Louisville

A city known for it's legendary boxer, Muhammad Ali, the Kentucky Derby, Louisville Sluggers, and all kinds of cuisine, Louisville, Kentucky is a city you need to have on your travel list.

Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory

For the baseball fanatic, I'd highly recommend visiting the Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory. Inside the factory you can watch MLB, Minor League, and Little League bats being made. Also, you can view some great baseball memorabilia, like Babe Ruth's bat, bats from major players across the league, jerseys, and more.

Museum of the American Printing House for the Blind

This is not a common stop in Louisville, but the tour was fascinating. The American Printing House for the Blind is a non-profit organization whose mission is to create reading/educational materials, and other unique products for the blind and visually impaired.

You can tour their facilities—including their printing press, hall of inventions, recording studios (check here for times)—and their museum, which includes Helen Keller's belongings.

Mammoth Cave National Park

For the more adventurous, wander through the world's longest cave system...with a tour guide of course! Mammoth Cave boasts more than 400 miles of passageways and new discoveries are still being made today. Most parts of the cave are so spacious that it's hard to believe you're underground, but note that there are some tight spots to squeeze through so this may not be for those who feel claustrophobic. There are a few different tours to choose from. One was good for us, but you could do multiple tours and see more of the cave (only some of the tours overlap).

This is about a 90-minute drive from Louisville.

Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park

Between Louisville and Mammoth Cave, you can find Lincoln's Birthplace. There is a both a small museum and grounds to explore.

We always love walking around historic hotels. As long as you are respectful and courteous, hotel employees rarely mind.

Sealbach Hotel

This hotel was visited often by Al Capone and F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote some of the Great Gatsby while here. Multiple Presidents have also stayed here. Make sure you check out the basement!

The Brown Hotel

There's a lot of neat pictures and information in the lobby related to the history of the hotel. You can also go up to the top floor on the elevators.

Riverfront Park/Big Four Bridge

You can walk this bridge from Clarksville, Indiana (where we stayed) to Louisville. You get a great view of the water, and maybe even a tugboat or two. On the Louisville side, thee's some great swings to just sit and relax.

Cherokee Park

This is a very large park and is a beautiful stop in the fall as golden leaves abound. You can just drive through the park (like we did) or hangout and walk around!

Food

Havana Rumba Authentic Cuban food and a fun atmosphere. Karson's favorite!

Hammerheads Locally owned gastropub and smokehouse in Louisville's Germantown.

Yangkee Noodle A local twist to Pan-Asian stir-fry.

Butchertown Pizza Hall Great pizzas! Loved the BBQ Chicken pizza so much that I brought the leftovers with me through TSA.


These restaurants have also been suggested to us, although we were not able to try all of them during our stay:

  • Doc Crow's

  • Feast BBQ

  • Nancy's Bagels

  • North End Cafe

  • Please and Thank You

  • Quill's

  • Rivue

  • Spinelli's

  • Sunergo

  • Vint

  • Wild Eggs

Transportation

Driving: We drove in via rental car, but once we turned the car in we used Uber to get everywhere. Louisville also has both Uber and Lyft.

Flying: Louisville has an international airport not far from downtown.