Louisville is bourbon filled horse-loving city on the river

Derby City Tips:

Louisville is full of bourbon and horses—if those are your interests lean into them and hop around to various distilleries and horse museums and races.
Louisville is a bit of a gritty city—I never felt unsafe but just be aware.
Add Louisville to your road trip! It’s just over an hour from Lexington and 3 hours from Nashville. Check out my Lexington guide here and my Nashville guide here.

Adventures & Ales Top Recommendations:

Atrium Brewing: A fantastic brewery specializing in Sours. They have two locations—Logan Street has food from Daryk’s with a nice patio space. Norton Commons works with Noco Delivery for eats. They’ve also got cocktails for your non-beer friends.
Stay at The Bellwether Hotel: An art-deco hotel that is set up as individual apartments in the Highlands neighborhood. They are dog-friendly with cute touches like a selfie check-in station and a great patio space.
Butchertown Brewing: A great brewery inside an old mill that is the Mellwood Art Center with a few other businesses. Their tap list is Sour and Stout heavy with some gluten free options.
Sergio’s World Beers: This beer bar has a great tap list and can/bottle selection. The prices are quite high and they are cash only. They have dive bar vibes and a small food menu.
Against the Grain: A solid brewery with two locations in town. Their downtown Public House has a nice patio space, a full food menu, and is connected to the baseball field. Their second location Highlands is a bit outside of town.

The Classic Tourist Spots Actually Worth Visiting:

Big Four Bridge: A bridge you can walk or bike across the Ohio River into Indiana. It lights up at night which is nice to see. The bridge is not pet friendly unfortunately. The Waterfront Park around the bridge is nice with lots of seating and playgrounds.
Muhammad Ali Center: A nice museum telling the story of Muhammad Ali’s life, activism and boxing career. It is downtown and a $20 entrance fee.

Other ideas:

Mile Wide Beer Company: A solid brewery with indoor and outdoor seating. They have a game room with pinball and a pizza focused food menu.
Gravely Brewing Company: Average beers, great vibes. They have a beer garden and various seating options inside, and they are dog-friendly. Gravely’s food menu is focused on melts and apps. Located right around the corner from Mile Wide.
Venture to Mammoth Cave National Park! It is 1.5 hours south of Louisville (and 1.5 hours north of Nashville). This park is home to the longest cave in the world.
- The only way to go into the cave is via a tour, so I opted for the Historic Tour. I recommend booking in advance as many tours sell out. This one was 2 hours long, about 2.5 miles and some stairs. It is a smooth walking surface throughout and a only a little bit chillier than the ground level. There were some narrow spots both horizontally and vertically and a couple of cool things to see.
- Green River Bluff, Echo River Springs, Sinkhole and Heritage Trail: A moderate 4 mile long trail with 564ft of elevation gain that takes about 1 hour and 40 minutes to complete. This trail was pretty boring but the green river is in fact quite green. There is a portion of the trail that is paved and we encountered many deer.
- Cedar Sink Trail: An easy 1.6 mile trail with 206ft of elevation gain and takes about 35 minutes to complete. I was not impressed with this highly reviewed trail that was basically a walk through the woods with a small hole in the ground.
- If you are traveling with your dog they have kennels available. You can rent a lock at the lodge check-in desk for $10. They do not take reservations, it is first-come first-serve. Vaccination proof is required.