Your parents just pulled out of the dorm parking lot, your room is half-unpacked, and somewhere between the last cardboard box and the first Welcome Week email, it hits you: you don’t actually know this city. You know your dorm, you know the Oval, and you maybe know where the dining hall is. Everything else is a question mark.
That’s normal. Ohio State has more than 60,000 students, which means there’s no single upperclassman who’s going to walk you around and show you the ropes before classes start. So consider this your stand-in for that friend.
Below is a short, curated guide to Columbus for Ohio State students. Save it, work through it with your new dormmates over the next couple of weeks, and you’ll feel a lot more settled before your first exam hits.
A Guide to Columbus For Incoming Ohio State Students
Grab a Burger Right Off Campus: Burger Royale
Start close to home. Burger Royale sits directly across High Street from the Ohio Union, which makes it the easiest “let’s get food” answer when you don’t want to overthink it. It’s West Coast-style burgers on a butter-toasted bun, with fries cooked in beef tallow, so it’s a step up from typical campus grab-and-go without requiring a trip off campus. It’s the kind of place you’ll end up at constantly your first semester, and there’s no shame in that.
Hop On a Free Bus Down to the Short North
Once you’re ready to see more than High Street’s campus strip, the Short North is the move. It’s Columbus’s arts-and-restaurants district, full of galleries, coffee shops, boutiques, and patios, and it’s an easy ride: OSU students ride COTA buses at no cost using the digital pass in the Ohio State app.
Once you’re down there, walk over to Goodale Park, a 37-acre park just off High Street with a pond, a gazebo, and enough open lawn to become your go-to spot for reading, tossing a frisbee, or people-watching on a nice day without the chaos of The Oval.
Get Your Coffee Fix Inside an Old Church at Stauf’s
For coffee that’s genuinely worth the walk, Stauf’s Coffee Roasters on Neil Avenue, just south of campus, is a Columbus institution with a great twist: it’s inside a beautifully converted 1880s church. High ceilings, big windows, and good coffee make it a solid alternative to studying in your dorm room when you need a change of scenery.
Spend an Afternoon in German Village
South of downtown, stepping into German Village is one of the premier areas in Columbus: brick-lined streets, historic brick homes, and some of the city’s most legendary food, all walkable once you’re there. It’s an easy trip via COTA or a short rideshare ride, and worth doing with a group early in the semester before everyone’s schedules get busy. A few spots to know:
- Schmidt’s Sausage Haus – German classics since 1967, and the cream puffs are a rite of passage.
- The Old Mohawk – A laid-back neighborhood spot with something for everyone, including solid vegetarian options.
- Brown Bag Deli – Great sandwiches and some of the friendliest service in the neighborhood; grab something to go and eat it in nearby Schiller Park.
- Katzinger’s Delicatessen – A New York-style deli where almost everything, including the bread, is made in-house.
One heads-up: The Thurman Cafe, German Village’s famous burger spot, is temporarily closed after fire damage earlier this year while the family rebuilds. It’s worth watching for its reopening, but don’t plan a trip around it just yet, lean on the four spots above in the meantime.
See Something You Won’t Find Anywhere Else at Otherworld
Otherworld is a genuinely one-of-a-kind stop, an immersive, artist-built art installation full of surreal rooms and interactive exhibits, more experience than museum. It’s on the east side of the city, so it’s a rideshare trip rather than a walk, but it’s a great “bring your new dormmates” outing when you want a story to tell that has nothing to do with campus. Tickets are sold online only for timed entry, so grab them ahead of time rather than showing up and hoping.
Catch a Clippers Game on Dime-a-Dog Night
Huntington Park downtown is home to the Columbus Clippers, the Guardians’ Triple-A affiliate, and it’s one of the best cheap nights out in the city. Every Tuesday home game is Dime-a-Dog Night, hot dogs for ten cents, which makes it an easy, low-cost way to spend an evening with new friends before the weather turns.
Cheer on the Crew
If soccer is more your speed, catch a Columbus Crew match downtown at ScottsMiracle-Gro Field (you may still see it listed online under its former name, Lower.com Field). The Crew has a genuinely loyal fanbase, and a night game there is a great intro to Columbus sports culture beyond Ohio State football.
Beat the Heat at the Zoo and Zoombezi Bay
The Columbus Zoo and Aquarium is one of the largest and most respected zoos in the country, and it shares a property with Zoombezi Bay, a full waterpark, so you can genuinely make a full day of it. Both are north of the city and easiest to reach by rideshare, and they’re worth doing with your dormmates while the weather still cooperates. Once the semester picks up, a day trip like this gets a lot harder to schedule.
Time to Start Exploring Columbus
That’s the list. It’s short on purpose, because your first couple weeks in Columbus should feel doable, not like homework. Pick two or three spots to hit before classes start, save the rest for the first few weekends of the semester, and you’ll walk into midterms already feeling like you know your way around.
And if you want more guides to discovering things to do, places to eat, and more in Columbus, subscribe to our free daily newsletter here.
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