Flying to South Bend, Indiana
South Bend International Airport (SBN) sits 4 miles west of downtown and 6 miles from the University of Notre Dame, serving northern Indiana and the Michiana region. FareOptic compares Delta, American, United, and Allegiant for the cheapest fare into SBN.
Flights to South Bend International Airport (SBN)
*All above fares are one way/round trip. Fares incl. all fuel surcharges, taxes & fees and our service fees. Displayed fares are subject to change and cannot be guaranteed at the time of booking. See all booking terms and conditions.
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Why Visit South Bend?
A gold-domed campus that draws visitors from around the world, the complete record of a carriage maker that became a car company and then vanished, and a working Amish agricultural community half an hour east
The University of Notre Dame -- the Golden Dome, the Basilica of the Sacred Heart, 'Touchdown Jesus,' and a 1,261-Acre Campus That Is the Single Reason Most Visitors Come to South Bend
A 23-Karat Gold-Leafed Dome Topped by a 19-Foot Statue of the Virgin Mary, a Basilica With 116 Stained-Glass Windows Made in Le Mans France, the Grotto Modeled on Lourdes Where Candles Burn Around the Clock, and a 132-Foot Library Mural of Christ Visible Over the North End Zone of the StadiumThe University of Notre Dame (Notre Dame, Indiana — immediately north of South Bend; founded November 26, 1842 by Father Edward Sorin, a 28-year-old priest of the Congregation of Holy Cross who arrived from France with six brothers and 300 dollars; 1,261-acre campus; approximately 13,000 students; free and open to visitors, with campus parking and a visitor center at the Eck Center) is one of the most-visited university campuses in the United States and the economic and cultural anchor of the entire South Bend region. The campus landmarks: (1) the Main Building and Golden Dome (the 1879 building, constructed after fire destroyed the original in a single afternoon; Sorin's response — that the fire happened because he had not built ambitiously enough, and that the replacement would be larger — is the university's founding legend; the dome is covered in 23-karat gold leaf, regilded roughly every 20 years, and topped by a 19-foot statue of the Virgin Mary, for whom the university is named); (2) the Basilica of the Sacred Heart (adjacent to the Main Building; completed 1888; 116 stained-glass windows made by the Carmelite sisters of Le Mans, France and shipped to Indiana; a 218-foot spire; the largest collection of Luigi Gregori murals outside Italy; open to visitors daily when services are not in progress); (3) the Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes (a one-seventh-scale replica of the French grotto at Lourdes, built 1896 of local fieldstone; candles burn there continuously, and it is the most emotionally significant site on campus for many alumni); (4) the Hesburgh Library and 'Word of Life' mural (the 1963 library's south face carries a 132-foot-tall mosaic mural of Christ the Teacher with arms raised, composed of 6,700 individual granite pieces in 171 colors from 16 countries; because it faces the open north end of Notre Dame Stadium and the raised arms resemble a referee signaling a score, it has been universally known as 'Touchdown Jesus' since the stadium was expanded); and (5) Notre Dame Stadium (built 1930 to Knute Rockne's specifications, expanded from 59,000 to 80,795 seats in 1997 and renovated again in 2017; the field is natural grass; the stadium sells out essentially every home game).
Notre Dame Football -- 11 Consensus National Championships, Seven Heisman Winners, the Only School With Its Own National Television Contract, and Why Home Game Weekends Reprice Every Hotel Room Within 60 Miles
Notre Dame football is the most historically decorated program in college football and one of the most commercially unusual: Notre Dame competes as an independent in football rather than joining a conference (while its other sports play in the ACC), and it holds an exclusive network television contract with NBC that has run continuously since 1991 — the only school in the country with such an arrangement. The program's record includes 11 consensus national championships and seven Heisman Trophy winners (Angelo Bertelli 1943, Johnny Lujack 1947, Leon Hart 1949, Johnny Lattner 1953, Paul Hornung 1956, John Huarte 1964, and Tim Brown 1987). Its cultural weight comes substantially from Knute Rockne, head coach from 1918 to 1930, who compiled a .881 winning percentage — still the highest in major college football history — popularized the forward pass, and died in a 1931 plane crash in Kansas at 43, an event that produced a level of national mourning normally reserved for statesmen. The 1940 film 'Knute Rockne, All American,' in which Ronald Reagan played the dying halfback George Gipp and delivered the 'win one for the Gipper' line, made the program a permanent fixture of American popular culture. The practical consequence for travelers: on the seven or eight home football Saturdays each fall, South Bend's population effectively doubles. Hotel rates within 60 miles multiply by three to five times, minimum-night stays are imposed, rental cars vanish, and SBN airfares rise sharply. Home game weekends are published a year or more in advance on the university's athletics site — check them before booking any South Bend trip, whether you care about football or not.
