Let’s say you have several days to spend visiting Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky. You might want to take a day trip or two to see more of the state or neighboring Tennessee. What else can you do and see? Plenty! Historic towns, vibrant cities, a couple of units of the National Park System, shopping, dining, museums, sports venues, wineries, breweries, distilleries, and well-known universities are all located anywhere between 15 minutes to an hour-and-a-half away from the Mammoth Cave visitor center.
Below is a short list of places to go and things to do if you have a day or two to spend outside the park. Distances from the Mammoth Cave visitor center are based upon Google Maps mileages. Click on each location’s name for more detailed information.
Horse Cave, Kentucky
Distance From Mammoth Cave Visitor Center: 15 miles (24 km)
Located just a hop and a skip from Mammoth Cave, the town of Horse Cave (population 2,250) is situated atop a cave from which the town derived its name and water supply. With the entrance located on the town’s Main Street, you can tour the privately-operated Horse Cave (now known as Hidden River Cave). While visiting the Horse Cave Historic District, you can shop for antiques at the Caveland Antique Mall, open six days a week (closed on Sunday).
Bowling Green, Kentucky
Distance From Mammoth Cave Visitor Center: 41 miles (70.8 km)
Home to Western Kentucky University and Duncan Hines (that’s right, the king of cake mix was a real person), you’ll have the opportunity to shop, dine, visit Lost River Cave to embark on Kentucky’s only underground cave boat tour, and even see a reindeer farm. There are breweries, wineries, and distilleries to tour (and partake). You can learn more than a little history by visiting the African American Museum, Aviation Heritage Park, Historic Railpark & Train Museum, and the Kentucky Museum, where you can learn about Duncan Hines and his road from traveling salesman to esteemed restaurant critic to cake-mix king.
Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park
Distance From Mammoth Cave Visitor Center: 44 miles (66 km)
Visit President Lincoln’s childhood home, the place Lincoln says is one of his earliest memories. The Lincoln family lived on 30 acres of the 228-acre Knob Creek Farm from the time Abraham was two and a half until he was almost eight years old. You’ll be able to visit his boyhood home and the first Lincoln Memorial Building in which resides Lincoln’s symbolic birth cabin.
The Lincoln Memorial at Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park / NPS file
Mill Springs Battlefield National Monument
Distance From Mammoth Cave Visitor Center: 95.5 miles (153.7 km)
Visit the site of the first major U.S victory during the American Civil War. Explore the rolling fields of Kentucky where the battle took place and learn about that state's strategic importance to both sides of the fight.
The view from the batteries on a foggy morning at Mill Springs Battlefield National Monument / NPS file
Nashville, Tennessee
Distance From Mammoth Cave Visitor Center: 94 miles (151.3 km)
The Tennessee state capitol Nashville, aka Music City and home to the Tennessee Titans NFL team, offers shopping, dining, museums, the Grand Ole Opry House, Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, the National Corvette Museum, Vanderbilt University (ranked 13th in the nation for best colleges in 2023), and history ranging from Belle Meade Historic Site and Winery to a full-scale replica of the Parthenon. All of this is just for starters in a vibrant city of 716,000.
Louisville, Kentucky
Distance From Mammoth Cave Visitor Center: 94 miles (151.3 km)
Nicknamed Bourbon City, birthplace of Muhammad Ali, and home to Churchill Downs and the Kentucky Derby, this city of 623,000 offers shopping, dining, museums, public art, live music venues, and festivals and events all seasons of the year, from the North American Livestock Exposition & Championship Rodeo, to the Jug Band Jubilee, to the Louisville Boat, RV & Sportshow, to the Kentucky State Fair, to the Kentucky Shakespeare Festival. There’s something for everyone in Louisville.
