Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park. All photography is ours.
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Kentucky with Kids
If you have a free weekend and a national park itch, Mammoth Cave is within a day’s drive of half the country. When we were looking for our next park visit, we pulled out the map, picked the closest park within a reasonable drive, and took off. The longest cave system in the world didn’t disappoint, but make sure you book any tours in advance.
Kentucky is compact, cheap, and easy. Add a night in Nashville on the way for some extra fun, or take a drive through Louisville and horse country if you have a few more days. It’s a beautiful part of the county.
Destination guide · Updated November 2026 · Last visited May 2021
Best months
April–May, Sept–Oct
National parks
1 + 7 NPS sites
Fly into
SDF · CVG · LEX · BNA
How long
A long weekend, 5 days with the gorge
Book ahead
Mammoth Cave tours · Derby week · Red River Gorge cabins
Our Kentucky trip was a weekend built around Mammoth Cave. We spent the night before in Nashville, walking the honky-tonks and neon from our hotel downtown, then drove up for a full day in the park. We took one of the tours for families and younger kids, and the ‘frozen waterfall’ formation was the part our kids loved most.
If you make the trip, you’re also pretty close to one of the newest national parks, New River Gorge in West Virginia. Kentucky is a beautiful state with lots to explore. We packed a lot into a weekend, and that’s just the kind of road trip we love.
Your Kentucky guide
Enjoy exploring Kentucky with kids!
Keep scrolling for the essentials, three road trips, and where to stay.
Essential Kentucky
Why we love Kentucky
We think you’ll love it too.
Kentucky is where we’d send a family that wants a national park that goes deeper than any other. Mammoth Cave has some incredible formations and a variety of tours for all ages and abilities. Beyond the caves, there are lots of other things for families to do, including the Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park, which we’ve also visited. Check out our essentials list below for more ideas.
Mammoth Cave National Park Guide
Mammoth Cave is the longest cave system on earth. We spent a full day here on a free weekend, and it ticked every box.
The family cave tour Guide
There are tours built for younger kids and tours for the adventurous, and ours had a frozen waterfall formation the kids loved. Book ahead in summer.
The Historic Entrance Guide
The Historic Entrance is a big natural opening a short walk from the visitor center. Cool air pours out of it on a warm day.
Above ground Guide
The park also has trails, a river, and a visitor center with exhibits on the cave’s history. It’s worth an hour before or after your tour.
And the rest we’d cross the state for
Nashville, the night before or after Guide
Nashville is ninety minutes south, so we stayed the night before in downtown. We walked the honky-tonks and the neon, and Nashville with kids is very doable.
Louisville
Louisville has the Slugger Museum, the Kentucky Science Center, and the Derby Museum at Churchill Downs. It’s on our list.
Kentucky Horse Park
The Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington is a working horse farm and museum. Kids can take a pony ride and meet the retired champions in the Hall of Champions.
Cumberland Falls
Cumberland Falls is the Niagara of the South and the only place in the western hemisphere with a regular moonbow. Stay at the lodge so you’re there after dark.
Red River Gorge
Red River Gorge has natural arches, a tunnel you drive through, and Miguel’s Pizza for dinner. The Natural Bridge sky lift is an easy win with small kids.
Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park AftT Visit
A marble memorial surrounds a log cabin an hour south of Louisville, and it’s free. We made a half-day stop and had a picnic here on our way back from New River Gorge National Park in West Virginia. Are you looking for more national park sites? See our guide to Kentucky national parks.
Newport Aquarium
The Newport Aquarium sits across the river from Cincinnati and has a shark bridge you walk across. It’s a great rainy-day stop.
Cumberland Gap
Cumberland Gap is the mountain pass the pioneers walked through. A road climbs to the Pinnacle Overlook for a view into three states. Want more NPS sites nearby? Check out our Kentucky national parks guide.
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Find your next adventure in Kentucky
Tell us what you’re planning and we’ll match it up with some great trip ideas.
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Visiting Mammoth Cave National Park With Kids
When we found ourselves with a free weekend earlier this year, we decided to pull out the map and find…
Routes
Three Kentucky road trip itineraries
Kentucky packs three very different trips into one state. Pick the cave weekend we did, horse country and the gorge, or the mountains of the southeast. See all the best stops on a map.
Start
Nashville
Spend the night downtown and walk the strip, listening to the honky-tonks and smelling the boots and leather goods. It’s ninety minutes to the cave the next morning.
Then head to
Mammoth Cave
Our Mammoth Cave guide covers which tours work for which ages. Book before you leave home in summer.
