Wear your best hat and clink your mint juleps: Louisville—Kentucky’s largest city—is best known as the home of the Kentucky Derby, held each spring at the Churchill Downs racetrack. History feels close at hand here, as it does in Old Louisville (known for its concentration of Victorian architecture) and aboard the Belle of Louisville steamship. Other things to do in Louisville include discovering the city’s baseball lore at the Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory, exploring the Muhammad Ali Center, and tasting Kentucky’s distilling heritage along the Urban Bourbon Trail. Don’t drink? You can also learn about the good old days at the Frazier History Museum.
The best times to visit Louisville are in spring (April–June) and fall (September—October). Spring can bring more rain showers and colder temps as compared to fall, but it’s also when travelers flock here to attend the Kentucky Derby, which takes place on the first Saturday of May every year at the Churchill Downs racetrack. In summer (July–August), the city can be uncomfortably muggy, but there are many outdoor events and festivals happening then, too.
Louisville’s downtown is considered very walkable, with many of the city’s top attractions and urban bourbon distilleries within several blocks of each other. Transit Authority of River City (TARC) operates buses and trolleys throughout the metro area. And in addition to ride-share services, the city also has a bike-sharing service called LouVelo as well as electric scooters around downtown and in the surrounding neighborhoods.
You should know how to pronounce the city, named for King Louis XVI, before you visit. Do not pronounce it LOU-iss-vill or LOOEY-vill, unless you want to get dirty looks from locals. Instead, the “proper” way is LOO-a-vul or LOO-a-vill. And while you’re there, check out the largest contiguous collection of Victorian mansions in the US. Located in the city’s historic preservation district, known as Old Louisville, the homes were the result of the Southern Exposition—a series of world fairs.
