If you’re looking for a way to be outdoors while getting some exercise and learning about Fort Wayne, walking tours are an easy way to do all three.

Discover Fort Wayne, Indiana's Walking Tours

ARCH Heritage Trails

ARCH is a local organization that works to restore and maintain historic buildings in Fort Wayne, while also working to educate the public about these places through lectures, workshops, and tours.

ARCH has put together four self-guided Heritage Trails that highlight different places of historical significance along a planned route. They include the following:

  1. Central Downtown Trail - 19 stops
  2. Kekionga Trail - 11 stops
  3. South Central Trail - 12 stops
  4. West Central Trail - 17 stops

With these trails, you have access to maps of the routes, audio, and the text version of the step-by-step for each stop.

ARCH Tour Events

Throughout the summer and into the fall, ARCH offers home and garden tours and walking tours.

Eat, Walk, and Enjoy Tour - Fort Wayne Food Tours

Fort Wayne Food Tours really sums up the experience of this walking tour.

If you want to taste some of what downtown has to offer and enjoy a nice walk around the area, this tour is for you.

Randy Harter, a local author and historian, started this endeavor after enjoying food tours in other cities. The tour takes place March through October on Friday and Saturday afternoons, rain or shine. Along the way, you will stop at these 5 local restaurants and get to try some of their offerings:

Mr. Harter describes the experience with the following - “Fort Wayne Food Tours is a great way to get a taste of downtown through samplings that will guarantee to fill you up at five local culinary establishments, and you learn about local history, architecture with some fun facts thrown in too. Locals and tourists alike learn new things about Fort Wayne's rich heritage and exciting future ahead, not to mention where the great downtown eats are!”

This tour is 3.5 hours long, is for all ages, and has a cost of $60 per person (12 ppl max per tour). Reservations can be made on the website https://www.fortwaynefoodtours.com.

Fort Wayne Parks Walking Tours

Another great way to see Fort Wayne on foot is to enjoy a stroll through one of the parks. The Central Downtown Heritage Trail will take you to Headwater’s Park, where you can learn interesting facts about the park and see the statues of influential people from Fort Wayne’s past.

If you want to stop and smell the roses you can do that at Lakeside Rose Gardens, just a little outside of downtown. There is also Foster Park on the south side of town which has a long walking path and gardens right near the St. Mary’s River.

If you’d like to see more of the city’s three rivers, the Rivergreenway paths are a great way to enjoy Fort Wayne's riverfront. I do suggest being aware of bikers on the path if you decide to take a stroll there.

River Greenway View

Discover more walking routes by making a stop at the Fort Wayne Visitors Center. The Visitors Center Specialists on staff will be more than happy to send you in the right direction!