South Bend

Understand

With a population just over 100,000 (2020), South Bend is often thought of as a "small town", perhaps increasingly so since former South Bend mayor Pete Buttigieg (known as "Mayor Pete" due to the difficulty of spelling last name) liked to tout his experience of being a "Small Town Mayor in a Red State" during the Presidential Primaries in the 2020 campaign cycle which propelled him to national fame and the post of Secretary of Transportation of the U.S.A.

Tourist information Explore South Bend

Getting there

By car I-80/90 (toll road) Connects to Toledo, Ohio in the east and Chicago, to the west. US 31/S.R. 933 Connects to Indianapolis in the south and runs through downtown South Bend and then 3 miles north to the Michigan line, where it becomes M-51 North. US 20 The bypass around the city which connects to SR 2 (west to Michigan City), US 12 in Michigan (to Sturgis and Detroit to the East and Michigan City and Chicago to the west), SR 23 (a main artery through the city and through St. Joseph County), the I-80/90 toll road, and all other major roads from Elkhart to South Bend and into Michigan. S.R. 2 State Road 2 runs directly through downtown on Western Avenue and connects to Michigan City in the west (see above). S.R. 23 State Road 23 runs diagonally northeast-southwest through South Bend from the Kankakee area and turns into M-60 in Michigan (see above).

By plane 1 South Bend International Airport (SBN IATA) (is a few miles west of the city center of South Bend, in the very northern part of the State of Indiana and close to the border of Michigan. It is within a 35 mi (56 km) drive west to the shores of Lake Michigan. The airport has easy access to Interstate 80/90 and US 20/31). Serving as a multi-modal transportation complex for the region, SBN is the only non-hub airport in the United States featuring air, interstate rail, and interstate bus services at one multi-modal terminal location. SBN's four air carriers (Allegiant, American, Delta and United) provide non-stop flights from 9 cities: Atlanta, Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas/Fort Worth, Detroit, Las Vegas, Minneapolis, Orlando/Sanford, Phoenix-Mesa, Punta Gorda, and Tampa Bay/St. Petersburg.Bus route 4 connects the airport with downtown South Bend. (updated Jul 2023) Other local airports include:

2 Elkhart Municipal Airport (EKI IATA), 2246 Airport Dr., Elkhart, ☏ +1 574 264-5217. 3 Jerry Tyler Memorial Airport (NLE IATA), 508 E Main St., Niles, MI.

By train

Long distance trains and commuter trains

Getting around

By public transportation Transpo, ☏ +1 574-234-1188. The local bus system that serves South Bend and most of Mishawaka. A service called the "Transpo Trolley" makes stops at all of the tourist attractions. Rides are $.75 each way and $.25 for a transfer. (updated Apr 2019)

By taxi Yellow Cab +1 574 233-9333.

By car Driving around yourself is the best way to navigate the city. St. Joseph County's road naming system makes it easy to find your way around. If you get lost or lose your bearings, remember that the main county roads running east-west are named after presidents and other famous figures (but mostly presidents) and begin, alphabetically, with Adams Rd. in the north near Michigan and end with Taylor in the south, near Marshall County. North-south roads are named for trees, beginning with Ash (called West County Line Rd. on the Elkhart County side of the road) in Eastern St. Joseph County and ending with Redwood in the West. There are exceptions to this rule, however, such as Washington St. downtown, and Mishawaka has numbered streets. Also, Lincoln Way is renamed LaSalle Ave. in downtown South Bend between Ironwood Dr. and Lafayette Blvd.

By bike There are no bike shops that rent bicycles in South Bend, but the city is now home to a fleet of LimeBikes which can be rented by downloading the app. Riders can rent an available bike at a low price, (usually $1 per ride + $0.05 per minute), and don’t need to return it to a designated bike rack like other bike-share programs. Instead, they engage the locking mechanism on the rear wheel and the bike’s GPS system tracks the amount of time and distance they’ve traveled, charging them through an application on their phone.

See

Outdoors & landmarks 1 Century Center, 120 S Saint Joseph St (along the St. Joe river downtown), ☏ +1 574 235-9151. This convention center includes an art museum, several large banquet areas, an auditorium and theatre, an historic riverfront area and large patio over the former dam that ran South Bend's electrical supply, a skyway to the Doubletree Hotel over US 31, and a large lobby with high ceilings and windows that look out toward the river and the east side of town. 2 Indiana University South Bend, ☏ +1 574 520-IUSB (4872). The third-largest of the eight IU campuses, IU South Bend has grown substantially and is worth seeing. North/South Continental Divide. Sure, it's not that exciting, but just driving down the US 20 bypass you can see a sign that alerts you to this fact. And it's true, South Bend lies on the North/South Continental Divide, which is why the St. Joseph River flows north into Lake Michigan while the White River in Indianapolis flows south. (updated Apr 2019) 3 Saint Joseph River. Though still somewhat polluted, the riverfront along South Bend is an interesting walk through the former dam system that used to power the city's electrical supply. This walk leads (or starts from) the Century Center, which is South Bend's convention center. The Mishawaka riverfront has also come a long way near its downtown. County parks along the river are popular destinations for fisherman, boaters, and nature-viewers. (updated Apr 2019) 4 Saint Mary's College, ☏ +1 574 284-4000. Located across from the University of Notre Dame. (updated Dec 2019) Shiojiri Niwa. A Japanese strolling garden that symbolizes the Sister-City relationship between Mishawaka, Indiana and Shiojiri, Japan. It contains more than twenty different varieties of large plant material, over two hundred large boulders, donated statue and a teahouse pavilion. This is also a very popular summer wedding area. (updated Apr 2019) 5 University of Notre Dame, ☏ +1 574-631-5000. See the legendary campu

Do

Arts 1 Morris Performing Arts Center, 211 N Michigan St, ☏ +1 574 235-9190. This beautiful downtown concert venue is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. South Bend Symphony Orchestra. The South Bend Symphony is a professional orchestra performing 15 concerts each year. The SBSO features world-famous soloists . You can regularly see them perform at the Morris Performing Arts Center, the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center on the Campus of Notre Dame, and the Moreau Center at Saint Mary's College.

Sports IU South Bend Titans, ☏ +1 574 520-4872. This team plays other schools from the Chicagoland and Calumet Region. Notre Dame Fighting Irish, ☏ +1 574 631-7356. Don't go to South Bend without seeing the Fighting Irish take on any number of conference teams