Lexington (Kentucky) activities: What to do in Lexington (Kentucky)
Lexington (Kentucky) activities: What to do in Lexington (Kentucky)
Despite the relative small size of this South-North straddling city, Lexington offers a surprisingly delightful palette of interesting activities. Whether you choose to explore some of the world-class and stunning horse farms ringing the city, hit up some of the surprisingly upscale shopping venues, take in a play at the Downtown Arts Center or the Lexington Opera House, tour the oldest university west of the Allegheny Mountains (Transylvania University), catch an insanely popular UK basketball game (Rupp Arena) or sample one of the myriad great restaurants that have sprung up all over town, you can be sure your experience here will not be a bland one.
For more things to do in the "Horse Capital of the World," see .
Local indie magazine ACE Weekly (, published weekly) is full of write-ups and advertisements for local events; it is free and available throughout the city.
Tour the Kentucky Horse Park and horse farms clustered north and west of Lexington. The horse industry is Lexington's traditional and most famous trade, and many beautiful old farms are worth a look. The Park is basically tourist-oriented and offers a museum, nice walks, views of famous racehorses, and lots of bluegrass, but it is also the host of some very large horse events. Probably the most high profile annual event is the Rolex Kentucky Three Day, a major eventing competition which takes place every spring. The park also hosted the 2010 FEI World Equestrian Games. These horse trials are also used as Olympic selection trials so you can expect to see some world class horses and riders. The park is located 7 miles north of Lexington (I-75 exit 120), and driving tours can be arranged with companies or can be self-guided if you have a car.
Keeneland Race Course, Versailles Rd, 1 mile west of New Circle Rd, . Live races April and October; museum open most of the year. Enjoy horse racing in a "days-gone-by" setting. Keeneland hosts live races only twice a year, with the Spring meet in April and Fall meet in October, but they welcome visitors year round. The feature race of the Spring meet is the Toyota Bluegrass Stakes, a prep race for the Kentucky Derby. When its live races are not in session, you can still watch other races broadcast from around the world or attend events like the yearling horse sales, where many young stallions command price tags in the millions. Buyers include local horse farms and bidders from Europe, Saudi Arabia, and Dubai. Recent movies Seabiscuit, Dreamer and Secretariat have been filmed at Keeneland.Admission $5 during race meets, but if you don't put some money on your favorite horse or jockey, you're missing the point. The tradition at Keeneland is to dress-up a bit; no jeans or T-shirts. �
UK Wildcats, Rupp Arena (basketball), Commonwealth Stadium (football), . The sports teams representing the University of Kentucky, a member of the Southeastern Conference (SEC) along with 10 other major public universities in the larger southeastern region plus the private Vanderbilt University in Nashville. The Kentucky men's basketball team, one of the most storied programs in all of college sports, is immensely popular throughout the state and especially in Lexington itself. Home games are held at Rupp Arena in the Lexington Convention Center downtown. The football program has enjoyed something of a renaissance in recent years, although it continues to struggle to establish itself in arguably the country's most competitive football conference. Nonetheless, the team frequently sells out the on-campus Commonwealth Stadium, at least for SEC home games and the major rivalry game with the University of Louisville (hosted by UK in odd-numbered years).Tickets $35–$46 face value, but expect to pay illegal scalpers much more, especially for games against quality opponents. �
The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about Lexington (Kentucky)
Where To Stay & Best Hotels in Lexington (Kentucky) - updated May 2024
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Lexington (Kentucky) Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.
