Top Things to do in Indiana
Top Hotels in Indiana
- 1. Hampton Inn Indianapolis Downtown Across from Circle Centre
- 2. West Baden Springs Hotel
- 3. Bottleworks Hotel
- 4. Indianapolis Marriott East
- 5. The Inn at Saint Mary's
- 6. Drury Inn & Suites Terre Haute
- 7. Hyatt Place Indianapolis Downtown
- 8. Ironworks Hotel Indy
- 9. JW Marriott Indianapolis
- 10. Drury Plaza Hotel Indianapolis Carmel
Countries
Things to do in Indiana, United States: The Best Art Museums
With beaches, boating, and salmon fishing in Michigan City and Gary bordering Lake Michigan, there is more to Indiana than might appear at first glance. The agricultural heartland even has cross country skiing and snowmobiling to go with the Cornball Express. Southwest Indiana near Evansville is renowned for the well-preserved Native American Angel Mounds State Historic Site. The largest city and state capital is famous worldwide for its Indianapolis 500 race. Even locals living in the suburbs often overlook the Indianapolis Museum of Art, Eiteljorg Museum, NCAA Hall of Champions, the old Union Station museum cluster, and downtown Canal Walk, to name but a few landmarks. South Bend is synonymous with the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame.
Forested Nashville’s art colony fame dates to the early 1900s when Impressionist Theodore Clement Steele overwintered in The House of the Singing Winds. It is now the T.C. Steele State Historic Site. View paintings and sculpture at the I.M. Pei-designed Indiana University Museum of Art. Attend an IU sports event or an opera, ballet, concert, or theater performance. Treat the family to The Little Nashville Opry or The Bill Monroe Bluegrass Park. For healing mineral springs, head south to Orange County, Indiana’s spa resort center.
Enjoy golf, fishing, boating, cross country skiing, snowmobiling, and ice skating in the nation’s agricultural heartland. Monticello and Rensselaer are west of Logansport and north of Lafayette. Take the family on the Cornball Express and Hoosier Hurricane at the Indiana Beach Amusement Resort in Monticello. Play boardwalk carnival games, or let the kids loose on the go-carts. Pile the family into their vehicles for an old-fashioned movie experience at Monticello’s Lake Shore Drive-In. Indulge in a weekend dinner boat cruise to hot band sounds as the Madam Carroll plies Lake Freeman.
Restaurants in Indiana
1. The National Art Museum of Sport
Overall Ratings
5.0 based on 1 reviews
The nation's largest collection of sport related art hangs in the lobbies and corridors of University Place on the campus of Indiana University - Purdue University Indianapolis.
2. Haan Museum of Indiana Art
Overall Ratings
5.0 based on 63 reviews
**Please note that due to COVID-19, we are only open at specific dates and times for scheduled tours. Sign up for a tour at haanmuseum.org!** Take a tour of the Haan Museum, an art museum inside a 1904 World's Fair mansion! Enjoy looking at beautiful impressionist Indiana paintings, amazingly detailed Renaissance Revival furniture, and uniquely eccentric ceramics, all within a grand 15,000 square-foot mansion! The Haan Museum's collection includes work from T.C. Steele, William Forsyth and the rest of the Hoosier Group artists, Brown County Art Colony artists such as Adolph and Ada Shulz, Scott Frankenberger, Marvin Bartel, and many, many more famous Indiana artists. Artwork and furniture date from the 19th century to present day. Don't forget to check out our Sculpture Garden, bike trail, and nature trail to complete your Haan Museum experience!
Reviewed By 715carolg
My wife and I went to their special evening Christmas tour. It was our first visit there, but we will definitely be back again. Wonderful art, Christmas trees in every room, beautifully decorated for Christmas. They had several working model trains, complete with Lafayette buildings and winter scenes. We were given a personal tour by Bob Haan, who told us many great stories how he and Ellie renovated the home. Exquisite one of a kind furniture pieces. You have to see it to appreciate it. A great treasure in our home town with a world class history!
