mount Comfort Airport to Indianapolis Regional Airport (probably to ensure that visitors know without doing much research that there is an alternative to Indianapolis International Airport when making flight arrangements) to the building of a boardwalk on Indianapolis’ East Side, the city is changing (and improving?) little by little.  The construction of the so-called “Super Bowl Village” on Georgia Street (located about a mile east of Lucas Oil Stadium, the home of the Indianapolis Colts and, of course, the Super Bowl) has left many local business owners looking forward to February when they hope to see a huge boost in sales that should help offset the recent construction-induced decline in revenue.  There will be no fee required to enter the Village, the idea being that ticket-less fans will be able to “mingle outside in the afternoon and evening, get a drink, huddle in warm zones with heaters and enjoy concerts,” according to wthr.com (the local NBC news affiliate).

Just west of the future “Super Bowl Village” location, and accessible by underground tunnel, is the Indiana Convention Center, whose January 2011 renovation doubled its size, making it the 16th largest convention center in the country.  Here the NFL is hosting the “NFL Experience,” which allows paying visitors the chance to see the Vince Lombardi Trophy up close, shop for official NFL merchandise, attend free autograph signings, and participate in one of many youth football clinics.  Tickets go on sale in December.

Closer to Lucas Oil Stadium and thanks to a federal grant, the city will add 12 surveillance cameras to the 68 already located in key spots around the downtown area.  The cameras will continue to record in real time all the time and transmit to a command center.  Gary Coons, the chief of the Division of Homeland Security in the city of Indianapolis Department of Public Safety, says that the “…cameras are really like a forced multiplier…You can only have so many officers in so many places.”

Photo Courtesy of Josh Hallett (http://www.flickr.com/photos/hyku/1563941407/)

In addition to local law enforcement and construction crews, the Indianapolis Super Bowl Housing Committee (who knew there was such a thing?) has been hard at work sponsoring housing and apartment redevelopment projects on the east side of the city, nearby where the “Super Bowl Village” will be located.  Not only do they plan on beautifying the area’s architecture, they are also striving to plant 2,012 trees in the area by 2012 to “help maximize the environmental impact of additional trees while building excitement around tree planting.”  You can find out more about their plans for offsetting carbon emissions preparations for and events during the Super Bowl by visiting this website.

Finally, Indianapolis’ skyline was forever changed in February 2011 when the world’s largest JW Marriott Hotel opened its doors.  Boasting 1,005 guestrooms and a premiere location, the completion of the hotel “marks the culmination of nearly $3 billion in urban investment in downtown Indianapolis” aimed at luring more tourists, and therefore more money, to good ol’ Naptown.

Oktoberfest first began 201 years ago in Munich, today the capital of Germany’s largest state known as Bavaria, to honor the marriage between Prince Ludwig and Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen.  (German Lesson #2: “O’ zapft is!” = Bavarian German for “It’s tapped!” (…the keg that is), is proclaimed by the Mayor of Munich at the official start to each year’s festival).  Since then, German immigrants have spread the tradition far and wide and now Oktoberfests can be found in cities across the globe.

Photo Courtesy of 24oranges.nl (http://www.flickr.com/photos/24oranges/2814012248/)

Indianapolis has a special connection with German culture, considering that the Germans were the largest ethnic group responsible for the building of the city.  To get a feel for the prevalent remaining influence of these early immigrants, combine your Oktoberfest experience with a trip to the Heidelberg Haus, a cafe and gift shop with absolutely delicious Laugenbretzel (Lesson #3: “Ich hätte gern eine Laugenbretzel bitte!”= “I would like a pretzel please!”)  You could also head over to The Rathskeller‘s lively Biergarten for some live music or enjoy an authentic German meal at The Edelweiβ Restaurant.  Whatever you do, don’t let this time of year pass by without enjoying some some real German Gemütlichkeit – in this case in Indianapolis!

However, a violent act of nature recently put Indy on front pages across the country after a much more somber moment in our city.  On August 13th, at a concert at the State Fair, an in-coming storm’s unforgiving gust of wind collapsed the stage, killing 7 people and injuring 40 more.  Officials and citizens rushed, in acts of unspeakable courage, to help fellow concert-goers trapped under the debris.  A visibly emotional Governor Mitch Daniels said at a press conference the following morning,

“What needs saying most about last night’s freakish accident was that we saw on display the best qualities of both public and private Hoosiers. Emergency management personnel response was instantaneous and highly professional. It’s equally important to say … that individual Hoosiers ran to the trouble, not from the trouble by the hundreds. That’s the character that we associate with our state.”

Some things are unavoidable, unforeseeable, and unfathomable.  Other things can be prevented with a little foresight and common sense.  When traveling, the last thing you want to think about is something going wrong, but it is advisable to have emergency contact information close at hand…just in case.

When visiting Indianapolis, some of these numbers might end up being the difference between being safe and sorry.  In addition, Indiana experiences an average of 20 tornadoes per year and 4 tornado-related deaths. In Marion County, where Indianapolis is located, 168 outdoor warning sirens warn citizens and visitors of potential or current threats to public safety.  If you hear the 3-minute warning signal, seek shelter indoors and turn on a radio or television to receive further instructions from public officials.

Photo: ejr021@gmail.com

First of all, getting from the airport to the city and back is possible via taxi, bus, or rental car. Information about all of these services are available at the airport’s guest services desk . Also, there are a wide variety of hotels that are located right near the airport.  If you do end up spending a night in Naptown, you do not have to be this guy…

Photo Courtesy of Derek Morrison (http://www.flickr.com/photos/derekmorrison/5628027159/)

After securing your transportation to and from the airport and  (hopefully) a comfortable place to get some shut-eye, it’s time to explore the city.  Depending on your interests, how much time you have, and how much money you are willing to spend on your little side adventure, the following suggestions might help you narrow down your choices.  Each one of these points of interest are located between 20 and 30 minutes from the airport (estimated times by car, courtesy of google maps, are given in parentheses).