Add on
Lincoln’s birthplace
Lincoln’s birthplace is forty-five minutes north in Hodgenville. An hour is enough, and it’s on the way to Louisville.
Home base
Lexington
Fly into LEX. The Kentucky Horse Park takes a morning, and Keeneland’s backstretch is open at dawn during the meets.
Then head to
Red River Gorge
Red River Gorge is an hour east. Ride the sky lift to Natural Bridge, drive through Nada Tunnel, and hike to Gray’s Arch if the kids are up for it.
Add on
Cumberland Falls
Cumberland Falls is two hours south. Time it for a full moon and clear skies, and stay at DuPont Lodge.
Start
Cumberland Gap
Drive to the Pinnacle Overlook and walk the short trail to the saddle of the gap the pioneers used.
Then head to
Big South Fork
Big South Fork is ninety minutes west. Ride the scenic railway from Stearns into the gorge.
Finish
Cumberland Falls
It’s forty-five minutes north. See the falls from the overlook, then hike Eagle Falls trail if there’s time.
When to go
Time your visits with the weather and the region
The cave is 54 degrees no matter what’s happening outside, which makes Mammoth Cave a good trip in any season. We went in the cooler months and had the park nearly to ourselves. Kentucky has mild winters and humid summers, with two lovely shoulder seasons.
Swipe the chart sideways to see the full year.
April – May
Spring brings redbuds and dogwoods, foals in the fields around Lexington, and comfortable hiking in the gorge. Derby week is the exception. Book around it.
June – August
It’s hot and humid. The cave is the perfect summer day, and Land Between the Lakes is built for water. Hike early in the gorge.
September – October
Fall color peaks in the Red River Gorge in mid-October, Keeneland runs its fall meet, and the crowds go home.
November – March
Winter is quiet, gray, and cheap. Mammoth Cave tours run all winter with no crowds, which is how we did it. On a rainy day, the Newport Aquarium and Louisville’s museums keep kids busy.
Where to stay
Pick a good base to start your Kentucky adventure
Kentucky is easier when you pick one region. Here’s where we’ve stayed and where we’d stay next.
Cave trips
Mammoth Cave & Cave City
The Lodge at Mammoth Cave is inside the park and steps from the visitor center. Cave City has the chains and the mini golf, ten minutes away. We did it as a day trip from Nashville.
- Our Mammoth Cave weekend
- The Lodge for early tours
- Cave City chains on points
City trips
Nashville & Louisville
We stayed in Nashville downtown and could walk to everything. Louisville’s Museum Row is walkable from most downtown hotels.
- Hyatt Place Nashville Downtown, where we stayed
- Downtown Louisville near Main Street
- Book Derby week a year ahead or skip it
Mountain trips
State park lodges
Kentucky’s state park lodges are some of the best in the country and a bargain. DuPont Lodge at Cumberland Falls and Hemlock Lodge at Natural Bridge both book up for fall weekends.
- DuPont Lodge for the moonbow
- Hemlock Lodge in the Red River Gorge
- Cabins at Cumberland Gap’s Pine Mountain
Good to know
Questions families ask us about Kentucky
Pick one of the tours the park lists for families and younger children. Ours was short, mostly flat, and full of formations, including a frozen waterfall the kids loved. The longer historic and adventure tours are for kids old enough to handle stairs and tight spots. Tours sell out in summer, so book on recreation.gov before you leave home. Our guide breaks the options down.
Nashville (BNA) is ninety minutes from Mammoth Cave and was our base. Fly into SDF for Louisville, LEX for horse country and the gorge, or CVG for the Newport Aquarium and northern Kentucky.
Yes, you’ll need one everywhere. The parks and the horse farms are spread out and there’s no practical alternative.
That’s exactly how we did it. We spent a night in Nashville, a full day in the park, and drove home the next day. It’s within a day’s drive of a huge part of the country, and there’s no entrance fee. The cave is the same temperature in January as in July. It was a fantastic way to spend a day as a family.
Yes, it is. We only had a night, but we walked Broadway and took in the neon and honky-tonk music from the sidewalk. The kids loved it. The Hyatt Place downtown put us within walking distance of everything. There’s more to Nashville than boots and neon, but that’s all we had time for.
Map
Essential Kentucky, mapped
Keep exploring
Where to go next
Tennessee with Kids
Tennessee has Nashville, Gatlinburg, and the Great Smoky Mountains.
Ohio with Kids
Cincinnati is across the river from the aquarium, with Cedar Point up north. Make a stop in Cleveland for the Rock Hall and a side trip to Kings Island for more coasters.
