Indiana

Indiana runs from 15 miles of Lake Michigan shore, protected as Indiana Dunes National Park, down to Abraham Lincoln's boyhood farm in the south-west. The Dunes, about 48 road miles from downtown Chicago, had 2,629,497 recreation visits in 2025. Indianapolis holds the next Indianapolis 500 on 30 May 2027.

Twelve of Indiana's counties keep Central Time and the rest Eastern, so a day across the state can move the clock an hour. We checked the figures below on 27 October 2026 on the pages of the National Park Service, Indianapolis International Airport, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the federal time-zone rules, the Streamlined Sales Tax rate file and NOAA's normals.

What do Indiana's three National Park Service sites charge?

Indiana's three National Park Service sites charge little: Indiana Dunes National Park asks $25 a car for seven days, and Lincoln Boyhood and George Rogers Clark are free. None of them is on the 2026 list of parks with a $100 surcharge for visitors from abroad.

Indiana Dunes has no entrance stations at its beach car parks. Visitors pay at the Indiana Dunes Visitor Center, which takes cash or cards, or by card only at the Paul H. Douglas Center and West Beach's seasonal kiosk.

Recreation.gov sells the pass online. Driving through the park on its roads needs no ticket, but stopping for a beach, a trail or a picnic shelter does. Since 14 October 2026 the trails from the Paul H. Douglas Center at Miller Woods are free.

Two adults from abroad therefore pay $25 by car for all three sites, or $30 arriving on foot from the train. The $250 America the Beautiful pass for non-residents does not pay off in Indiana. The park lists 27 October, Theodore Roosevelt's birthday, among its fee-free days, which since 2026 apply to US residents only. Our guide to national park fees for international visitors explains where the pass does pay off.

George Rogers Clark counted about a third fewer visits in 2025 than in 2024, and no Park Service page we read explains the drop.

Does a national park pass work at Indiana Dunes State Park?

A national park pass does not work at Indiana Dunes State Park, which belongs to the State of Indiana and charges its own fee. The Park Service puts it plainly: none of the passes and fees work between the two parks. An Indiana State Parks pass is not accepted at the national park either.

The state park's entrance is a mile's walk from the Dune Park station, by the Park Service's figure. We could not read its fee. The Indiana government's website, in.gov, did not answer on 27 October 2026, so this page gives no figure for Indiana Dunes State Park or for Brown County State Park.

Why is Indiana Dunes an hour behind Indianapolis?

Indiana Dunes is an hour behind Indianapolis because federal rule puts six north-western Indiana counties on Central Time, the same as Chicago. The six are Lake, Porter, LaPorte, Starke, Jasper and Newton. The national park lies in Lake, Porter and LaPorte, and the Park Service gives its hours in Central Time.

Six south-western counties are Central as well: Posey, Vanderburgh, Gibson, Warrick, Spencer and Perry. The rest of Indiana keeps Eastern Time, including Indianapolis, South Bend, Brown County and Vincennes. The boundary starts at the Michigan line and ends at the Kentucky line.

The split matters most for trains and tours. A drive from Indianapolis to the Dunes gains an hour on the clock and the return loses it, so the visitor centre's 9 a.m. opening outside summer is 10 a.m. in Indianapolis. The park's own hours are Central, so check which clock a train time or a tour booking at the Dunes uses.

In the south, Lincoln Boyhood in Spencer County is on Central Time and George Rogers Clark in Vincennes on Eastern. The 77 road miles between them therefore also cross an hour on the clock. George Rogers Clark's own alert reminds visitors that it keeps Eastern Time.

Indiana is not on the federal list of places that skip daylight saving time, so both halves change their clocks. In 2026 daylight saving time ended on 1 November at 2 a.m.

Can you take the train from Chicago to Indiana Dunes?

The South Shore Line commuter railroad from Chicago stops at four stations inside Indiana Dunes National Park: Miller, Ogden Dunes, Dune Park and Beverly Shores. Dune Park is the closest to the main sights. From it, the Dunes Kankakee Trail runs 1.33 miles to the Indiana Dunes Visitor Center, and the state park entrance is a mile away.

The walks are the park's own figures. Visitors who arrive on foot from the train pay the per-person fee, $15 for each visitor aged 16 or over.

The railroad's own site refused our requests, so its fares, journey times and timetable are not given here. The Park Service's transit page, last updated in April 2020, says only Dune Park takes bikes, on select weekend trains. Check that rule with the railroad before relying on it.

By car, the Indiana Dunes Visitor Center is about 48 miles from Chicago's Union Station by our own routing, a little over an hour without traffic. The visitor centre is one mile north of I-94 exit 26B and four miles north of exit 31 on the Indiana Toll Road (I-80/90). We could not read the Toll Road's site, so its tolls are not given here.

Which Indiana Dunes beach has lifeguards?