The Studebaker National Museum and South Bend's Industrial History -- 114 Years of Vehicle Manufacturing, the Carriage That Carried Lincoln to Ford's Theatre, and the 1963 Plant Closure That Broke the City
Three Floors and 100,000 Square Feet Holding the Definitive Studebaker Collection Plus Presidential Carriages Including the One Abraham Lincoln Rode to Ford's Theatre on the Night He Was Shot, Adjacent to the Oliver Mansion and the History Museum in a Single Downtown CampusThe Studebaker National Museum (201 South Chapin Street, downtown South Bend; approximately 100,000 square feet across three levels; admission approximately $12-15 adult, combination ticket available with the adjacent History Museum and Oliver Mansion; open daily) holds the complete institutional collection of the Studebaker Corporation, which manufactured vehicles in South Bend from 1852 to 1963 — a 111-year run that makes it one of the longest continuously operating vehicle manufacturers in American history and the only one to successfully transition from horse-drawn wagons to automobiles. The company's arc: five Studebaker brothers, sons of a German-immigrant blacksmith, began building wagons in South Bend in 1852; by the 1870s Studebaker was the largest wagon and carriage manufacturer in the world, supplying the US Army, Western settlers, and civilian buyers; the company built its first electric car in 1902 and its first gasoline automobile in 1904, and unlike essentially every other carriage maker, it made the transition. The museum's holdings: (1) the presidential carriages (the collection includes the barouche that carried Abraham Lincoln to Ford's Theatre on April 14, 1865, plus carriages used by Ulysses S. Grant, Benjamin Harrison, and William McKinley — the single most significant grouping of presidential carriages anywhere); (2) the Studebaker automobile collection (roughly 70-80 vehicles on display spanning the full production history, including the 1950 'bullet nose' Champion, the 1953 Starliner coupe designed under Raymond Loewy, the 1963 Avanti — a fiberglass-bodied high-performance coupe whose design still looks modern six decades later — and one-off concept and prototype vehicles); (3) the wagon and carriage collection; and (4) the corporate archive (Studebaker's complete records, production ledgers, and design drawings, available to researchers). The adjacent Oliver Mansion / Copshaholm (808 West Washington Street — a 38-room 1896 Romanesque Queen Anne mansion built by James Oliver, whose chilled-steel plow business was South Bend's other industrial giant, with original furnishings intact and 2.5 acres of formal gardens) completes the downtown museum campus.
December 9, 1963 -- the Day Studebaker Closed and What Happened to South Bend Afterward
On December 9, 1963, Studebaker announced it was ending automobile production in South Bend, effective immediately. Approximately 7,000 people lost their jobs in a city of roughly 130,000 — and the loss cascaded through the supplier network, the retail economy, and the tax base. Production shifted briefly to the company's Hamilton, Ontario plant before ending entirely in March 1966. The causes were structural rather than sudden: Studebaker was an independent competing against General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler, whose vastly larger production volumes let them amortize tooling costs across millions of units; Studebaker's South Bend plant was old, multi-story, and inefficient compared with the single-level assembly plants the Big Three were building; its 1954 merger with Packard failed to produce the scale it needed; and its labor costs per vehicle were among the industry's highest. South Bend's population fell from roughly 132,000 in 1960 to about 100,000 by 1990, and the city spent decades working through the consequences — vacant industrial land, a hollowed-out tax base, and the specific problem of the Studebaker plant itself, an enormous derelict complex south of downtown. The recovery has been partial and slow: Notre Dame's growth as an employer and economic engine, the University of Notre Dame and Indiana University South Bend research presence, healthcare, and more recently the conversion of the old Studebaker assembly buildings into 'Renaissance District' data-center and office space have all contributed. South Bend's population has stabilized and modestly grown since 2010. The city's experience is frequently cited in urban-economics literature as a case study in single-industry dependence, alongside Flint, Youngstown, and Gary.
