Ten Favorite Places in Louisville

Louisville from the rooftop of Rabbit Hole Distillery

Louisville is a good weekend destination. A midsize city (that perhaps reminds us of our Milwaukee home), it is compact and easily to get around, with several cute neighborhoods, good food, historic hotels, and of course the appeal of the bourbon trail.

Haymarket Whiskey Bar

This place is such a gem. It’s dim, with hundreds of bourbon bottles, a teal glowing bar, and knowledgeable but somewhat curmudgeonly bartenders (it was entertaining to see their reaction when a customer walked in and naively asked if they sold Fireball). The bourbon we had was wonderful.

Haymarket is between downtown and Nulu and not to be missed.

2. Nulu

We stayed at the AC in this neighborhood, also called East Market, and loved it for the ease of walking around. There are so many new places and it was interesting to see how much the area has grown since we last visited the city in 2016.

We love the pretty building, decor, and wonderful natural wine at Nouvelle Bar & Bottle (try to visit during Happy Hour). We also picked up some local beer at Louisville Beer Store to drink at the hotel while watching the Wisconsin Badgers game on TV. Clayton & Crume leathergoods, Revelry Boutique, White’s Mercantile, Scout, and the lovely flower shop Mahonia were all perfect places to browse.

3. The Brown Hotel

This place was popping on the Friday night we stopped by. It has a long history: it opened in 1923, was closed during the Great Depression, was flooded in 1937, and became the headquarters for Louisville Public Schools from the 1970s to its renovation in the 1980s.

It’s known for its Hot Brown, an open-faced sandwich with turkey, bacon, and cheese sauce, then broiled. Drew and I split one (which I would recommend; it was huge), and though my expectations were low, it was delicious. We paired it with a perfect mint julep and lobby people watching, and it made for a great Louisville night.

4. Excellent Breakfast:
Quills, Butcherdown Bakery, and Please and Thank You.

Staying in Nulu meant we were well-positioned not only to browse great boutiques and access downtown, but also walk to several casual breakfast spots within a few blocks of our hotel. On Saturday morning, we went to Quills, a large space in a former warehouse with a solid breakfast sandwich I’d gladly have again. On Sunday morning, we went to another place directly across the street from Quills: Butchertown Bakery. Here, the tiled floor, comfy leather chairs and library lamps set a cozy tone and the great breakfast biscuit made for another solid experience.

Though the ambiance (and coffee) at the Please and Thank You in Nulu were the least memorable we tried, the perfect chocolate chip cookies never disappoint.

Love the design at Rabbit Hole Distillery

5. Rabbit Hole Distillery

While researching potential distilleries to visit, the rabbit branding and modern tasting room immediately drew me to this company. Their same-day tours and tastings were sold out, but we were able to get a few of the last spots left for the next day, Saturday, and we arrived at 12:30 to one of their first tours of the day.

The space is beautiful and the tour was the right length of time. It ended in their rooftop bar, a modern space with stylish decor and floor-to-ceiling windows on several sides. Though spirit tastings will never appeal to me as much as those for beer and wine, I enjoyed it. Drew especially liked the sherry cask bourbon.

6. The Bourbon Trail

If you are in Louisville to taste bourbon and are willing to venture out of town, we recommend the connoisseur tasting at Heaven’s Hill, where you won’t get to tour a distillery, but you’ll try excellent bourbon. Bulleit does do a more classic distillery tour at their Shelbyville location. Drew has also been to Four Roses, Buffalo Trace, Wild Turkey on a friend’s bachelor party. He liked the hard hat tour at Buffalo Trace the best, which is free, in-depth, and also includes tastings.

7. 21c Museum Hotel

Though we didn’t stay here, the museum part of this hotel is open to the public, and we found the art displayed to be impressive. It is only a long block away from the Louisville Slugger Museum if you would like to loop the stops together.

8. Old Louisville

It was fun to drive through this pretty neighborhood during our sunny Saturday. These brick houses are huge and many of them were decorated for Christmas when we were in town in early December (several were actually offering tours).

9. The Seelbach Hotel

My interest in visiting this hotel was primarily literary. In The Great Gatsby, this is where the characters Tom Buchanan and Daisy Fay marry “with more pomp and circumstance than Louisville ever knew before.” In reality, the hotel, now a Hilton, wasn’t quite as grand as I expected, but I was still glad we made the stop (and it was fun to see the Rathskeller downstairs). This hotel is located near 4th Street Live, an “entertainment district” with hotel and restaurant chains as well as the Jim Beam “Experience.” It would not be the first area I chose to stay.

10. The Holy Grale

The novelty of drinking in this old church is not overrated. Besides the cool ambiance, there’s an impressive beer list here and it made for a good midday stop.