IU Campus Visit: A One-Day Plan, Parking and Hotels

An IU campus visit fits in one day if you plan it in order: the official visit in the morning, Kirkwood Avenue at lunch, then Greek row and the student neighborhoods before dinner downtown. Brady Hawk, who runs our private, student-led tours of Bloomington, built his tours around what he couldn't figure out on his own visit: housing and the social scene.

How should we spend one day visiting IU?

Spend one day visiting IU in five steps, starting at the official visit and ending downtown. Distances below are measured on OpenStreetMap.

Start with the official visit. IU's daily visit is a 45-minute admissions presentation at the Welcome Center in Ernie Pyle Hall, then a 75- to 90-minute student-led walking tour, booked on IU's website (as of September 2026). On select Sundays, the IU Visitor Information Center runs an hour-long tour at 1 p.m. instead.
Walk to the Sample Gates. Ernie Pyle Hall is about 0.2 miles from the Gates, which Visit Bloomington calls the gateway between the IU and Bloomington communities.
Eat lunch on Kirkwood or at the Indiana Memorial Union. Both are a few minutes from the Gates.
Spend the afternoon off campus. See Kirkwood, Greek row and the streets where upperclassmen rent. The official tour covers admissions and academics, and this half of the day covers where students live and spend their weekends.
Have dinner downtown. The Monroe County Courthouse on the square is about 0.4 miles west of the Sample Gates, an 8-minute walk straight down Kirkwood.

Leave the car parked for the whole day. Visit Bloomington's advice for campus visitors is to "find a spot and stick with it all day."

Where should we park for an IU campus visit?

Park for an IU campus visit in a campus garage on a weekday, and in any IU lot for free on a Saturday. On weekdays, visitors use a garage, a metered space or a daily visitor permit, or pay to park in the Indiana Memorial Union lots, according to the IU Visitor Information Center (read October 2026). On Sundays the streets and the lots are free.

Visit Bloomington lists six campus garages that take paid visitor parking: Atwater, East, Fee Lane, Forrest Avenue, Henderson and Poplars. The garages are free from 6 p.m. Friday to 7 a.m. Monday unless a sign says otherwise.

Poplars Garage, 415 E. Sixth Street, is the one to know for a walking day. Visit Bloomington calls it ideal for the Indiana Memorial Union, and it sits about 240 meters from the Sample Gates on OpenStreetMap. From there you can walk to the IMU, Ernie Pyle Hall, Kirkwood and the square without moving the car.

Rates change with time parked, and each garage sets the cards it accepts. Check IU Parking Operations before you go if you're visiting on a weekday.

What should we see in Bloomington after the official IU tour?

After the official IU tour, see Kirkwood Avenue, Greek row and the streets where upperclassmen live. Brady Hawk, our Campus Lead and a current IU student, had no idea how housing or the social scene worked on his own IU visit, and these three stops are where both show up.

Kirkwood Avenue. Kirkwood runs from the Sample Gates to the courthouse square. Brady says freshmen, sophomores and many juniors don't go to the Kirkwood bars, which are strict: "It's like a big junior, senior thing." Younger students still have "so much stuff" to do on Kirkwood, so walk the whole street, Gates to square.
Greek row. "This is a huge Greek life school," Brady says. Greek life sits close to the middle of campus, "like it all connects." IU counts almost 8,000 students, about 24% of undergraduates, in a sorority or fraternity (IU Student Life, How to Join). Brady also says there are "so many alternatives," so ask about both.
Where upperclassmen live. Students outside Greek housing mostly end up in apartments toward the top of campus, near Greek life and the stadium, or in houses near Kirkwood. "It's a very limited housing market here," Brady says.

Brady adds that most students don't have their ideal apartment or house figured out until junior year. The neighborhoods are in our post on where IU students live after freshman year.

Where can we eat lunch on an IU visit?

Eat lunch on an IU visit at the Indiana Memorial Union or on Kirkwood Avenue, both a few minutes on foot from the Sample Gates. The IMU is about 330 meters from the Gates on OpenStreetMap, and Kirkwood starts at them.

The Indiana Memorial Union. The IU Visitor Information Center points visitors to lunch at the Tudor Room, coffee at Starbucks and other spots inside the union. It's the easy pick between the official tour and an afternoon walk, since the visitor center is in the same building.
Nick's English Hut on Kirkwood. Visit Bloomington notes it has been on Kirkwood since 1927.
Fourth Street. Visit Bloomington calls it Bloomington's "International Restaurant Row," a short walk from Kirkwood.

Keep lunch close to the Gates so the afternoon stays on foot. For breakfast spots, dinner downtown and what to do with a free evening, use our list of things to do in Bloomington.

Where should families stay when visiting IU?

Families visiting IU can stay on campus at the Biddle Hotel inside the Indiana Memorial Union, or on Kirkwood Avenue at the Graduate by Hilton. Visit Bloomington names both for college visits, and the IU Visitor Information Center calls the Biddle a "full-service hotel within our student union."

The Biddle Hotel. On campus in the IMU, about 330 meters from the Sample Gates. Breakfast, the official visit and Kirkwood are all a walk.
Graduate by Hilton. On Kirkwood Avenue, per Visit Bloomington, so the walk to the Gates is a straight line.
The rest of town. The visitor center's hotels and dining page links a full list of hotels near campus.

Book early for the big weekends. Visit Bloomington warns that "hotels sell out quickly for big events like football games, graduation, and the Little 500," and the Visitors Center can help check what's open. Our Bloomington visit dates list those weekends with this year's dates.

To see Kirkwood, Greek row and the neighborhoods upperclassmen rent in with a current student, book a private tour for $150 for your family, 60 to 90 minutes, seven days a week.

Frequently asked questions

Can we tour IU on a Sunday?

Yes, you can tour IU on select Sundays. The IU Visitor Information Center runs an hour-long walking tour at 1 p.m. from its office in the Indiana Memorial Union, with registration on the visitor center's site. Monday to Saturday tours go through the Office of Admissions. Our private tours run seven days a week, early or late, around your visit.

Is there a self-guided tour of IU?

Yes, IU has a self-guided campus tour you can walk at your own pace, linked from the admissions visit page. The IU Visitor Information Center also offers it as an accessible PDF and in Spanish, and hands out maps and brochures at its office in the Indiana Memorial Union.

How do we get to Bloomington from the Indianapolis airport?

To get to Bloomington from the Indianapolis airport, take a shuttle or rent a car. The IU Visitor Information Center names two shuttle companies that run between Indianapolis International Airport and Bloomington: GO Express Travel and Classic Touch Limousine. If you drive, the campus garages are free from 6 p.m. Friday to 7 a.m. Monday unless a sign says otherwise.

Do we need to register for the official IU tour?

Yes, register for the official IU tour ahead of time. IU's daily visits are scheduled through the admissions website, and the Sunday tours have their own sign-up on the visitor center's site. TourCollegeTowns is independent and not affiliated with Indiana University, so our private tour is booked separately and pairs well with the official visit.

Sources

IU Office of Admissions: plan your visit, read October 2026.
IU Visitor Information Center: campus tours, maps, directions and parking, hotels and dining, read October 2026.
Visit Bloomington: visiting campus and Indiana University parking, read October 2026.
Distances measured on OpenStreetMap, October 2026.