Northern Indiana Amish Country -- the Third-Largest Amish Settlement in the World, 30 Miles East of South Bend Around Shipshewana and Middlebury, With the Country's Second-Largest Flea Market and a Working Draft-Horse Agricultural Economy
Roughly 25,000 Amish and Mennonite People Across Elkhart and LaGrange Counties, the Heritage Trail Driving Loop Through Working Farms Where Buggies Share the Road With Cars, Shipshewana's 900-Vendor Tuesday-Wednesday Flea Market, and Family-Style Restaurants Serving Meals Passed Around the TableThe Elkhart-LaGrange Amish settlement (centered on Shipshewana, Middlebury, Topeka, and Nappanee, roughly 25-45 miles east and southeast of South Bend; approximately 25,000 Amish residents; the third-largest Amish settlement in the world after Holmes County, Ohio and Lancaster County, Pennsylvania) is a working agricultural community, not a recreated historical village — the farms are active, the buggies on the county roads are transportation, and the businesses are owned and operated by Amish families. Understanding the community: the Amish are Anabaptist Christians descended from a 1693 Swiss-German schism led by Jakob Ammann; they practice adult baptism, nonresistance, and separation from the broader society, and their distinctive limits on technology follow from a principle called Ordnung — an unwritten community agreement about which practices strengthen family and church life and which erode them. The rules are not uniform: different church districts reach different conclusions, which is why you will see some Amish businesses using pneumatic and hydraulic tools, diesel generators, and telephones in shared outbuildings, while others do not. What to see: (1) the Heritage Trail (a signed 90-mile self-guided driving loop through Elkhart, Middlebury, Shipshewana, Goshen, Nappanee, and Bristol, with a free audio tour available from the Elkhart County visitor bureau); (2) the Shipshewana Flea Market (roughly 900 outdoor vendor booths operating Tuesdays and Wednesdays from May through September — the largest flea market in the Midwest and among the largest in the country — plus the adjacent Shipshewana Auction, a live antique and livestock auction that has run since 1922); (3) Menno-Hof (510 South Van Buren Street, Shipshewana — an interpretive center built by the Amish and Mennonite communities themselves to explain Anabaptist history and belief, housed in a barn raised by volunteer Amish labor; admission by donation); (4) family-style restaurants (Das Dutchman Essenhaus in Middlebury, the Blue Gate in Shipshewana — meals served in shared bowls passed around the table, with fried chicken, roast beef, noodles, and pie); and (5) the working shops (furniture makers, quilt shops, cheese producers, bulk food stores, and harness makers on the county roads between towns).
Visiting Respectfully -- the Photography Rule, Sunday Closures, and Sharing the Road With Horse-Drawn Buggies
A few specific things matter when visiting an Amish community, and most visitor friction comes from not knowing them. Photography: most Amish decline to be photographed, and the reason is theological rather than superstitious — it derives from the Second Commandment's prohibition on graven images and from a broader concern with Hochmut (pride) and its opposite, Demut (humility). Posing for a portrait is understood as inviting personal vanity. Photographing buildings, landscapes, buggies from a distance, and animals is generally fine; photographing people's faces is not, and asking first is the minimum courtesy. Sunday: nearly all Amish businesses close on Sunday, which is the church day (services rotate among members' homes rather than being held in a church building, running roughly three hours in Pennsylvania German). Many non-Amish businesses in these towns close as well. If you plan a Sunday visit, expect Shipshewana to be almost entirely shut. Road safety: buggies travel at roughly 5-8 miles per hour on roads posted at 55, they have limited lighting, and hills and curves in Elkhart and LaGrange counties can hide them until you are close. Slow well in advance, pass wide and only with clear sight lines, and do not sound the horn — it can startle the horse. Buggy-vehicle collisions are a genuine and recurring cause of serious injury in these counties. Commerce: many Amish businesses are cash-only, and roadside stands frequently operate on the honor system with a cash box and no attendant. Bring small bills.
