Churchill Downs
Under $25Watch Thoroughbred racing beneath the Twin Spires at the track that has hosted the Kentucky Derby since 1875.

Photo: BlueShirtz, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Cropped and resized.
Kentucky Kingdom is an attraction in Louisville, KY, part of the Louisville and the Bluegrass guide. Cost: $25 to $50.
937 Phillips Ln · Louisville, KY
Kentucky Kingdom is a 67-acre theme park in Louisville that pairs rides with the Hurricane Bay water park. You can ride six roller coasters, including Flying Fox, a suspended family coaster that opened in 2026 and is themed to a fictional crop-dusting pilot named Jeb Fox. Lightning Run was the first Chance Rides Hyper GT-X coaster anywhere. The park shares its parking lot with the Kentucky Exposition Center at I-65 and I-264.
The closest stops to Kentucky Kingdom, ordered by straight-line distance. A few more like it, plus some different kinds of fun so you can build a full day.
Watch Thoroughbred racing beneath the Twin Spires at the track that has hosted the Kentucky Derby since 1875.
1.4 mi awaySwitch it up: Sightseeing
Explore two floors of Kentucky Derby history, watch a 360-degree film and join a guided track visit at Churchill Downs.
1.5 mi awaySwitch it up: Museums
See art from antiquity to the present, including works by Rembrandt, Rubens and Monet, at a Louisville museum founded in 1927.
1.7 mi awaySwitch it up: Museums
A 134-acre zoo where you see polar bears, gorillas, orangutans and snow leopards across themed zones from Africa to the arctic.
2.4 mi awayMore like this
A former limestone mine under Louisville where you ride a guided tram, zip line or climb a ropes course entirely underground.
2.4 mi awayMore like this
Tour the factory where Louisville Slugger bats are made, hold bats swung by legends and pose under a 120-foot bat.
4.4 mi awaySwitch it up: Museums