What to do for a day in Columbus, OH?
 

With Skybus offering RT fares as low as $36 all in, Southwest offering Ding fares of $15 each way and now Northwest offering RT fares less than $100 I have a feeling there might be a few Flyertalkers who might want to kill a day in Columbus. I'm thinking about a day in October due to a cheap fare.

Any suggestions?

Try to book the earliest next flight out?? :confused: :D

For a day, there are several things one can do in Columbus:

• Easton Town Center - this place is less than five minutes away from the airport. It's a big outdoor shopping center w/ plenty of restaurants, bars, clubs, and stores (including an AMC 30 movie theatre, Gameworks, etc) There is a Hilton located on sight.
• Sports (sort of) - In the fall, you can try and get OSU football tickets (good luck), and there is also the Blue Jackets (hockey) or the Crew (soccer), but not much else.
• Ohio State campus - huge campus with nice areas to walk, people watch, restaurants, bars, etc
• German Village/Brewery District - restaurants, clubs, bars, notice a theme
• Short North/Arena District - Short North is an artsy place w/ coffee shops, galleries, North Market, and small boutique stores and close to the Arena District, which has the Nationwide Arena, movie theatre, restaurants
• Shopping - If that's your thing, there are two suburban malls in addition to Easton - Tuttle Crossing and Polaris Fashion Place. There is also an outlet mall about 45 minutes south of Columbus.

If you like zoos, Columbus has a good one. It's on the edge of town, so you'd need a car to get there. http://www.colszoo.org/

The Columbus Museum of Art is a smaller museum but with a good collection and interesting traveling exhibits (Monet exhibit in October). Very good museum shop. www.columbusmuseum.org

Go to Graeter's for really good ice-cream!

I like the idea of the zoo and the museum. Any other cultural or historical options?

I'd rent a car since I can get in around 9am and leave around 5:30pm

Both the zoo and the German Village are excellent.
The latter certainly qualifies as "historical."

Drive from one point to the other along scenic US Hwy 33.

One Saturday a month Short North has a gallery hop. Neat way to check out the local arts scene. Next one's July 7.

I could easily spend a weekend hanging out in Short North. Columbus is way cooler than I thought it would be and I've managed a few visits after discovering that!