Downtown South Bend, the East Race Waterway, and the St. Joseph River -- a Riverfront Downtown With the First Artificial Whitewater Course Built in North America, a Restored 1920s Movie Palace, and the Portage That Gave the City Its Name
A 1,900-Foot Man-Made Whitewater Rafting and Kayaking Channel Running Through Downtown, the 1922 Morris Performing Arts Center Restored to Its Full Movie-Palace Interior, the Century Center Riverfront Complex, and the River Bend Where La Salle Crossed in 1679South Bend takes its name from a geographic fact: the city sits at the southernmost bend of the St. Joseph River, the point where the river's course turns north toward Lake Michigan. That bend was the eastern end of the Kankakee Portage — a short overland carry between the St. Joseph and Kankakee rivers that connected the Great Lakes watershed to the Mississippi watershed, and therefore linked the entire Canadian fur trade to the Gulf of Mexico. Potawatomi and Miami peoples used it for generations; René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle crossed it in December 1679 during his expedition to the Mississippi and again in 1681, when he negotiated a peace treaty with local tribes under an oak on the riverbank. The portage is why a city exists here at all. The modern riverfront: (1) the East Race Waterway (a 1,900-foot artificial whitewater channel built in 1984 in a restored 19th-century industrial millrace — the first man-made whitewater course in North America; it operates summer weekends for rafting and kayaking, with rentals and guided runs available, and is used for competitive slalom training; approximately $6-10 per rafting session); (2) Seitz Park and the riverwalk (pedestrian paths, the Century Center convention complex designed by Philip Johnson and John Burgee in 1977, and the downtown river crossings); (3) the Morris Performing Arts Center (211 North Michigan Street — a 1922 movie palace and vaudeville house, restored in 2000 to its original Spanish Renaissance interior with the chandeliers, gilt plasterwork, and grand staircase intact; it seats roughly 2,500 and hosts touring Broadway productions, the South Bend Symphony, and concerts); (4) Four Winds Field (the downtown ballpark, home of the South Bend Cubs, a Chicago Cubs High-A affiliate — a well-regarded minor league park within walking distance of downtown hotels; season runs April through September); and (5) the Potawatomi Zoo (500 South Greenlawn Avenue — Indiana's oldest zoo, founded 1902, roughly 23 acres).
Pete Buttigieg, the 'Smart Sewers,' and South Bend's Turn as a National Case Study in Post-Industrial Recovery
South Bend received sustained national attention beginning in 2019 when its then-mayor, Pete Buttigieg, ran for the Democratic presidential nomination and subsequently became US Secretary of Transportation. Buttigieg was elected mayor in 2011 at 29, making him the youngest mayor of a US city over 100,000 at the time. The coverage brought scrutiny to the city's actual record, which is more mixed and more interesting than either the campaign narrative or its critics suggested. The signature initiatives: (1) the '1,000 houses in 1,000 days' program (a 2013-2016 effort to demolish or repair 1,000 vacant and abandoned houses, a legacy of the post-Studebaker population loss — the target was met, though the balance between demolition and rehabilitation, and the effect on low-income homeowners, remains contested locally); (2) the 'smart sewer' system (South Bend's combined sewer system, like those of many older industrial cities, overflowed raw sewage into the St. Joseph River during heavy rain; rather than build enormously expensive new storage tunnels, the city installed a network of sensors and automated valves that dynamically route flow into unused capacity elsewhere in the system; the system cut overflow volume by roughly 70-80% at a fraction of the projected capital cost and has been studied and adopted by other cities); and (3) downtown reinvestment (the 'Smart Streets' project converted several one-way downtown thoroughfares back to two-way traffic with narrower lanes, bike lanes, and street trees — a standard urbanist intervention intended to slow traffic and support street-level retail). South Bend's population, which fell by roughly a quarter between 1960 and 1990, has grown modestly since 2010 — the first sustained increase in five decades.
How to Find Cheap Flights to South Bend IN
Check the Notre Dame Home Football Schedule Before You Book Anything
On the seven or eight Notre Dame home football Saturdays each fall, hotel rates within 60 miles of South Bend triple or more, minimum-night stays are imposed, rental cars sell out, and SBN airfares spike. The schedule is published a year or more in advance on Notre Dame's athletics site. Check it before booking any South Bend trip in September, October, or November — whether or not football is why you are coming.
Chicago O'Hare and Midway Are 90 Miles West -- and the South Shore Train Connects Them
O'Hare (ORD) and Midway (MDW) are about 90 miles west of South Bend and almost always cheaper with far more schedule choice. The South Shore Line commuter railroad runs directly from South Bend International Airport to downtown Chicago (roughly 2.5 hours), so you can fly into Chicago and reach South Bend without a car — though you will want one for Amish Country. Compare SBN against ORD plus ground transport before booking.
Allegiant's SBN Nonstops Are the Cheapest Way South -- Price the All-In Total
Allegiant flies nonstop from South Bend to Orlando Sanford, Punta Gorda, St. Pete-Clearwater, Fort Lauderdale, Las Vegas, and Phoenix-Mesa, and for northern Indiana travelers heading to the Sunbelt these fares are usually unbeatable. But the base fare excludes carry-ons, checked bags, and seat selection, flights operate only two to four days a week, and the destinations are secondary airports. Add the fees before comparing against a legacy carrier.
