Where to stay

Book a hotel in Downtown Louisville, East Market District or Butchertown to build a vacation around distillery visits, including one over 100 years old in Portland. Germantown is a great place to stay for casual restaurants and lots of dive bars, with affordable drinks and a comfortable atmos-phere. Downtown Louisville hotels are convenient for evenings at the all-in-one dining and enter-tainment center known as Fourth Street Live!, where restaurants range from kid-friendly pizzerias to fine dining from celebrity chefs. Stay in leafy Clifton or Crescent Hill for lots of spots for alfresco meals, from morning coffee to late-night desserts. The Highlands neighborhood is often referred to as Restaurant Row, with excellent options for food and drink.

South Louisville is the place to stay in May, when thoroughbred horses compete in the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs. The Kentucky Derby Museum and a nearby theme park make it a great spot year-round. Alternatively, stay in Audubon Park, Poplar Level or Camp Taylor to take the family to the very popular attraction, the Louisville Mega Cavern, with underground zip lines. The Louisville Zoo, Tyler Park, and Cherokee Park are also in this area stretching north to the Highlands neighborhood. Shawnee hotels are good for visiting Shawnee Park and its golf course west of downtown along the Ohio River. Fern Creek is another good neighborhood for golfers to stay. Get accommodations in Butchertown to walk across the Big Four Bridge to Indiana, a somewhat different way for families to experience the outdoors.

Stay in a quaint inn in Old Louisville, which has over 40 blocks of stately Victorian homes as well as the Conrad-Caldwell House Museum, nicknamed "Conrad's Castle." Butchertown presents a differ-ent historical perspective, with new restaurants in old buildings that were butcher shops in the 1800s. Get accommodations here to tour the Thomas Edison House as well. Book a hotel in Downtown Louisville to visit nearly a dozen museums along Museum Row. Some highlights include the Louis-ville Slugger Museum & Factory, as well as a site remembering Muhammad Ali and the values the fighter demonstrated throughout his life. Stay in Germantown to appreciate the unique architecture of its many long and narrow shotgun and camelback homes. Portland is one of the city's oldest neigh-borhoods and a great place to stay to visit the Portland Museum and a 100-year-old bourbon distillery.