Louisville

Louisville needs 2 days: touring the KMAC contemporary art museum in the historic downtown, on one, and visiting the Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory, where the most-used Major League baseball bats have been made since 1884, on the other. April-June and September-October bring the mildest weather, the first date coinciding with the Kentucky Derby in the first week of May. It's mid-priced, except during Derby week when lodging prices spike. It's home to the Kentucky Derby, the oldest continuously run horse race in the US since 1875, and its bourbon industry -with more barrels aging than the state has residents- made it the starting point of the Kentucky Bourbon Trail.