Louisville is one of those cities that rarely appears on a bucket list, yet instantly pulls you into everyday American city life. There’s far more to see and do than you might expect. From a museum dedicated to the city’s most famous son, Muhammad Ali, to horse races and bourbon tastings on Whiskey Row – a string of nineteenth-century warehouses and factory buildings now home to distilleries.
Louisville is Kentucky’s largest city, and the state counts more than a hundred distilleries, with Bardstown and Louisville as its main hubs. Everywhere you go, people are tasting. First a sip to wake up your body, then one to ease into it, and finally small sips to explore the flavours. Louisville loves bourbon – neat, in cocktails or as a secret weapon in the kitchen.
By American standards, the city is relatively compact. From downtown you’re quickly in neighbourhoods such as NuLu and Butchertown, known for their shops, coffee bars, design studios and artisan workshops. Or head to The Highlands for architecture, excellent restaurants and Cave Hill Cemetery, where both Muhammad Ali and Colonel Sanders – the founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken – are buried.
Our favourite area is Old Louisville, south of downtown. Stroll along St James Court, a boulevard with a grassy central strip framed by some of the loveliest houses in the city. Lawyers, bankers and other well-to-do residents once lived here. It’s a colourful mix of architectural styles that happily blur into one another, sometimes even within a single home. Nearby Belgravia Court is equally charming: car-free, lushly planted and lit by gas lanterns.
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Ask any music historian and they'll tell you: country music was born right here in Bristol, on the state line between Tennessee and Virginia. Thanks to the legendary Bristol Sessions of 1927 – but more on that later. First, let’s explore the town itself, because something is clearly happening. On Main Street, people with folding chairs and coolers are all walking in the same direction. The most beloved local band, 49 Winchester, is giving a free open-air homecoming concert. The sun dips low and casts a warm golden glow over the celebration.
Bristol is one of those towns you fall for quickly. Downtown, you’ll find a diner serving burgers just as it did in the 1950s, neon signs announcing shows at the art deco Paramount Bristol theatre, and a stretch of State Street packed with indie shops rather than chains. And everywhere: music. ‘You’re from the Netherlands? I love Herman Brood! And Golden Earring – they’re Dutch, right?’
The top attraction is the Birthplace of Country Music Museum. It celebrates everyday life, and of course the Bristol Sessions of 1927. Music producer Ralph Peer came to town with a mobile recording studio and invited musicians to put their songs on record. The Bristol Sessions are considered the foundation of modern country music. Among the performers was only one black musician, El Watson – segregation dictated the rest – even though country music itself emerged from a blend of European and African traditions. It’s a uniquely Southern sound.
Discover Bristol
At the heart of Birmingham lies the Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument: a neighbourhood with several historic locations that played a crucial role in the struggle for equal rights in the 1960s. Birmingham stood on the frontline, with countless protests against racial segregation. The city had a notorious reputation for oppression - something that desperately needed to be broken.
One key landmark is the A.G. Gaston Motel, the first in the city built specifically for African American travellers - black and white guests stayed in separate hotels in those days. A.G. Gaston, Birmingham’s first black millionaire, earned his fortune as a banker, funeral director and contractor. He built a hotel that soon appeared in The Negro Motorist Green Book, a kind of Lonely Planet for black travellers. During the height of the Civil Rights Movement, the hotel became a strategic base for leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr.
Beyond its powerful Civil Rights history, Birmingham has plenty more to explore: the 1927 Alabama Theatre, the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum - the world’s largest motorcycle museum - the historic Tutwiler Hotel and a vibrant food and arts scene.
Birmingham forms part of the Civil Rights Trail, a network of locations central to the fight for equal rights. Thirteen of them are nominated for the UNESCO World Heritage list. The Trail isn’t a fixed route but a collection of significant places, with regional ready-made routes available.
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Americans adore Lewisburg. The town is charming, romantic, and despite its modest size, the perfect place to surrender to genuine Southern hospitality for a few days. Downtown offers lovely shops, antique stores, historic theatres, galleries, excellent restaurants and The Wild Bean – a cosy coffeehouse where locals and visitors mingle.
Lewisburg consistently ranks high on lists of romantic getaways. Many Americans see it as an ideal weekend destination: stay in a cosy B&B, shop downtown, linger over lunch, visit a gallery and catch a theatre performance in the evening. There’s even a Carnegie Hall – one of only four left in the world. The brick buildings from the nineteenth and early twentieth century create a nostalgic atmosphere.
Lewisburg also played a significant role in the American Civil War. It was the site of a key battle centred on the railway line between Virginia and Tennessee. Reminders of that day include a Confederate cemetery, a hospital and a church with a cannonball hole still visible in its wall.
The town is a fantastic base for exploring the Greenbrier Valley. You can walk or cycle parts of the Greenbrier Trail, following a former railway line with 37 bridges and two tunnels from 1899 and 1900. In summer, you can kayak the river. And at the end of the day, you head back to Lewisburg, where The Wild Bean soon feels like your local.
Find out more about Greenbrier
On 30 April 1926, Cyrus Avery sent a telegram to Washington D.C. on behalf of representatives from four states. Meeting at the Colonial Hotel in Springfield, Missouri, they had agreed that ‘Route 66’ was the perfect name for their dream: a paved road from Chicago to Los Angeles. A fair amount of politics preceded the choice, but Route 66 it would be. The rest is history.
Springfield proudly celebrates the role it played in creating the iconic highway that still fires the imagination today. Fully paved by 1937, it symbolised progress, escape in hard times – everyone heading west for the promised land of California – and the rise of American pop culture: diners, gas stations and motels in the wildest shapes, from wigwams and lighthouses to dinosaurs and aeroplanes.
‘The Mother Road’ still stands for freedom. And Springfield continues to honour that spirit, especially in the centennial year 2026, when Route 66 turns 100. Across town you’ll find reminders of its glory days: the Route 66 Car Museum, original stretches of asphalt, a park full of neon signs, Gary’s Gay Parita with vintage memorabilia and historic motels such as Rockwood Motor Court and Rest Haven Court from the 1940s.
Springfield’s historic downtown carries a certain charm too, with indie shops, cafés, diners and a microbrewery. The town is also a favourite base for hikers exploring the Ozarks – the only mountain region between the Appalachians and the Rockies.
Plan your visit to Springfield
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