Ohio's largest city, state capital and home to the massive Ohio State University, COLUMBUS is a likeable place to visit. Its position in the rural heart of the state also makes it the only center of culture for a good three-hour drive in any direction.

Ohio became a state in 1803, and after trying Zanesville and Chillicothe, legislators designated this former patch of rolling farmland on the high east bank of the Scioto River its capital in 1812. The fledgling city was built from scratch, and its considered town planning is evident today in broad thoroughfares and green spaces. Statuary forms another part of the cityscape, with monuments seemingly erected on any spare scrap of land, many of them of its namesake, Christopher Columbus ; there's even a replica of his ship, the Santa Maria , docked downtown on the Scioto River. For the 1992 quincentennial of the explorer's discovery of North America, some city officials erroneously felt that a full-scale celebration would put their city (which has lagged behind Cincinnati and Cleveland in terms of public recognition) on the map. It bombed, with Native American and other ethnic groups branding the festivities as exploitation.