3. Evansville African American Museum
Overall Ratings
5.0 based on 13 reviews
Reviewed By Doublej317 - Indianapolis, United States
I found this little gem of history while I had 4 hours until game time. It was a great little piece of history and so many facts that I did not know- and I live in IN. The tour was great & the items on display were amazing to see! Well worth Free parking & $5 entry fee & took about 1 1/2 hours!
4. New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 10 reviews
This small museum features the works of local and regional artists.
Reviewed By gazooby - Bloomington, United States
very nice and fairly large/diverse collection, worth a stop for collectors. Pleasant clerk who was generous with community info. I would not take kids in here!
5. The Snite Museum of Art
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 54 reviews
One of the best university art museums in the U.S., this museum at the University of Notre Dame features 18,000 pieces including a large religious collection and works representing the major periods in world art history.
Reviewed By DMGAmes_Iowa - Ames, United States
My wife and I made three visits to this museum while staying on campus four days for a professional meeting. Admission is free, so we could pop in and out in between our conference sessions and avoid the exhaustion of trying to see all the museum at once. Excellent exhibit of Latin American pre-Columbian art in their permanent collection. Also impressive though small exhibit on African art. A very nice exhibit on decorative arts, and display of European and American art from the 17th to 21st centuries. A temporary exhibit entitled "There is no place like time" was challenging and thought-provoking. The museum is a real gem and must be a real treasure trove for students at Notre Dame taking art history classes.
6. The Depot - Beverly Shores History Museum & Art Gallery
7. Glass Museum
8. James Dean Gallery
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 64 reviews
The James Dean Gallery is a Museum Exhibit and Gift Shop housed in a beautifully restored 1903 Victorian Home on tree lined North Main Street in the legendary actor's hometown of Fairmount, Indiana. The extensive Museum Exhibit fills several rooms and chronicles the boyhood days growing up in Fairmount right through the Hollywood Years and the tragic car accident that claimed his life at age 24. There is also a screening room which shows rare James Dean film clips continuously.A Fun, interesting and informative Attraction for Family members of all ages!A FREE map is given to visitors showing other points of interest in Fairmount including James Dean's Gravesite and the Boyhood Home.The James Dean Gallery is Open Every Day from 9am to 6pm, closed Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years Day.Admission is FREE, and Donations are gratefully accepted
Reviewed By brianc73 - Indianapolis, United States
This Gallery in Fairmount has quite a few show cases with James Dean items, vintage and newer, to be viewed and a film room that shows films about and with James Dean. It also has a resale shop with lots of cool 50's and 60's items, including a massive inventory of paperback books on movies and music. Also new books on James Dean and similar artists are available there at excellent prices. We stop in when we are traveling through on I-69 - it is about a 5 mile drive from the interstate t Fairmount. Definitely worth a trip there.
9. Indianapolis Art Center
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 40 reviews
Reviewed By 866TaylorB - Chicago, United States
I'm not sure my wife and I have ever visited an art center comparable to the Indianapolis Art Center. Located at 820 East 67th Street, on the banks of the White River in the Broad Ripple neighborhood of Indianapolis, it was founded in 1934. Today, it is housed in a magnificent 40,000-square-foot building that sits on a 9.5-acre space and was designed and built by Indiana-born architect Michael Graves in 1996. It features an entry portico with 32-foot columns, large rectangular and round windows and stucco painted peach, red ochre and blue. It also features fine art exhibitions, art classes, 13 art studios, a gift shop, a 255-seat auditorium, a library with more than 5,000 titles and, perhaps the most popular attraction of all, a 12.5-acre sculpture garden highlighted by the Twisted House sculpture. There are studios for painting, drawing, printmaking, photography, computer graphics, woodworking, glassblowing, ceramics, metal smithing, steel and stone sculpture and benchwork. It all makes for fascinating browsing.
