{"id":871344,"date":"2026-08-28T10:42:20","date_gmt":"2026-08-28T10:42:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/871344\/"},"modified":"2026-08-28T10:42:20","modified_gmt":"2026-08-28T10:42:20","slug":"louisville-travel-guide-why-kentuckys-biggest-city-is-the-ultimate-destination-for-bourbon-lovers-and-sports-fans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/871344\/","title":{"rendered":"Louisville travel guide: Why Kentucky\u2019s biggest city is the ultimate destination for bourbon lovers and sports fans"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Katrina<\/p>\n

August 28, 2026 \u2014 3:19pm<\/p>\n

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AAA<\/p>\n

Sport and alcohol are a potent mix \u2013 and both attract visitors to Louisville, Kentucky\u2019s largest city. It\u2019s home to the Kentucky Derby, the country\u2019s longest-running sporting event. Also known as the \u201cMost Exciting Two Minutes in Sport\u201d, the race has run every year since 1875 \u2013 including during World War II and the COVID pandemic.<\/p>\n

Louisville is also nicknamed Bourbon City as it pumps out a third of the US\u2019s output (one downtown block is called Whiskey Row and distilleries host more bourbon tours than you can poke a swizzle stick at). The city\u2019s souvenir badges say things like \u201cTalk derby to me\u201d, \u201cBe the mint to my julep\u201d and \u201cCall me old-fashioned\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"AA museum visitor tests their skills. <\/p>\n

A huge bronze-coloured cylinder incorporated into the Muhammad Ali Centre\u2019s architecture might resemble a cocktail shaker but of course it is not (the city\u2019s most famous son, born here in 1942 and buried here in 2016, converted to Islam and was a teetotaller). The structural element was inspired by Ali\u2019s lighting of the torch at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.<\/p>\n

From certain angles, you might also spy a winged roofline \u2013 an homage to Ali\u2019s poetic taunt to opponents that he could \u201cfloat like a butterfly, sting like a bee\u201d. Artfully placed tiles on the facade depict Ali in various boxing stances.<\/p>\n

The centre, overlooking a stretch of the Ohio River separating Kentucky from Indiana, opened in 2005. Celebrating the outspoken boxer and activist, once called the \u201cLouisville Lip\u201d, before simply becoming \u201cThe Greatest\u201d, it showcases not only Ali\u2019s sporting achievements but his humanitarian ones. It also includes a prayer and reflection room \u2013 an acknowledgment of his faith.<\/p>\n

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This might sound serious, but there\u2019s also lots of fun to be had. At a re-creation of Ali\u2019s Deer Lake, Pennsylvania training camp, for example, you can shuck your shoes and step into a ring to take boxing lessons from one of Ali\u2019s nine children.<\/p>\n

\"RingsideRingside at the Muhammad Ali Centre.<\/p>\n

From a TV screen, Laila (who followed in her father\u2019s dancer-like footsteps and remained undefeated until her 2007 retirement) advises: \u201cCheck out his trademark shuffle he used to avoid and confuse opponents.\u201d Then put her lessons into effect by \u201cshadow-boxing\u201d Ali himself.<\/p>\n

Ali\u2019s tumultuous, multifaceted life (which included 30 years of living with Parkinson\u2019s disease) was so large that it\u2019s an almost impossible task to cover it all. Of course, the centre spotlights his Louisville childhood, with a timeline revealing how 12-year-old Cassius Clay first became interested in boxing. When he reported the theft of his bicycle, he met a policeman who ran a boxing program. Cassius took to the sport right away. His journey from devout, churchgoing Christian to his embrace of Islam, leading to a name change at 22, is also explored in-depth.<\/p>\n

Ali became a conscientious objector during the Vietnam War. His refusal to be drafted led to professional repercussions that lifted only as the public mood swung against the US involvement in the conflict.<\/p>\n

Visitors with more than a passing interest in boxing can take a seat \u201cringside\u201d to watch Ali\u2019s historic matches, including the Rumble in the Jungle in 1974 against George Foreman in Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo).<\/p>\n

Artefacts also point to Ali\u2019s ventures outside the ring, including a cologne, a comic book in which he joins forces with Superman, his 1975 biography, The Greatest, edited by Toni Morrison (then working at Random House) and his Grammy Award-nominated spoken-word record.<\/p>\n

\"AliAli knocks down Sonny Liston in the first round of their second bout on May 25, 1965. AP<\/p>\n

The larger-than-life, three-time heavyweight world champion has been gone a decade now \u2013 yet his legacy includes lessons for us all. He was literally a life-saver (in 1981, he talked down a suicidal man from an LA high-rise), famously generous and supremely self-confident. As a keep cup in the gift shop says: \u201cBe Great. Do Great Things.\u201d<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Epic<\/a>THE DETAILS<\/p>\n

VISIT
The Muhammad Ali Centre, on Museum Row in downtown Louisville, is open Wednesday to Sunday, 10am-5pm. Entry costs $US20 ($28) adult\/$US10 children. See alicenter.org<\/a><\/p>\n

FLY
The fastest way to reach Louisville\u2019s Muhammad Ali International Airport from Australia is by flying Qantas to Dallas Fort Worth and connecting via American Airlines to Louisville. Australian passport holders require an ESTA ($US40.27) to visit the United States. See qantas.com<\/a>, esta.cbp.dhs.gov<\/a><\/p>\n

STAY
Omni Louisville Hotel is near downtown Louisville\u2019s main attractions. See omnihotels.com<\/a><\/p>\n

The writer was a guest of Travel South USA.<\/p>\n

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\"KatrinaKatrina Lobley<\/a> is a Sydney-based freelance travel writer with expertise in ABC (art, bars, culture). She\u2019s been writing for Traveller since 2006.Connect via email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"August 28, 2026 \u2014 3:19pm Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":871345,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[64,63,802,85],"class_list":["post-871344","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-boxing","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/871344","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=871344"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/871344\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/871345"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=871344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=871344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=871344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}