Things to Do in Indianapolis Zoo

Dolphin Presentation

Stadium seats face a two-story window where Atlantic bottlenose dolphins increase in silver arcs, slapping the surface so hard the thump hits your chest. Trainers trade hand signals for tail-walks and back-flips; when music swells the animals launch into a synchronized leap that showers the first three rows with saltwater mist.

Orangutan Center

The zoo's eight-story atrium lifts you eye-to-eye with red apes swaying on rope bridges overhead. Youngsters wrestle in straw while an elder male may peel an orange above you. Citrus scent drifts down with shed hair. Glass floor panels on the upper level reveal them napping in hammocks thirty feet below.

Skyline Safari Gondola

A silent cable car lifts you over giraffe heads and zebra stripes, the skyline tilting beyond treetops. You hear the cable clack and an occasional grunt from the rhino yard as you glide. The breeze carries sweet alfalfa from bales stacked near the barn.

Shark Touch Pool

Kneel at the cool rim and epaulette sharks glide under your flattened palm. Their skin feels like fine-grade sandpaper flexing over muscle. Staff hold the water at 75 °F so the pool steams on cool mornings, mixing salt tang with kids daring each other to touch the "scary" one.

Bicentennial Pavilion Penguin Feed

King penguins waddle onto a stainless-steel scale while a keeper rattles a bucket of capelin. The fishy aroma hangs in the chilled 45 °F air. Their trumpeting calls echo off faux-glacier walls and orange bellies flash against teal water when they dive for the next tossed fish.

Downtown Mile Square sits fifteen minutes away on foot. Hotels overlook the State House dome.

Fountain Square offers artsy factory lofts. Rates run cheaper than downtown.

Canal District lines boutique properties along the water taxi route. You can kayak to the zoo.

Mass Ave stacks indie theaters above cafés. Weekend musicians drift inside open windows.

Speedway packs motorsport-themed inns. Drive fifteen minutes and pay half price off-season.

Broad Ripple hides bungalow guesthouses near the Monon Trail. Bike south straight to the park gate.