Grinnell College has an attractive 120-acre campus of spectacular academic facilities that include the Noyce Science Center featured in architectural journals and the Bucksbaum Center for the Arts designed by Cesar Pelli. The college also owns the 365-acre Conard Environmental Research Area (CERA), located about 14 miles from the campus and used on a regular basis for research and teaching.

The city of Grinnell, is a community rooted in agriculture, but with a long history of international commercialism and civic pride, leadership, and accomplishment. Grinnell is also rich in architectural interest. Thirteen sites in town are listed on the National Registry of Hisotric Places, including the Louis Sullivan "Jewel Box" bank building and the Walter Burley Griffin "Ricker" house. The city of Grinnell offers members of the campus a chance to enjoy the quality of life that has earned it a place among the 25 "Best Small Towns in America" in the book of that title.

Outdoor recreational activites include lakes, prairie preserves, cross country ski trails, and a new bicycle path that will connect Grinnell and Rock Creek State Park. In town, attractions include eclectic downtown shopping, coffee shops, small bed-and-breakfast inns, weekend antique auctions, restaurants, and several city parks.

From Grinnell, it is less than an hour’s drive to Des Moines and about an hour to Iowa City, a vibrant community with a renowned state university and teaching hospital. The metropolitan attractions of Minneapolis-St. Paul, St. Louis, Kansas City, and Chicago are all accessible within a four- to five-hour drive.