Louisville Kentucky

Bright lights of the city reflected in the still water

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Fast-paced racing at the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs

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Fireworks on the bridge at the Thunder Over Louisville air show

Kyle Kozinski

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Kentucky Rushmore mural on the side of a downtown shop

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Rowing teams on the Ohio River

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Belle of Louisville steamboat docked at Waterfront Park Wharf

Thomas Kelley

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Stone bridge spanning Beargrass Creek in Cherokee Park

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Glowing neon signs of the popular Fourth Street Live entertainment district

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Spring

14 - 25 ºC

Summer

19 - 30 ºC

Fall

4 - 14 ºC

Winter

0 - 10 ºC

January

-3 - 6 ºC

February

-1 - 9 ºC

March

3 - 14 ºC

April

8 - 21 ºC

May

14 - 25 ºC

June

19 - 29 ºC

July

21 - 32 ºC

August

21 - 31 ºC

September

16 - 28 ºC

October

9 - 21 ºC

November

4 - 14 ºC

December

-1 - 8 ºC

Major Airports:

Louisville (SDF)

Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky (CVG)
States:

Kentucky

Beyond the Derby, explore a city of old and new

You may think you know Louisville; after all, it’s home to the Kentucky Derby, the birthplace of Muhammad Ali and the producer of the Louisville Slugger baseball bat. Beyond Churchill Downs, there’s a place brimming with 120 attractions, both a “Gateway to Bourbon Country” and a city of arts and culture with a ballet, orchestra and opera. It’s both Old Louisville – the city’s perfectly preserved historic area – and new, emerging as a culinary hotspot and reinventing the bourbon tradition with its micro-distilleries. It’s a traditional Kentucky city, with a twist.

A City of Good Sports

There’s no getting around it: Louisville’s Kentucky Derby is the quintessential thoroughbred race to see each May, but the horses run at Churchill Downs spring, summer and fall. Stop in to the Kentucky Derby Museum to get the full story on this historic 1875 racetrack. If baseball’s more your style, the Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory lets you pick up a personalized bat. Learn all about the famed boxer at the Muhammad Ali Center, a multicultural museum.

Signature Eats and Drinks

Have an Urban Bourbon Experience, a city-wide tour of bourbon attractions, and you will hit 35 stops – among them restaurants, hotels and distilleries – and be invited to sample from 50 bourbons. The tour is as essential an introduction to Louisville’s culinary scene as having a mint julep, the official Derby drink. Louisville’s fast becoming a foodie destination with a range of restaurants available, whether you want bourbon-inspired eats, such as bourbon balls, bread pudding and barbecue, farm-to-table fare or Louisville classics, like the Hot Brown sandwich at J. Graham’s restaurant.

Rounding Out Your Visit

Take a tour through the 48-block Old Louisville neighborhood for a vivid sense of what life was like in the 1850s. Fill in the rest at Frazier History Museum, which, along with several other institutions, forms Louisville’s Museum Row. Stroll over the Ohio River on the Big Four Pedestrian Bridge or enjoy it from the deck of the Belle of Louisville, the USA’s oldest operating steamboat. From shopping to performances to hitting the zoo with the children, the city is packed with things to do.