Experience the best of Columbus

Columbus lies on the Scioto River in central Ohio and is the state capital and its largest city. The Ohio Statehouse, a Greek Revival building, stands downtown, and The Ohio State University, one of the largest in the country, fills a campus to the north. German Village, a neighbourhood of 19th-century brick cottages on brick-paved streets, with small parks and bakeries, has been carefully restored.

The Short North Arts District is a street of galleries, restaurants and metal arches, and Franklin Park Conservatory and Botanical Garden shows glass art among its plants. The Columbus Museum of Art and COSI, a science museum, are close by. The Topiary Park recreates a Seurat painting in clipped hedges, and the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium lies north of the city. Hocking Hills State Park, with waterfalls and caves, lies to the south-east.

Buckeyes, balls of peanut butter dipped in chocolate to look like the nut, are the local sweet, and bratwurst is eaten in German Village, with a thriving craft-beer scene. Football Saturdays in autumn fill the city with scarlet and gray, summers are humid, and winters are cold.