Need a vacation? Here are ideas for Kentucky trips for 5 different types of getaways

The commonwealth is back in business and that’s good news for tourism. Perhaps no other industry has been as beleaguered during the pandemic, but recent surveys indicate that more than half of Kentuckians are planning a summer getaway.

Most have also indicated that they plan to stick close to home, so if you are looking for some suggestions on hitting the road, I am happy to oblige with this trip guide.

For a Kentucky family vacation

There’s no better place to take the kids than to the Cave Region in the southcentral part of the Kentucky. Everyone knows about Mammoth Cave, but one cave does not a region make. How about a visit to some of the lesser-known caves?

Lost River Cave in Bowling Green, which has served as everything from a hideout for the Jesse James gang to an underground nightclub during Prohibition, has Kentucky’s only cave boat tour.

If you don’t think you and the kids are up to hours of crawling around underground, Mammoth Onyx Cave in Horse Cave is the perfect choice. Its 45-minute tour is a leisurely exploration of formations shaped through eons.

If hunger pains strike, the onsite Farmwald’s Dutch Bakery and Deli has all your favorites — try the Amish Donuts.

Also on site is Kentucky Down Under. It will be a “g’day, mate” at this adventure zoo where kangaroos with their joeys and emus are the star attractions.

Dinosaur World in Cave City is an outdoor museum with more than 100 dinosaur replicas — each with a detailed description. There’s also a fossil dig for those who are so inclined.

Of course, you’ll need a place to stay, and nothing excites the kids more than the prospect of a night at Wigwam Village #2 in Cave City. It’s one of only three remaining from the series of Wigwam hotels erected along Route 66 between the late 1930s and 1950s. This one, built in 1937, has 15 tepee-shaped cottages.

If you would rather sleep like a cowboy than an Indian, stay in one of the three Conestoga wagons at Horse Cave’s KOA campground.

For a Kentucky foodie vacation

Louisville may lay claim to being the commonwealth’s capital of cuisine and its credentials are nothing to sneer at. However, for committed foodies who have “been there, done that,” there’s a new wrinkle on the state’s food scene.

A collaborative effort among Bardstown, Frankfort and Covington offers an authentic three-day road trip focusing on food and drink.

Get to Bardstown in time for lunch at Kurtz’s Restaurant (fried chicken and pie, anyone?), followed by a sampling of beers from the new Scout & Scholar Brewing Co. Check in at Talbott Tavern, Kentucky’s oldest coaching stop (1779), before bourbon tasting at Barton 1792, Heaven Hill or Lux Row Distillers and dinner at the Bar at Willett Distillery.

Don’t imbibe too much because you’ll need to be in Frankfort for breakfast at B’s Bakery where the luscious offerings compete with Beth (the eponymous B) for southern sweetness.

More bourbon is on the agenda with tastings at nearby distilleries Buffalo Trace and Castle & Key.

For lunch, head to Frankfort’s oldest restaurant, Rick’s White Light Cajun Diner for crawfish pie, but save room for the Italian specialties at Serafini’s for dinner. Afterward, overnight at the Meeting House, an 1840s manor turned bed and breakfast.

On Day 3, head north to Covington which has its own spur of the Bourbon Trail, the B-Line. Taste that bourbon at New Riff and at Neeley Family Distillery which boasts 11 generations of bourbon distillers.

Do lunch at Otto’s, known for its shrimp and grits and fried green tomatoes, and then check into boutique Hotel Covington (formerly a department store) to rest up for a night of gastronomic gallivanting. You can dine at Coppin’s, the hotel’s fine dining restaurant, or book a table at Bouquet Restaurant, known for a constantly changing menu of small plates, entrees and desserts. End your evening with a nightcap at Rich’s Proper Food and Drink.

For a Kentucky antiquing vacation

Shelbyville may officially be the Saddlehorse Capital of the World, but unofficially it is one of the commonwealth’s antique centers. Wakefield Scearce Gallery is known to serious collectors around the world, especially for its fine English antiques and silver.

Other treasures await your pleasure, including Vintique (vintage collectibles and local handicrafts); At Home on Main (affordable home décor) and Paisley Pig Antiques Mall, whose merchandise spans the Colonial era to Post World War II years.

