Louisville, KY and Santa Claus, IN

I often ask my girls what their favorite trip has been so far. My oldest always says Disney but my 7-year old says Kentucky – hands down. I think it was the horse race where she fell in love with “Natalie’s Charm” and the Derby pie that formed this opinion.

Heaven must be a Kentucky kind of place.

Daniel Boone

Even if you’re not into bourbon (I am not), I really enjoyed learning about Kentucky’s bourbon history. 95% of the world’s bourbon is made right in the Bluegrass state! Kentucky’s water flows through limestone reserves – the same mineral that is also said to make its horses stronger.

We were fortunate to visit Churchill Downs in May during race season. We caught a few races and did our own kind of family betting/cheering for horses based solely on how much we liked their names. Natalie’s Charm was my youngest’s pick and she picked up a stuffed animal souvenir in the gift shop that she named accordingly that has turned into one of her favorite stuffies. The Louisville Slugger Museum was a great stop and Tim and I really enjoyed an adults-only tour of the Angel’s Envy Distillery. Trip note – book all bourbon tours in advance – they will likely be sold out if you wait until you arrive.

We visited two national parks – Mammoth Cave NP and Abraham Lincoln’s Birthplace Historical Park. Both are worth the visit. Trip note – You must book Mammoth Cave ahead of time. My favorite part of both of those stops was driving back and stumbling into the Lincoln Jamboree for a family-served buffet lunch. There were so many unexpected Kentucky finds and so many I’m sure we didn’t discover. Did you know that Louisville has the nation’s largest collection of Victorian mansions? Me neither!

I would skip Santa Claus, IN next time – it was not what I pictured and there wasn’t much to do. I put it on our itinerary because we love Christmas but we were disappointed in restaurant choices in town. We did find a great candy shop and the girls sent letters to Santa (in May!) for which they did receive nice responses in December from St. Nick himself.

We loved our time in Kentucky and would love to go back again when our schedules allow. There are only 72 more distilleries to tour!

3-Day Intinerary with Kids

Day	To	From	Mode	Departure Time	Arrival Time	Trip Notes
1 Fri	Hampton Inn Downtown Louisville, KY	FredCo, MD	Car	12:00PM	8:30PM	Not a bad location for a Louisville hotel, within walking distance of the bourbon district, but I’d opt for something closer to the waterfront next time. Bonus – the indoor pool!
	Waterfront District, Louisville, KY	Hotel	Car	9:00PM	9:30PM	It was too late to walk so we opted to drive and check out the waterfront park area.
2 Sat	Wild Eggs, Downtown Louisville, KY	Hotel	Walk	7:30AM	7:45AM	A must-stop for a great Kentucky breakfast. Get a KY Hot Brown but arrive early because it is a popular place.
	Louisville Slugger Museum Factory tour		Car	9:00AM	9:15AM	A must-do for any age. Everyone gets a mini slugger at the end! Advance tickets are highly encouraged.
	Fraizer History Musem, Downtown self-guided walking tour, Louisville	Slugger Museum	Walk	11:00AM	11:15AM	We walked into the museum but decided not to take the tour. We probably would have if we had more time. We loved Art Eatables – great find!
	Historic Old Lousiville Neighborhood	Downtown	Car	11:45AM	12:00PM	I really enjoyed our self-guided car tour of Louisville’s old victorian mansions. If we had more time, I would definitely stop at the visitor’s center and learn more.
	Churchill Downs, Louisville, KY	Historic Old Louisville	Car	12:30PM	12:45PM	A must-do! We ended up staying here longer than we planned because we were having so much fun! We took a tour of Churchill Downs and bought tickets for races happening that day. There’s also a cafe on site.
	Santa’s Candy Castle, Santa Claus, IN	Churchill Downs	Car	4:00PM	5:20PM	Good stop with kids. Don’t miss the huge collection of Pez dispensers!
	Santa Claus, IN Post Office	Candy Castle	Car	5:45PM	6:00PM	If you’re in the area with young kids, definitely put the P.O. on your route for a photo and mail a letter to Santa.
	The Chateau Restaurant, Mariah Hill, IN	Santa Claus, IN	Car	6:15PM	6:45PM	A great family-style restaurant on the outskirts of town. We were starving and this was the only place nearby that had something other than pizza and burgers.
	Hampton Inn Louisville, Louisville, KY	The Chateau	Car	8:00PM	9:15PM	A jam-packed long day!
3 Sun	Waverly Hills Sanatorium, Louisville, KY	Hotel	Car	8:00AM	8:25AM	We didn’t have tickets but I wanted to see if you could see it from the gates. The answer is no! It’s heavily disguised and in a really hard to get to location. If a tour is on your itinerary, be sure to get tickets early.
	Mammoth Cave National Park, KY	Waverly Hills	Car	8:30AM	10:00AM	A must-do to see the world’s longest cave system. Book tickets in advance. Tickets aren’t cheap.
	Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park, Hodgenville, KY	Mammoth Cave NP	Car	12:00PM	1:30PM	Home of the first Lincoln Memorial and a replica of Lincoln’s birthplace cabin.
	The Lincoln Jamboree, Hodgenville, KY	Lincoln’s Birthplace	Car	1:35PM	2:15PM	A must-stop. This was one of my favorite unplanned finds!
	Hampton Inn, Louisville, Louisville, KY	Lincoln Jamboree	Car	3:00PM	4:00PM	A very rural drive!
	Angel’s Envy Distillery Tasting & Tour, Louisville (Bourbon District)	Hotel	Walk	4:30PM	4:45PM	I bought tickets in advance for this tasting for Tim and I – the tour was canceled because of COVID but we still enjoyed the tasting and learned a lot about how to pair bourbon. It still doesn’t taste good to me but the chocolate pairings made it slightly better!
	Hotel	Angel’s Envy	Walk	6:00PM	6:15PM	A little bit of pool time before heading for one last dinner in Louisville
	Doc Crow’s Southern Smokehouse and Raw Bar, Louisville (Whiskey Row)	Hotel	Walk	7:00PM	7:15PM	Great location, good food, and the Derby Pie was a great ending to a wonderful trip.
4 Mon	Home (FredCo, MD)	Louisville, KY	Car	8:00AM	5:30PM