69 Best Sights in Kentucky, USA

Exhibits here recount the history of America's oldest sporting event and include a surround-sound film of the race. Admission includes a tour of the historic racetrack; in summer visitors can tour the stable areas as well. The café overlooks a paddock occupied by a retired racehorse.

Tour the International Museum of the Horse, run in cooperation with the Smithsonian Institution. In addition to viewing the many exhibits on the ancient relationship between people and horses, you'll also be able to get close to real horses. There's a Parade of Breeds, horse-drawn carriage rides, and a 45-minute trail ride around the park—suitable even for those who've never ridden before. The park also houses the American Saddlebred Museum (that's the breed used for dressage). Tours of nearby horse farms are available for an extra fee.

Spanning a distance of more than 400 miles, Mammoth Cave is the longest cave system in the world, and the best place to experience a little stretch of this massive system is Mammoth Cave National Park. As Cave City's biggest attraction, it draws hoardes of tourists, and summertime cave tours can get crowded. The U.S. National Park Service offers a range of themed tours throughout the year to different sections of the cave, ranging from an easy quarter-mile to a physically demanding six-hour exploration. For safety reasons, backpacks and baby carriers are not allowed inside the caves.

This 18-room brick mansion was the country home of Senator Henry Clay and his family for more than four decades. The tour highlights antebellum Kentucky plantation life and the political achievements of Clay, who served both in the U.S. House of Representatives (as Speaker) and in the U.S. Senate.

The Big Clifty Sandstone, part of the Golconda Formation, lies atop the limestone bedrock of the Mammoth Cave region like a roof. Its cross-bedded layers of sandstone and shale form a shield impermeable to water, protecting the limestone beneath from dissolution. Only through cracks and holes in this shield can rainwater penetrate and begin undermining the caprock, flowing through the soluble limestones beneath and making caves. The Big Clifty Sandstone shows off its profile nicely at this location right off the Historic Entrance Trail nearby the visitor center. An outdoor exhibit facing the formation highlights the feature.

This a designated mountain-biking and hiking trail divided into two loops joined by a connector. The Big Hollow Trail North Loop runs 5.3 miles, with a 0.1-mile shortcut, along moderately easy ascents through rolling woodlands. The Big Hollow Trail South Loop, including the connector, runs 3.7 miles through more jumbled rocky terrain, partly along the blufftop over Green River. Horses are not permitted on this trail. Total 9.1 mi. Moderate. Note: There is no parking along Green River Ferry Road North or the Maple Springs Loop Road.

To the left of the White Oak Trail in the east of the park's backcountry lies something very uncommon—a small area of forest that has never once been cut for timber. This is The Big Woods, one of only two areas of true Old Growth forest remaining in Kentucky. White Oak Trail is not connected to the rest of the backcountry trail network, but the trip along Ugly Creek Road may be worth a chance to see forest that has never seen a saw or an axe since the world began.

This trail connects Collie Ridge Trail and Wet Prong Trail. Horses and hiking only. 1.8 mi. Moderate.

Lexington's oldest tour company takes visitors to horse farms, Keeneland racetrack, and historic venues in Lexington. It's an excellent introduction to the area, especially if you only have a day or two in the region.

This trail cuts across the southern backcountry, following old roadbeds to the Buffalo Creek drainage, and links several trails. At 1.1 miles, Dry Prong Trail heads north and Turnhole Bend Trail heads south. At 2.4 miles, Sal Hollow Trail heads south and Dry Prong Trail reconnects. The trail ends at a junction with Collie Ridge Trail and Wet Prong Trail. Horses and hiking only. 4.4 mi. Moderate.

A forest trail leads to the brim of Cedar Sink. From there, stairways down to viewing platforms along the path leading into the sink allow hikers a peek at the underground waters from the Sinkhole Plain as it makes its way toward Green River. This massive sinkhole creates a microclimate of its own where wildflowers often bloom slightly out-of-season. The first half-mile through the woods is an easy, level path. Getting down into the sink from there requires navigating stairs, and the footing inside the sink is uneven. Those with limited mobility may wish to enjoy the view from the top. 1 mile. Moderate.

A wide path following old roadbeds along the spine of Collie Ridge, this trail serves as an artery connecting several trails deep in the backcountry, and forms the basis for several possible hiking loops. The trail junctions with Blair Springs Hollow, Raymer Hollow, Mill Branch, Buffalo Creek, and Wet Prong Trails. Collie Ridge backcountry campsite is reached via a 0.7-mile spur extending from the end of the trail. Horses and hiking only. 3.8 mi. Moderate.

Formed from limestone millions of years ago, these caves have been a popular local attraction since they were discovered in the mid-19th century. Descend into this series of subterranean galleries, and you'll get up close to enormous stalactites and stalagmites, projecting onyx peaks, and rock palaces. Temperatures in the cave hover around 58°F throughout the year. Visits are by hour-long guided tour.

