Louisville road trip

gtnap

gtnap

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Aug 19, 2010
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Anyone planning on going? Any advice on areas to stay? Good parking lots for visitor tailgating? Recommended stops on the bourbon trail?
 
I’m still considering it. It’s geographically the closest game to me all year, so I kind of feel like I need to go (not to say I’m not going to others further away).
 
gtnap said:
Anyone planning on going? Any advice on areas to stay? Good parking lots for visitor tailgating? Recommended stops on the bourbon trail?
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I’m going. We should get a tailgate started. Staying at the Omni.
I was hoping for ticket prices to crash after the Alabama game but didn’t happen.

Just looked - they’re moving down. Trying to get first row seats behind Tech. Price was $299 each. Down to $269.
 
We have 4 leaving Thursday afternoon.
Any recommendations for things to do in Louisville and places to eat?
 
THWG2 said:
We have 4 leaving Thursday afternoon.
Any recommendations for things to do in Louisville and places to eat?
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The touristy stuff is the Louisville Slugger factory and Churchill Downs. Both are worth doing once.
 
GTBJW said:
I’m down. Let’s coordinate as the date gets closer.
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We're driving - so bringing some of the tailgate setup with us. Looks like tons of parking available at the Expo center nearby. I assume this is a cash lot and allows tailgating.
 
Been through there twice in the last year.

- Louisville Slugger museum was awesome. I’m not even a huge baseball fan, but I’m guessing the engineers will love the tour. Have stuff for kids too.

- Fourth Street Live is a touristy Bar/restaurant spot. Like Old Vegas if you’ve ever been there.

- As for the distillery tours make sure you plan ahead as pretty much all of them require reservations and they fill up on weekends. Easy enough to make them online. There’s some downtown, but a lot of them are spread out and will require an hour or two of driving each direction. I’d recommend not doing the tours at each place as some of it gets repetitive.

- We hit Angels Envy downtown and then Jim Beam and Makers Mark to the south. AE has a good tour but isn’t my favorite bourbon. Jim Beam and Makers have huge plots of land and we’re fun although we didn’t do the tours.

I walked by the stadium at one point and it was in a öööö neighborhood on at least one side. So do a little research before you pick a hotel/Airbnb.

Also Lake Cumberland is 2 hours south if y’all get crazy and want to hit the lake Saturday/Sunday.
 
THWG2 said:
We have 4 leaving Thursday afternoon.
Any recommendations for things to do in Louisville and places to eat?
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People in Louisville like to think their restaurants are good (downtown Louisville is the hipster capital of the world and everyone is a foodie), but in general, they're "meh". When I go for a weekend, I basically follow the "Ed Lee" rule, which is to eat at his 3 restaurants (610 Magnolia - Southern, Milkwood - Southern/Asian Fusion, and Whisky Dry - Fancy bar food). 610 Magnolia is easily the best restaurant in the city and would be a Top 10 in Atlanta.

Outside of the Ed Lee, I'd really only recommend Ward 426 and Bourbon's Bistro. If you need a 4th, try Milkwood (Ed Lee's Southern/Asian fusion restaurant). If you want a good burger place, try Bluegrass Burgers. A decent hot chicken place outside of Nashville is Royal's - but you'll have to wait in line out the door for 30 mins - 1 hour to place an order.

The only touristy thing I'd recommend is Churchhill Downs if there is live racing. I've gone a few times other than Derby and it's still really neat when they have live racing. Definitely worth a visit once in your life. They also have a museum on site (but I wouldn't go just for that). Ali Center is OK to waste 90 mins or so.

The University is terrible and not worth a visit: imagine if Tech banned research and only taught. As a result, the Administration knocked down all buildings and constructed 10 replicas of Skiles - and that's it. That's the University of Louisville. Hell, the library has like 100 books and 30 tables for studying. But the athletic facilities are top notch. They have a rowing facility on the Ohio River that's nicer than our stadium.
 
gtrower said:
I walked by the stadium at one point and it was in a öööö neighborhood on at least one side. So do a little research before you pick a hotel/Airbnb.
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Yeah, the stadium and university are in a bad area of town. If you're looking for a place to stay, either target downtown (Aloft, Omni, Marriott) or a place near the Mall (yes, there's one mall in that city). They call that area St.Matthews.
 
The Corvette Museum is in Bowling Green, KY...I don't know how far south of Louisville.
 
LongforDodd said:
The Corvette Museum is in Bowling Green, KY...I don't know how far south of Louisville.
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If you're driving from Atlanta to Louisville, it's on the way. Stopped there a few months ago - they now have an exhibit dedicated to the sink hole.
 
Bourbon Trail, Bourbon Trail, BOURBON TRAIL, dammit! Liquor Barns are really good liquor stores, too.
 
Was there in July for a bachelore party. Homewood Suites inDowntown is brand new. So the rooms were very modern and nice. Proof on Main and Haymarket were two pretty good bars. I really liked Proof on Main... too much. I think they overserved me.

If you don’t want to drive too far out, Jim Beam distillery in Clermont is not too far, maybe 30 minute drive. The grounds smell so delicious. Makers Mark is even prettier, but a good drive further out. Bardstown is in between the two, and it’s kind of like whiskey central. Some boutique distillers in the area, and the bourbon museum is there.

The best strip club in the Louisville area is in Indiana, The Rustic Frog. Or so I hear.
 
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