There are several fascinating places to go when the desire to get out of Louisville strikes. From just 20 minutes away to 3 hours, it’s not hard to find some family fun packed into a day trip from Louisville.
Tioga Falls
Tioga Falls is a great hiking trail for families to seek out when on a day trip from Louisville. It is an easy enough hike that my son walked the entire thing on his own at three years old. You may want to gauge your own child’s stamina. Not too far from Louisville, Tioga Falls is off of Dixie Hwy between Louisville and Radcliff.
If you head west on Dixie Highway from Valley Station, you’ll pass a small town called Westpoint. After passing this town, you’ll see a sign on the right that says “Bridges to the Past” with an arrow pointing to the left. You will take the next left turn and follow the road until it you come to a gravel parking lot on the right.
There is a wooden kiosk and the trail to the waterfall begins to the left of the kiosk. It is approximately a two mile hike with the waterfall in the middle. Along the trail you will see creeks, a train tressel, and a beautiful waterfall that spans several levels of drops. Before you get to the waterfall, you will come to the train tracks in a clearing. You will turn right as and walk along the train tracks until you see the trail pick up again to the left. The trail is also marked along the way to point out historic remains of a rock road for carriages and other buildings that used to be there.
Falls of the Ohio/Iriquois park Fossil Beds
Fossil Hunting can make for a great day trip from and in Louisville. Many fail to realize that there is a fossil bed and museum just over the river from Louisville. Falls of the Ohio is open to visitors during the summer and allows visitors to walk down to a part of land that is usually covered by the Ohio River and inspect the rock beds there and look at the fossils. (Fossils may not be taken from the premises.) It is free for visitors to visit the fossil bed, but the museum charges a fee. In the museum, visitors may learn about the Ohio River and its habitat.
If you wish to continue the fossil hunting fun, you can visit Louisville’s Iriquois Park. Drive into the park and up the hill to the look out point. On the way up to the look out point, you will see a giant concrete rectangle to the left that used to be a pavilion. Behind that there is an entry into the woods, where you will find a creek bed that is littered with fossils.
Cave City, Kentucky
A well known day trip from Louisville is to visit Mammoth Cave. While visiting the caves, don’t forget the other attractions in Cave City. There is a small amusement park with bumper boats and other rides, a dinosaur attraction, and Kentucky Down Under.
Kentucky Down Under is an animal preserve with animals from Australia including Kangaroos, birds, and Wallabys. It is set in the woods and is a beautiful preserve.
One of our favorite attractions in Cave City is the Alpine slide. It is a concrete slide that is approximately 300 feet long and goes down the side of a mountainous hill. Visitors pay to ride sleds down this giant slide. It twists and turns and is a lot of fun.
The Children’s Museum in Indianapolis is just two hours away and a very worthy day trip from Louisville. It is a museum that kids are all too happy to visit as it is full of hands on and fun exhibits that kids love. The exhibits switch out from time to time, but when we visited there was a spy exhibit, a Clifford Exhibit, and an underwater exhibit in addition to an 18 ton, three story glass sculpture. There was so much at the museum, we weren’t able to view it all while we were there. My advice is to make sure to arrive early to allow a full day at the museum.
The best part of the museum for us was the family passes you can buy. A year’s pass for family of four plus two guests was only $100. The pass also allows access to other museums in their network, including The Louisville Science Center.