Notre Dame Graduation, Move-In, and Junior Parents Weekend Also Fill the City
Beyond football, Notre Dame's academic calendar creates its own demand spikes: commencement (mid-May), first-year move-in (mid-to-late August), and Junior Parents Weekend (February) each fill hotels across the region. Add Elkhart's RV industry trade shows, which draw dealers nationally. For the lowest fares and easiest lodging, target midweek travel in spring or early summer outside these windows.
Airlines Flying to South Bend (SBN)
Delta Air Lines
ATL, DTW, and MSP Hub Connections to SBN -- Delta's Southeast, Great Lakes, and Upper Midwest Network Into Notre Dame's AirportDelta Air Lines serves South Bend International Airport (SBN) through Atlanta (ATL), Detroit (DTW), and Minneapolis-Saint Paul (MSP). DTW-SBN is the shortest and most frequent of these — barely an hour in the air — and functions as the practical connector for the East Coast and Delta's transatlantic bank at Detroit. ATL-SBN opens the Southeast and Delta's global network. Delta's SBN flights are operated by Delta Connection regional partners on CRJ-200, CRJ-700, and E175 equipment. For Notre Dame football weekends, Delta typically adds capacity on the Detroit and Atlanta routes, but fares still climb sharply.
Key Routes
ATL to SBN (2h nonstop; DTW to SBN (1h 5m nonstop; MSP to SBN (1h 45m nonstop; JFK to SBN (via DTW or ATL; BOS to SBN (via DTW or ATL; MCO to SBN (via ATL; LAX to SBN (via ATL, DTW, or MSP; Amsterdam to SBN (via DTW
American Airlines
CLT, DFW, ORD, and PHL Hub Connections to SBN -- American's East Coast, Texas, and Midwest Network to South BendAmerican Airlines connects South Bend (SBN) through Charlotte (CLT), Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW), Chicago O'Hare (ORD), and Philadelphia (PHL) at various points in its schedule. CLT-SBN is the workhorse for the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic — a large share of Notre Dame's East Coast alumni and parent traffic routes through Charlotte. DFW-SBN reaches Texas and the Southwest, and ORD-SBN is a short hop that mostly exists to feed O'Hare's international departures. American's SBN service is flown by regional affiliates including Envoy Air, PSA, and SkyWest on CRJ and E175 aircraft.
Key Routes
CLT to SBN (1h 50m nonstop; DFW to SBN (2h 20m nonstop; ORD to SBN (45m nonstop; PHL to SBN (1h 45m; LGA to SBN (via CLT or PHL; MIA to SBN (via CLT or DFW; LAX to SBN (via DFW or ORD; PHX to SBN (via DFW or CLT
United Airlines
ORD, DEN, and EWR Hub Connections to SBN -- United's Chicago, Rocky Mountain, and New York Access to Northern IndianaUnited Airlines serves South Bend (SBN) from Chicago O'Hare (ORD), Denver (DEN), and Newark (EWR). The ORD-SBN flight is under an hour and exists almost entirely as a connection feeder into O'Hare's domestic and international banks — for point-to-point Chicago travel, the 90-mile drive around Lake Michigan or the South Shore Line commuter train is usually faster than flying. DEN-SBN is a genuine nonstop that gives the Mountain West and the West Coast a single-stop path to Notre Dame. United Express operates SBN service on CRJ-200, CRJ-550, and E175 regional jets.
Key Routes
ORD to SBN (45m nonstop; DEN to SBN (2h 15m nonstop; EWR to SBN (1h 50m; SFO to SBN (via ORD or DEN; LAX to SBN (via ORD or DEN; IAH to SBN (via ORD or DEN; London Heathrow to SBN (via ORD or EWR
Allegiant Air
Nonstop Leisure Routes From SBN to Florida, Las Vegas, and Phoenix -- the Ultra-Low-Cost Option That Gives South Bend Direct Sunbelt AccessAllegiant Air operates nonstop leisure service from South Bend (SBN) to warm-weather destinations including Orlando Sanford (SFB), Punta Gorda (PGD), St. Pete-Clearwater (PIE), Fort Lauderdale (FLL), Las Vegas (LAS), and Phoenix-Mesa (AZA), depending on the season. These are the only nonstop routes from SBN that are not hub feeders, and for northern Indiana residents heading south in winter they are usually by a wide margin the cheapest option. The tradeoffs are the standard ultra-low-cost ones: base fares exclude carry-on bags, checked bags, and seat selection; flights typically operate two to four days a week rather than daily; and Allegiant serves secondary airports (Sanford rather than Orlando International, Mesa rather than Phoenix Sky Harbor). Price the all-in total, not the headline fare.
