Louisville sits at the crossroads of the urban north and the rural south, and it feels like both. The largest city in Kentucky, it has a vibrant music scene, a growing arts community, and a bourbon culture that runs deep — this is the gateway to the Kentucky Bourbon Trail, and distilleries line the downtown Whiskey Row.
The city is best known for hosting the Kentucky Derby, held the first Saturday of May at Churchill Downs. The two weeks of festivities leading up to the race take over the city. The Louisville Slugger Museum, with its giant bat leaning against the building, is another landmark — it traces the history of baseball through the bat that defined the game. The Muhammad Ali Center on the riverfront is one of the finest biographical museums in the United States, honouring the city's most famous son.
The Highlands neighbourhood along Bardstown Road is the cultural heart of the city: a mile of independent shops, galleries, restaurants, and bars open until 4am. NuLu (New Louisville), the revitalised East Market District, is the newer arts-and-dining hub. Down on the river, the Belle of Louisville — the oldest operating steamboat of her type in the world — still runs excursions on the Ohio. And south of town, Waverly Hills Sanatorium draws ghost hunters from across the country to one of the most thoroughly atmospheric abandoned buildings in America.