South from Louisville to Tennessee, central Kentucky offers great scope for a one- or two-day driving tour. There's small-town charm in Bardstown and Abraham Lincoln's birthplace of Hodgenville , while the top natural attraction is the amazing Mammoth Cave National Park , the largest underground cave system in the world.

Kentucky's western stretches don't compare with the rugged east for scenic beauty; all the significant lakes were created by damming its rivers, and much of the land is scarred by strip mines, oilfields and commercial forests. There's little of real interest here except for the Land Between the Lakes recreation area, squeezed between Kentucky and Barkley lakes, overlapping the Tennessee border.

Beyond Louisville

• Beyond Louisville

Explore Beyond Louisville

• Abraham Lincoln's birthplace
• Bourbon distilleries
• Bowling Green
• Fort Knox
• Mammoth Cave National Park

Kentucky cities


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