Key Routes
SFB (Orlando Sanford) nonstop; PGD (Punta Gorda) nonstop; PIE (St. Pete-Clearwater) nonstop; FLL (Fort Lauderdale) nonstop; LAS (Las Vegas) nonstop; AZA (Phoenix-Mesa) nonstop; routes and frequencies are seasonal -- check Allegiant.com for the current SBN schedule
Things to Do in South Bend and Michiana
Essential Info for Your South Bend Trip
State / Region
South Bend, Indiana. St. Joseph County seat. Population ~103,000 city, ~325,000 metro. The 'Michiana' region on the Indiana-Michigan line. 90 miles east of Chicago, 140 miles north of Indianapolis.
Airport
SBN -- South Bend International Airport, 4 miles west of downtown, 6 miles from Notre Dame. Delta (ATL, DTW, MSP), American (CLT, DFW, ORD, PHL), United (ORD, DEN, EWR), Allegiant (seasonal Sunbelt nonstops). South Shore Line train runs from the airport to downtown Chicago.
Currency
USD -- US Dollar
Time Zone
EST (UTC-5) / EDT (UTC-4) in summer -- Eastern Time, same as New York. Note that most of Indiana is Eastern while neighboring Chicago is Central, so South Bend is an hour ahead of Chicago.
Notre Dame Visiting
Campus is free and open to the public. Basilica of the Sacred Heart open when services are not in progress; the Grotto is always accessible. Eck Visitors Center has parking and information. Guided campus and stadium tours available on non-game days. Access is restricted on home football Saturdays.
Football Weekends
7-8 home Saturdays each fall. Hotel rates within 60 miles triple or more, minimum-night stays apply, rental cars sell out, SBN airfares spike. Schedule published a year+ ahead at und.com. Check it before booking any Sept-Nov trip.
Amish Country
Elkhart-LaGrange settlement, ~25,000 Amish, begins 25 miles east; Shipshewana and Middlebury are 30-45 miles. Signed 90-mile Heritage Trail loop. Flea market Tue-Wed, May-Sept. Nearly everything closed Sunday. Many businesses cash-only. Slow well in advance for buggies and do not photograph faces.
Emergency Number
911
Most Popular Airlines
Best Airlines for Domestic & International Routes
Frequently Asked Questions on Flights to South Bend IN
Airport info, Notre Dame football weekend pricing, campus visiting, and Amish Country travel
What airport serves South Bend and Notre Dame?
South Bend International Airport (IATA: SBN) is about 4 miles west of downtown South Bend and roughly 6 miles from the Notre Dame campus. Airlines include Delta (ATL, DTW, MSP), American (CLT, DFW, ORD, PHL), United (ORD, DEN, EWR), and Allegiant (seasonal nonstops to Florida, Las Vegas, and Phoenix-Mesa). Chicago O'Hare is 90 miles west and usually cheaper, and the South Shore Line commuter train runs from SBN directly to downtown Chicago.
How do Notre Dame football weekends affect flight and hotel prices?
Dramatically. On the seven or eight home football Saturdays each fall, hotel rates within 60 miles of South Bend commonly triple or more, minimum-night stays are imposed, rental cars sell out, and SBN airfares rise sharply. The home schedule is published a year or more in advance on Notre Dame's athletics website. Check it before booking any autumn trip to South Bend, even if you are not going for the game.
Can I visit the Notre Dame campus as a tourist?
Yes. The campus is open to the public and free to walk. The Basilica of the Sacred Heart is open to visitors when services are not in progress, the Grotto is always accessible, and the Hesburgh Library's 'Touchdown Jesus' mural is visible from outside. Visitor parking and information are available at the Eck Visitors Center. Guided campus tours are offered, and stadium tours run on non-game days. Access is more restricted on home football Saturdays.
How far is Amish Country from South Bend?
The Elkhart-LaGrange Amish settlement — the third-largest in the world, with about 25,000 Amish residents — begins roughly 25 miles east of South Bend and centers on Shipshewana, Middlebury, Topeka, and Nappanee, 30 to 45 miles out. The signed Heritage Trail is a 90-mile self-guided driving loop through the area. You need a car. Note that nearly everything closes on Sunday, the Shipshewana Flea Market runs Tuesdays and Wednesdays May through September, and many businesses are cash-only.
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