The Official Kentucky Visitor's Guide - The Official Kentucky Visitor's Guide 2025
Adrenaline-Fueled Adventure vs. Relaxing Retreats
2024-12-14 11:30:26
Adrenaline-Fueled Adventure
ROCK CLIMBING CAPITAL
Come for Red River Gorge’s sandstone cliffs and exposed limestone rockfaces. Stay for the steep endurance routes, overhanging jug hauls, horns, huecos and slopers. If you know, you know.
UP, UP AND AWAY
Traverse ziplines, rope bridges, suspended tunnels and more — 60 daredevil elements in all — on the Treetop Adventure at London’s Levi Jackson Wilderness Road Park. Choose your rush, from beginner to intermediate to advanced, on this adrenaline-spiking aerial course.
CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE
At Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area, camp in Kentucky backcountry. Churn waves jet skiing on Lake Barkley or Kentucky Lake. Explore forested trails by foot, wheel or hoof. Spot bison calves on safari through Golden Pond’s Elk and Bison Prairie.
READY, SET, WHOA!
Climb over 2,000 feet to the top of the mountain by chairlift to Cave City’s Mammoth Valley Park, home of the “concrete roller coaster” — Kentucky’s only alpine slide. Jump into a sled, grab the throttle and hurtle down the quartermile track.
BIKERS’ BACKWOOD TREASURE
What else would you expect from Georgetown’s intermediate Skullbuster Trails at Lytle’s Fork Recreation and Conservation Area? Rugged, remote and rooty, with natural and developed features, these 11-plus miles hurl everything they’ve got at bikers — including limestone rock and hidden meadows.
THE WORLD BELOW
Descend hundreds of stairs down a steep and narrow passageway. Walk, crawl and squeeze through slot canyons (narrow gorges), tubular passageways and tunnels. With lantern aloft, follow the route of the earliest explorers at Mammoth Cave National Park.
SUIT UP …
And take a dive into the spring-fed waters of Blue Springs Park with Hopkinsville’s Pennyroyal Scuba Center. At 19 feet, spot a bathtub; at 38 feet, a 1941 firetruck. Explore treasures diving to depths of up to 130 feet.
ON TOP OF THE WORLD!
Climb 60 feet to the top of Russell County’s Creelsboro Natural Arch and plant your feet on this 300-million-year-old limestone arch — one of the largest natural bridges east of the Rockies.
Relaxing Retreats
WHILE AWAY A SUMMER’S DAY
Memories are made on lazy houseboat vacations at Lake Cumberland, Houseboating Capital of the World. Tie up at a quiet inlet and splash down into the lake from the waterslide or bubble up in the hot tub while your cares float away.
SERENITY’S SOUNDTRACK
The rush and roar of tumbling waters soothe in sun-dappled settings softened by mossy boulders, drooping hemlock trees and rippling pools. See spectacular cascades — like Van Hook Falls’ 40-foot plunge in London — on the Kentucky Wildlands Waterfall Trail.
GLAMP CAMP
Fish the waters of Blood River, one of the state’s best-kept secrets, or sun beneath a bright-colored umbrella on a white-sand beach on a luxe getaway to New Concord’s Kentucky Lake Glamping. Tiny Home, vintage Airstream, geodesic dome? Yes, please!
WINGED WONDERLAND
Witness a swirling cloud of color as 2,000 butterflies are released during the Annual Viceroy Butterfly Festival in Oak Grove. Held in September on the War Memorial Walking Trail, the fest is near the Viceroy Butterfly Garden, which draws the winged beauties with its colorful blooms.
BEST SEAT IN TOWN
Pack a picnic and drive up, up, up the winding road to Bob Amos Park at “eighth wonder of the world” Pikeville Cut-Through. Eat, drink and be blown away by glorious vistas of the valley below.
DON’T WORRY
Be Happy Yoga & Salt Cave, Bowling Green’s one-of-a-kind salt cave modeled after centuries-old European caves, is a calming oasis replete with six tons of Himalayan salt and color therapy. Slip beneath a blanket, close your eyes and ... breathe.
INTO THE WOODS
Among grazing sheep and free-ranging chickens, settle into the mid-century furnishings within the Star Gazer Lotus Bell Tent at Mayfield’s FeatherStone Farm. Walking trails meander through fields and among the trees, and a hidden antique gazebo beckons picnickers.
ALL IS CALM
Amble along the O’Neill Riverwalk in Augusta, with its well-tended homes and secret gardens facing the Ohio River, the Augusta Ferry gliding back and forth between bordering riverbanks and the Rosemary Clooney House, an inviting presence for fans of the famed singer.
©Kentucky. View All Articles.