The new Indianapolis downtown features shops, entertainment centers and museums.  The new Circle Centre shopping and entertainment complex opened in 1995 and draws visitors from around the region.  Also recently completed is the Indianapolis Arts garden, an eight-story glass rotunda lit by fairy lights and suspended in mid-air over the busy Washington and Illinois intersection.  The Arts garden is a performance and exhibition space for all of Indiana, and it is connected to the Circle Centre and several downtown hotels.  Additionally, Indianapolis has added several new sports stadiums and hotels, to keep up with such events as the Pan-American games and Olympic trials.  The downtown landmarks have all been remodeled into new shopping and entertainment centers.

Indianapolis boasts several excellent museums, including one of the best children’s museums in the country.  The Children’s Museum of Indiana is a massive space designed entirely for kids, featuring theatres and a planetarium.  The Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art is quite large and is dedicated entirely to native arts and buildings.  The Indianapolis Museum of Art has art from all periods; sculpture and botanical gardens surround the entire museum with a lake on the grounds.  The new Indianapolis Zoo features hundreds of plants and animals in a lovely setting just outside of town.