Travel advice for Louisville please!
January 27, 2016 4:10 PM Subscribe
Hey Metafilter! I'm going to be heading to Louisville, KY, in the near future for work. I have never been there before and am a special snowflake traveler as I will detail behind the cut.
I am looking for these things:
A place to sit around, drink tea, and do some work.
Food. Vegetarian, no gluten, no soy. I like Indian, Ethiopian, Mexican, and am pretty open minded.
Art and culture stuff - I'm going to be there for about a day, but I'll have a little time. I like art stuff of any kind, zines, knitting, museums, and general nerdery.
Thanks!
I am looking for these things:
A place to sit around, drink tea, and do some work.
Food. Vegetarian, no gluten, no soy. I like Indian, Ethiopian, Mexican, and am pretty open minded.
Art and culture stuff - I'm going to be there for about a day, but I'll have a little time. I like art stuff of any kind, zines, knitting, museums, and general nerdery.
Thanks!
Best answer: Go to the Louisville Glassworks! You can watch glasswork artists in action, see cool glass art, and I think they might even have some hands-on interactive stuff.
posted by aka burlap at 4:56 PM on January 27, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by aka burlap at 4:56 PM on January 27, 2016 [3 favorites]
Best answer: A lot of the answers are kinda dependent on where you will be staying/working, assuming you don't want to drive around a bunch.
If you are going to be downtown, the Highlands is a quick drive and will have lots of options. Any Heine Bros. coffee shop (there are several) would be fine. Safai, Quills, and Highland Coffee are all on Bardstown Road (main road in the Highlands) and are great.
Roots is a vegan restaurant (also on Bardstown Road in the Highlands) that also has a lovely selection of teas. For Indian, Dakshin is probably the best in town, but it is in a part of the city that doesn't have a whole lot else going on. Decent Indian in the Highlands is at Kashmir. There is an Ethiopian place downtown on 4th St that I've heard good things about, but I've not eaten there. Lots of Mexican places; my favorite is El Mundo on Frankfort Ave. It's not exactly traditional, but they have a few good meat-free selections and killer margaritas.
There are lots of museums and galleries downtown. If it is a nice day and you like architecture, I would suggest taking a stroll around Old Louisville, which has tons of beautiful Victorian buildings. I love taking visitors to Cave Hill Cemetery. It's one of my favorite places in town, especially in the spring. It's right at the top of the Highlands too in case you are going there for tea or lunch. Also Nulu, which is between the Highlands and downtown, has several galleries and nifty shops. There is a local knitting shop on Frankfort Ave and other cute shops and restaurants there as well.
posted by chaoticgood at 7:21 PM on January 27, 2016 [2 favorites]
If you are going to be downtown, the Highlands is a quick drive and will have lots of options. Any Heine Bros. coffee shop (there are several) would be fine. Safai, Quills, and Highland Coffee are all on Bardstown Road (main road in the Highlands) and are great.
Roots is a vegan restaurant (also on Bardstown Road in the Highlands) that also has a lovely selection of teas. For Indian, Dakshin is probably the best in town, but it is in a part of the city that doesn't have a whole lot else going on. Decent Indian in the Highlands is at Kashmir. There is an Ethiopian place downtown on 4th St that I've heard good things about, but I've not eaten there. Lots of Mexican places; my favorite is El Mundo on Frankfort Ave. It's not exactly traditional, but they have a few good meat-free selections and killer margaritas.
There are lots of museums and galleries downtown. If it is a nice day and you like architecture, I would suggest taking a stroll around Old Louisville, which has tons of beautiful Victorian buildings. I love taking visitors to Cave Hill Cemetery. It's one of my favorite places in town, especially in the spring. It's right at the top of the Highlands too in case you are going there for tea or lunch. Also Nulu, which is between the Highlands and downtown, has several galleries and nifty shops. There is a local knitting shop on Frankfort Ave and other cute shops and restaurants there as well.
posted by chaoticgood at 7:21 PM on January 27, 2016 [2 favorites]
Best answer: The 21c Museum Hotel in downtown has an an interesting gallery space.
posted by mmascolino at 7:45 AM on January 28, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by mmascolino at 7:45 AM on January 28, 2016 [2 favorites]
Best answer: I was in Louisville for the first time this past summer. We were there for a wedding and didn't have a lot of time to be tourists, but we did enjoy the gallery at 21c mentioned above. The Evan Williams Bourbon Experience was also fun.
posted by maurice at 9:39 AM on January 28, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by maurice at 9:39 AM on January 28, 2016 [1 favorite]
Best answer: I love Louisville, and am still sore at my sister-in-law and her family for moving away from it. ;)
My food tastes aren't yours, but I've seldom had a bad meal in that town. In terms of entertainment, if you're near downtown, the Louisville Slugger factory and museum is absolutely worth your time even if you don't give a shit about baseball. I don't (wife does), and I found it captivating and fascinating.
The Muhammad Ali Center also has a great museum not far from there.
posted by uberchet at 9:47 AM on January 28, 2016 [1 favorite]
My food tastes aren't yours, but I've seldom had a bad meal in that town. In terms of entertainment, if you're near downtown, the Louisville Slugger factory and museum is absolutely worth your time even if you don't give a shit about baseball. I don't (wife does), and I found it captivating and fascinating.
The Muhammad Ali Center also has a great museum not far from there.
posted by uberchet at 9:47 AM on January 28, 2016 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Thanks so much everyone!
posted by bile and syntax at 7:33 PM on February 1, 2016
posted by bile and syntax at 7:33 PM on February 1, 2016
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Your best neighborhoods are the Highlands and Frankfort Ave/Clifton and perhaps a bit of Nulu but there are neat places scattered around.
Sit around/do work/drink tea: You have a lot of options here, honestly. We have a ton of locally owned coffee shops. My favorite is Quills, but Heine Brothers has several locations throughout.
Indian: Dakshin, hands down. It's in a shady shopping center but it's so, so worth it. People may argue about that though.
Mexican: El Molcajete for some of the cheapest and deliciously authentic tacos in the city. Places like Guacamole and El Taco Luchador offer upscale mexican that some folks find appealing.
Art stuff: There are several galleries on Main and Market, the Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft, and the temporary Speed Art Museum. There are several art related events throughout the year that are very neat. It really just depends on when you're coming in and how they're being promoted.
Nerdery: We have Zanzibar which doubles as a barcade and a live music venue. Pinball tournaments, arcade brunches, I love it. Kaiju is a little hip dive that holds regular board game and anime nights. I am reticent to recommend The Louisville Gore Club simply because it's a bit of a drama-filled clique type event now, but it used to be a fun way to enjoy a beer and watch a sci-fi or horror movie on Sundays. Louisville has a lot of bars so most of the events center around that type of scene.
Now that I think about it, it really has become one of those cities where you have to know people/live here for a while before you know what is going on at any given moment.
Memail me if you like.
posted by Young Kullervo at 4:27 PM on January 27, 2016 [4 favorites]