Start here
About 31,000 people visit campus in a typical year: prospective students and their families, parents of current students, school groups, conference guests, alumni, and people from town who come for a game or a concert. Almost all of them start at the same building, the Welcome Center in the restored 1911 rail depot at the north end of the Depot District, two blocks from Founders Hall. This guide collects the practical pages in the order most people need them.
| If you need to know… | Read |
|---|---|
| How to get here by car, coach or plane, and where to park | Directions to campus |
| Hotels, inns and B&Bs, with university rate codes | Where to stay |
| Step-free routes, interpreters, wheelchairs, quiet space | Accessible visits |
| Bringing a school bus, a scout troop or a senior center | Group visits and field trips |
| What to do with a whole weekend | A Porter Falls weekend |
| Which tour to book | Campus tour options and Ironclad Preview Days |
Plan by reason for visiting
- Prospective students. Weekday visits run Monday through Saturday at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. and last about two hours: a 30-minute admissions overview and a 75-minute student-led walk. Fridays add an information session and a financial aid overview, 1–3 p.m. Book at least a week ahead in October and April, which are the busy months.
- Families of current students. You do not need to book anything. Your student can sign you in at the residence hall front desk under the guest and visitation policy, and you can buy a guest meal at The Forge in Founders Commons with a card at the door.
- Game, concert and gallery guests. The arts season and the athletics schedules list dates, prices and venues. The Furlong Gallery is always free.
- Employers and conference guests. Business & Industry Outreach in Millwright Hall 120 arranges site visits and lab tours; conference groups work with conference services.
When you arrive
Park in Lot D, beside the Welcome Center. The first two hours are free for registered visitors, and your confirmation email carries a pass for longer appointments. The front desk has campus maps, a coat rack, an all-gender accessible restroom, guest Wi-Fi codes (see guest Wi-Fi), and two loaner wheelchairs. Tours leave from the depot platform and follow the Millrace path to Founders Hall, Founders Union and a residence hall. The route is paved, lit and step-free.
The Porter Loop shuttle stops outside the depot every 12 minutes on weekdays and is free to everyone, visitors included. Live arrival times are on the shuttle tracker.
Dates that fill the town
Porter Falls has about 1,100 hotel rooms within a 20-minute drive. On these dates nearly all of them are taken, so book early or plan a different weekend:
| Date | What is happening | Advice |
|---|---|---|
| Oct. 11–17, 2026 | Millrace Week and the Forge Bowl (Oct. 17) | Rooms sold out by August; Lake City has space |
| Oct. 24 and Nov. 14, 2026 | Ironclad Preview Days | Book two to three weeks ahead |
| Sat., Dec. 19, 2026 | December commencement, Ironclad Fieldhouse | Book by Thanksgiving |
| Sat., May 15, 2027 | Spring commencement | Room blocks open February 1 |
| Late August 2027 | Move-in weekend | Book in the spring |
Winter is long here. From December to March, check campus status before you drive. Tours still run in the cold, but they switch to an indoor route when the wind chill drops below zero.
Questions
Visitor Services is part of the Office of Admissions and staffs the Welcome Center desk. Call (715) 555–0144 or email visit@uwporterfalls.edu. For anything to do with parking permits, the parking office is in Founders Union. Poly, the site chatbot, can answer the easy questions at 2 a.m., but a person at the desk is better at deciding whether the 2 p.m. tour will run in sleet. It will.
Fictional information
UW–Porter Falls is a work of parody. The Welcome Center, its loaner wheelchairs, the visitor count and every date and phone number in this guide are invented; there is no campus to visit and no tour leaving at 2 p.m.