Indianapolis is home to 10 professional sports teams, the national headquarters for the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association), and is known as ‘The (Car) Racing Capital of the World.’  Sports enthusiasts can take an hour-long tour of Lucas Oil Fieldhouse (21 minutes via 1-70E), home to the Indianapolis Colts, any Tuesday or Wednesday at 11am, 1pm, or 3pm.  This might be of particular interest to football fans this year as the Super Bowl will be held in Indianapolis come February 5th.  The tour allows fans to see the press box, an NFL locker room, and many other parts of the stadium that are not usually open to the general public.

Photo Courtesy of Josh Hallett (http://www.flickr.com/photos/hyku/2865926341/sizes/m/in/photostream/)

Another option for sports fans is to head north (24 minutes via I-465N) to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.  You can visit the Hall of Fame Museum, play a round of golf on the Brickyard Crossing Golf Course, and even see the famous mile-long track firsthand.

Luckily, downtown Indianapolis offers a lot of sight-seeing opportunities for visitors, all walkable and within minutes of each other:

Option #1: NCAA Hall of Champions, Indiana State Museum, White River State Park, Eiteljorg Museum, the canal, and of course the Indianapolis Zoo.  Although you probably won’t have time to do it all, this area of the city is rich in culture, history and beauty.

Photo Courtesy of Stevan Sheets (http://www.flickr.com/photos/stevan/24360194/sizes/m/in/photostream/)

Option #2: Monument Circle (23 minutes via I-70E).  Indianapolis has the second greatest number of war memorials in the country, second only to Washington, D.C.. Park your car in the parking garage off of Washington Street (near the mall) and put on your walking shoes.  A group called Walk Indianapolis has created a self-guided tour of the monuments and memorials in the area surrounding Monument Circle.  Simply download the MP3 files to your mobile device and follow the map found on their website.

The tour begins at the Indianapolis Artsgarden, a cultural center found at the heart of the city and connected to the mall. There you can also find all sorts of information about the city in the form of brochures or ask the concierge (there from 10am-9pm Mondays through Saturdays and noon until 6pm on Sundays) any questions you might have about the city’s cultural happenings.

Three local architects then lead you from landmark to landmark with 2-3 minute blurbs about the history, architecture and cultural significance of each particular building, park or monument. Though just listening and looking will take about 45 minutes, you may want to take advantage of the free tours of the Indiana State House (more information available here), roam around the beautiful interior of Christ Church Cathedral and the Scottish Rite Cathedral, or explore the Indiana World War Memorial’s free military museum that “portrays the history of Indiana’s gallant veterans from the Battle of Tippecanoe, through the several wars in which we have been engaged, to the present.” All of the information including a print-friendly map and downloadable files can be found here.

Though you can enjoy a self-guided tour any day of the year, if you time your trip just right, it’s possible to enjoy some other special events at local Indianapolis hotspots. One beloved stop for locals on their way home from work on a Friday evening, Sun King Brewing Company offers free beer-tasting every Thursday (from 4-7pm), Friday (from 1-7pm) and Saturday (from 1-4pm) at their downtown warehouse. Established in 1948, this beloved beer cannot be found outside of Indiana and the brewery just recently expanded its distribution beyond the Indianapolis city limits, so if you’re looking for a local brew, Sun King is your place.

If you happen to be in Indianapolis on the first Thursday of any month, I definitely suggest stopping in to the Indianapolis Children’s Museum between 4 and 8pm when they offer free admission. Known as one of the best children’s museums in the world, the Children’s Museum has everything from a “Dora & Diego” room to exhibits devoted to Egypt, dinosaurs and even Barbie.

The Indianapolis Cultural Trail, a 7.5 mile pathway that connects five downtown cultural districts including Fountain Square, Indiana Avenue, Mass Ave, the Canal and White River State Park, and the Wholesale district), is a great way to experience Indianapolis by bike. If you happen to be riding through the city on a Wednesday between 11:30 and 1pm or a Thursday from 5:30-7:30pm during the summer months, you can stop and enjoy a free concert on the canal featuring a variety of different music groups from around the area.

Many other local museums and cultural areas offer admission-free days, so be sure to do a little research before heading this way. The Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site, for example, offers free tours and birthday cake on the former U.S. President and Indianapolis native’s birthday each year – on August 20th.

I say, though Jockamo’s certainly gives it a valiant effort, Bazbeaux has it beat. Bazbeaux was established in 1986 in Indianapolis’s trendy, north side neighborhood known as Broad Ripple. The former household of the local gravedigger, this location certainly has a lot of character and tends to attract a fairly hip, young crowd, looking to have a slice with friends while enjoying the beautiful view of the canal from the patio. In 1989, a second Bazbeaux opened downtown on Massachusetts Avenue, an area known for its unique shops and cultural hotspots. The hip yet rustic, trendy yet relaxing atmosphere is one of the best places in town to enjoy a local beer brewed at Sun King, Oaken Barrel or Flat 12, all local breweries. In 2006, Bazbeaux opened its third and final restaurant in Carmel, an upscale residential area north of the city.

Though you can expect to pay more, in some cases much more, than you would at your local Domino’s (pizzas range from $10-$25 depending on size and toppings), the investment is well worth the extra dough. Bazbeaux’s crust is thin and its sauce is sweet. My favorite pizza is the Senza Formaggio: eggplant, fresh basil, grilled onion, extra sauce and no cheese proves to be extremely flavorful and filling.