I will say, this is a comparison I never thought to see!
That being said, I know a number of people who attended IU, all of whom loved it. (One even moved back recently, they loved it so much.) At IU (and probably at any big state flagship), there are so many opportunities on-campus that you will rarely need to step off-campus if you don’t want to. Touring Broadway productions will usually make a stop at the IU auditorium and with the world-famous Jacobs School of Music, there are famous visiting musicians plus over a thousand musical performances a year.
If you’re looking for food, Bloomington is one of the few places in the country that has more than one Tibetan restaurant (the Dalai Lama’s brother lives in the area and there is a Buddhist center where folks like Richard Gere have visited). It also has Afghani, Thai, Moroccan, Ethiopian, and other international cuisines on offer. There’s lots of opportunities for bike riders (beyond the Little 500) and there’s lots of outdoors activities for those who want them, from Brown County State Park and Lakes Lemon & Monroe.
Basically, I wouldn’t eliminate IU due to a fear of running out of things to do.
That being said, IU and NYU are very different from one another.
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How important are class sizes to you? If you’re in the Honors College at IU, your classes will be significantly smaller than the regular classes at NYU.
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Even more fundamentally, what do you want your college experience to be like? If you’re looking for the “stereotypical” college experience of a residential campus, then IU would be a much better choice than NYU. But if you’re trying to throw yourself onto a professional track ASAP and wanting to do internships with corporate America during the school year, then NYU would be a much better option.