As for the dining scene — while the venerable Old Stone Inn in nearby Simpsonville is no more, you can always book a table at the Bell House Restaurant or the Science Hill Inn for authentic southern fare.

When it comes to antiques, Georgia has Helen, but Kentucky counters with Hazel. This community of 500 people near Murray just above the Tennessee line, has been named by Fodor’s Travel Guide “one of the Top 10 Antiquing Towns in the U.S.”

Among the Main Street stores are Blue Moon for furniture; Horse’s Mouth for glassware and china and The Willow Tree for jewelry and other handmade items of apparel.

After a day of antiquing, don’t miss the Blue and White Grill where the catfish gets rave reviews.

For a quirky Kentucky vacation

Looking for the commonwealth’s most unusual attractions and out-of-the-way places? You’re in luck as there is no shortage of either.

Rabbit Hash, a town of 233 people with no major museums or monuments, is nevertheless a National Historic Site. That’s primarily due to its iconic general store, built in 1831 and serving the community continuously until it burned to the ground in 2016. How important was the store to Rabbit Hashers? It was rebuilt to its original specifications through donations from locals who couldn’t imagine the town without its store.

The town also can’t imagine life without its succession of canine mayors, the latest being Wilbur, a two-year-old French bulldog. Rabbit Hash may be Kentucky’s most politically corrupt city as Wilbur’s mayoral favors are granted at the drop of a doggie treat.

There’s an antique store, a winery and a restaurant, but not much in the way of accommodations unless you find a vacancy sign at the Old Hashienda, a 100-year-old building overlooking the Ohio River (sleeps up to four people.)

With England still out of reach for U.S. travelers, you can experience a bit of Blighty in Munfordville at a not-to-scale replica of Stonehenge. While the original was erected by Druids toting boulders from Wales, Munfordville’s Stonehenge was erected by native son Chester Fryer toting rocks from nearby Hatcher Valley. It’s free, and the public is invited to walk around and look, but no touching, please.

You have to really be a fan of quirk to make the drive to the far western part of the state to pay a visit to Kentucky Bend. It has no hotels, restaurants or attractions, and is home to only 18 people. So why visit?

For the sheer oddity of its existence. A peninsula surrounded on three sides by the Mississippi River, it’s officially in Kentucky, but you can’t get there from here. You must cross into Tennessee and double back.

The Bend was formed in the early 1800s by a fault which dammed the river in two places, at the same time forming Reelfoot Lake. Reelfoot Lake State Park is in Tiptonville, Tennessee which is your best bet for accommodations with both camp sites and cabins.

For a Kentucky adventure vacation

If it just isn’t a vacation without the adrenaline flowing, and you’ve climbed all the rocks at the Red River Gorge and revved your engines on Eastern Kentucky’s ATV trails, there’s still plenty of opportunity to white knuckle it.

The western part of the country may have Four Corners (the meeting place of New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado and Utah), but Kentucky counters with the Tri-States Peak at the Cumberland Gap National Historical Park, where a 2.3-mile hike will take you to the meeting point of Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia.

Too tame for you? Then, make like Daniel Boone and hike a portion of the 319-mile Sheltowee Trace which starts north of Morehead and culminates at Pickett State Park in Tennessee. Your trail will wind through hemlock-studded gorges referred to as “the backbone of the Daniel Boone National Forest.”

Fun fact: Sheltowee means “big turtle” in the Shawnee language and was the name given to Boone by Chief Blackfish when he was adopted into the tribe.

While you’re in the Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area, try your hand (better make that hands) at paddling the Big South Fork of the Cumberland River. Leave the leisurely drifting to those with an inner tube and a six-pack.

If you’re a junior adventurer and don’t want your vacation to resemble a scene from the movie “Deliverance,” navigate the Class I-II rapids on the five-mile paddle through rocky cliffs and boulders from Blue Heron Mining community to Yamacraw, another coal mining community.

A little closer to Lexington, you can fly among the trees, some 200 feet in the air at speeds topping 40 miles an hour. At Boone Creek Outdoors experience the beauty of Bluegrass flying between the trees on a canopy and zip line tour surrounding Boone Creek in the Kentucky palisades region.

Boone Creek Outdoors marries the adrenaline junkie to the history buff to the nature lover all during one two-hour excursion that includes six zip-lines, three bridges, a spiral staircase, a floating staircase and a rappel.