West Beach is the only Indiana Dunes beach with lifeguards, on duty from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. between the Friday of Memorial Day weekend and the Monday of Labor Day weekend. The national park does not close its other beaches, whatever the water conditions. The Park Service names rip currents as the most significant drowning threat in Lake Michigan, and warns that the bottom is uneven, with holes and deep drop-offs.

On 27 October 2026 the park's water safety alert warned that E. coli is likely to rise above safe swimming standards after storms. In winter the Park Service tells visitors to stay off the shelf ice.

The park's other beaches include Portage Lakefront, Porter, Kemil, Dunbar, Lake View, Central Avenue and Mount Baldy. On summer weekends the car parks at Lake View, Dunbar, Kemil, Porter and Portage can fill by mid-morning. June to August brought 47% of the park's 2025 visits, and June was the busiest month with 425,848.

West Beach's car park holds nearly 642 cars by the park's 2026 figure, and the beach has lockers and showers. Most public areas open from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m., West Beach and Porter Beach from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Kemil Beach 24 hours a day. Dunewood Campground opens from 1 April to 1 November.

Why can't you climb Mount Baldy on your own?

The Park Service keeps Mount Baldy's summit and dune face closed because the sand is unstable, its release of 15 June 2026 says; its Mount Baldy page still lists ranger-led summer hikes, so ask at the Visitor Center. The dune moves inland by 4 to 10 feet a year, by the park's two pages.

The beach below Mount Baldy stays open. A sandy trail leads to it from the 92-space car park on US 12 at 101 Rice Street, Michigan City. The walk is about a third of a mile each way. The beach erodes because of the Michigan City harbour breakwall, and the Army Corps of Engineers has fed it with sand since 1974.

When is the 2027 Indianapolis 500?

The 2027 Indianapolis 500 is on Sunday 30 May, the day before Memorial Day, at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The Speedway's month of events runs from 18 to 30 May 2027, and its 2027 tickets go on sale on 28 October 2026. We did not read ticket prices.

The same track holds the Sonsio Grand Prix on 14 and 15 May 2027, and NASCAR's Brickyard Weekend from 23 to 25 July 2027.

Is Dublin the only transatlantic flight to Indianapolis?

Dublin, on Aer Lingus, is Indianapolis International Airport's only transatlantic route, and the airport's list does not mark it as seasonal. IND has 58 nonstop destinations, which the airport calls the highest in its history. Six of them are international once Air Canada's new Montreal route starts.

Montreal will run once daily from 1 June to 30 September 2027. The other four international routes are Toronto, Cancún, Punta Cana and San José del Cabo. The airport's list marks Toronto, Punta Cana and San José del Cabo as seasonal. The list shows no route to London or Paris.

Visitors from elsewhere connect through a US hub or fly into Illinois. Chicago is about 182 road miles from Indianapolis, and the Dunes about 48 miles from Chicago's Union Station.

How long are the drives from Indianapolis to Brown County and Lincoln City?

Brown County is the short drive from Indianapolis: about 44 miles to the town of Nashville, Indiana. Lincoln City and its boyhood memorial are about 143 miles away, and an hour behind on the clock. Nashville is a few road miles from Brown County State Park.

The distances are our own routing, without traffic or the clock change. Cincinnati, covered in our Ohio guide, is reached on I-74. Lincoln Boyhood is 43 miles from Evansville by the park's own figure, and Evansville Regional Airport has connections to Chicago, Dallas, Atlanta and Detroit. The memorial's grounds open from daylight to dusk, and the park suggests at least two hours there.

RiverLink tolls three bridges between Louisville and southern Indiana electronically, with no toll booths, and bills by number plate. Its rate pages did not load, so no toll is given here.

How much lake-effect snow reaches the Indiana Dunes?

Lake-effect snow off Lake Michigan is the Dunes' winter story. On 19 January 2024, the National Weather Service reported, La Porte and Michigan City both had over two feet of snow. A 30-mile stretch of the Indiana Toll Road had to be closed. The La Porte station's 21.9 inches that day was a one-day record.

NOAA's provisional normal for the Indiana Dunes station is 40.3 inches of snow a year, against 25.5 in Indianapolis and 64.5 in South Bend. On 9 and 10 November 2025 the Weather Service reported snow falling at more than 2 inches an hour in Lake and Porter counties.

The table gives NOAA's 1991 to 2020 average highs and lows. Summers grow hotter to the south: Evansville averages 41 days a year at or above 90°F, Indianapolis 19.9 and the Dunes 10.5.

What does Indiana's 7% sales tax leave out?

Indiana's state sales tax is 7%, the rate the multistate Streamlined Sales Tax rate file has carried since 1 April 2008. The Indiana Department of Revenue's own site could not be read on 27 October 2026, so the rate here comes from that file, which lists no local rates.

We could not confirm the Marion County food-and-beverage tax on Indianapolis restaurant meals, or the innkeeper's tax on hotel rooms. No all-in hotel figure is given here for that reason. Our guide to sales tax in the USA explains why the price on the tag never includes the tax.