Columbus is the capital and largest city of Ohio, a mid-size Midwestern metropolis of around 900,000 people (about 2.2 million in the metropolitan area) on the Scioto River in the centre of the state. For most of its history it was an unremarkable state-capital and rail junction town, but since the 1990s Columbus has been one of the fastest-growing major cities in the United States — driven by Ohio State University (one of the largest single-campus universities in the country, with over 60,000 students), a cluster of Fortune 500 companies in banking and insurance, and a young, diverse population that has given the city an unexpectedly lively food and arts scene. It is not a tourist destination, and most travellers will only spend time here as part of a longer road trip through the Midwest — but it is a reliably pleasant, surprisingly cosmopolitan stopover.
The central attractions are concentrated in a few walkable neighbourhoods. Downtown holds the Ohio Statehouse (an 1860s Greek Revival building open for free tours), COSI (the excellent hands-on science museum), and the Scioto Mile riverfront. North of downtown, the Short North Arts District along High Street is the most pleasant area to wander — a long strip of galleries, boutiques, cafés, bars and restaurants that runs towards the Ohio State University campus. German Village, a short walk south of downtown, is a 19th-century red-brick neighbourhood of tightly packed immigrant cottages and the famous Schmidt's Sausage Haus; the Book Loft in German Village is one of the largest independent bookshops in America, with 32 rooms of books. Further out, the Franklin Park Conservatory, the Columbus Museum of Art, and the Ohio History Center each merit an hour or two.
Columbus is sports-mad, with Ohio State Buckeyes football at the centre of local life — on game days in autumn, the entire city turns scarlet and grey, and a ticket is nearly impossible to find. If you are in town on a game day, find a bar, order a Great Lakes beer, and go with it.