A relic of Mammoth Cave's geologic younger years, Dixon Cave Entrance lies at the end of an underground passage once connected to the rest of the cave. Now choked with stone, this dry hillside pit was at one time a mighty spring that fed Green River. Now, standing on the overlook just off Dixon Cave Trail, you peer down into darkness as though backward into time itself.

This forested trail ventures from the Historic Entrance to its possible predecessor, Dixon Cave, further along the ridge. Now enclosed and not open to the public—you can peer into the entrance from the nearby overlook platform—Dixon Cave is thought to have once been an opening to the Mammoth Cave system. The trail continues on toward its junction with Green River Bluffs Trail. 0.4 mile. Moderate.

At Doyel Valley, the only park overlook accessible by vehicle, you can peer back in time across one of the hollows between the ridges here at the western edge of Appalachia. Outdoor exhibits discuss the valley's past human communities and present natural communities, and help put the view in the context of what was, what is, and what will someday be.

This trail follows parts of the lower drainage of the Dry Prong of Buffalo Creek. There are gradual ascents and descents, with some rocky treads and downed trees. At 0.8 miles, Homestead Campsite can be accessed by spur trail. Horses and hiking only. 2.4 mi. Moderate.

This trail leads to where the cave's best-known underground river, the Echo River, emerges to join the Green River. This trail near Green River Ferry has been designed as fully ADA-accessible, with accessible interpretive exhibits. The trail is mostly level, occupying the river bottom. 0.6 mile. Easy.

Between the Lodge at Mammoth Cave and the Caver's Camp Store, Engine No. 4 is one of the original "donkey engines" of the Mammoth Cave Railroad that brought travelers to Mammoth Cave before the turn of the 20th century. It rests here restored, along with one of its passenger cars.

Thirty-five rolling acres are planted in several kinds of grapes, but you won't mistake this for Napa Valley. As the name suggests, horses are grazing in the Bluegrass pasture just over the fence.

This trail follows a ridgeline to the Second Creek drainage into the Nolin River valley, then descends along the Nolin to First Creek Lake before climbing upward past broken sandstone blocks to the trailhead at Temple Hill. Stream crossings, wet and muddy areas, and some rocky slopes may challenge footing. At 3 miles, the Second Creek Campsite can by accessed by a short spur. At 4.2 miles, a spur leads to First Creek Campsite 1. At 5.2 miles, a spur accesses First Creek Campsite 2. Horses and hiking only. 6.3 mi. Moderate. Note: First Creek Trail forms a 19.1-mile loop with McCoy Hollow Trail and Wet Prong Trail that can be accessed from either First Creek Trailhead or Temple Creek Trailhead.

From the visitor center, a drive out along Flint Ridge Road, onto Park Ridge Road, then onto Cave City Road and then back to the visitor center via the Mammoth Cave Parkway provides a rustic excursion through peaceful forests, with a glimpse of rural Kentucky farmland along the park boundary. Along Flint Ridge Road, discover historic Mammoth Cave Baptist Church on the left, one of three remaining churches from the prepark period. This loop can be especially attractive with October's fall color.

One of three original churches still standing in the park, Good Spring Church is a remnant of the Cade community. The adjacent cemetery contains stones with names of the families that lived here. More information about the Cade community is available at an outdoor exhibit at Maple Springs Group Campground nearby on Maple Springs Loop Road.

Located halfway along the Green River Bluffs Trail, this overlook has an excellent view up the river valley, along with an outdoor exhibit panel explaining the extent of the Green River and its tributaries, and its importance to the region.

Starting on top of Mammoth Cave Ridge in the park's main picnic area, Green River Bluffs Trail slowly descends the forested flank of the ridge, passing large boulders that mark the point where the sandstone cap of the ridge gives way to the limestones beneath. Glimpses of the Green River appear below in its valley, coming into full view at the Green River Bluffs Overlook. The trail continues down toward the river bottom, finally joining the River Styx Spring Trail near River Styx Spring. A wide array of wildflowers can be found seasonally. 1.3 miles. Moderate.

The Green River Ferry is one of the country's longest-running river ferries, in operation since 1941, the last of a group of such ferries that once shuttled traffic across the river before the area became a national park. An outdoor exhibit relates the history of the ferries at the south ferry parking lot. This free ferry runs daily, water levels permitting.

George W. Headley was a prominent designer of jewelry and small decorative art objects known as bibelots. Dozens of his pieces are on display here in a museum on his former estate.

Designed as an accessible trail, this level walk consists of boardwalk and paved pathways that circle a forested area at the edge of Mammoth Cave Ridge. Platforms overlook the Historic Entrance to the cave. The Old Guide's Cemetery, where lies famed Mammoth Cave Guide Stephen Bishop, is in the center. At the far end of the loop, Sunset Point Overlook offers a view across the Green River Valley. 0.5 mile. Easy.

This Historic Entrance to Mammoth Cave provides the centerpiece of historic locations in the visitor center area, a singular point to which human beings have gravitated—and into which they have descended—for 5,000 years. It is easily found at the end of the Historic Entrance Trail.