The past few months my husband has been interviewing for Medical Residencies, and I’ve tagged along on a few of his trips! One place we went to recently was Lexington, Kentucky. We had driven through Kentucky before and saw that it was full of rolling green hills, horses (literally everywhere), and pretty southern houses. So I was excited to be able to spend about 36 hours in Lexington – here is a quick Lexington travel guide!

• Gratz Park

  You can’t visit Lexington without looking at the great architecture! If you want a super picturesque, historic, and Southern-looking area – this is it. Gratz Park is Northeast of downtown and lined with adorable old houses. It also has the Hunt-Morgan House at one end, which is open for tours most of the year. Unfortunately it isn’t open in January, but I’m a historic house lover (I minored in Museum Studies in college and chaired our Museum Club!) and would love to go inside if we’re back again.

• North Lime Coffee & Donuts

  Super delicious donuts – I get the hype! Also the americano I had was AMAZING. I did go on the day after it snowed (only 3 inches, but that’s enough to basically shut down anything south of Iowa….) so the selection was limited and they were closing early. But if you’re a donut lover – who isn’t? – you have to swing by! Plus coffee and a bagel was less than $3 – score!

 

 

• Great Bagel

  I found this recommendation from a blogger I follow and love! Glitter & Gingham is a Lexington-based blogger and has a section on her site about Lexington tips. I got the BLT on Everything – it was super yummy! I don’t remember the last time I had a bagel so this was delightful.

• Ethereal Brewing

  My husband and I wanted to find a place to hang out before dinner on our last night there, so we headed to Ethereal. It’s in a converted warehouse in an area that is obviously becoming pretty hip. There is a pizza place and gourmet ice cream shop next door – you can bring food in if you want and eat while sampling their beer. The flights are only $2 each so we were able to try a ton of their taps and find what we liked! Our favorite was the Mouse King Belgian Pale Ale.

 

• Pasta Garage

  Pasta Garage makes all their pasta and sauces in house, and you can create your own pasta dish or order off their menu. I had the Cacio E Pepe and my husband had their Mac and Cheese – both were delicious. Their pasta was so fresh and yummy! We started with the Spinach dip (had to….) which was awesome also. It has an industrial feel to it as well with lots of cute tables to sit at. We got there super early on Friday and enjoyed having the whole place to ourselves! #earlybirds

 

• Woodford Reserve

  If you’re in Kentucky you have to visit a distillery! Woodford is one of the stops on the Bourbon Tour and we were recommended to stop here by a few locals. You drive by massive horse farms and through endless miles of fencing to get there. They have a beautfiul visitor center where you start the tour – I could sit on the big leather couches by the fire for hours! – you are then get on a bus to go down to where the distilling happens. Woodford is on the National Register of Historic Places and most of their buildings are from the 1800s. It was super informative to see the whole distilling process — and it was operational when we were there, so we got to see them actually bottling the bourbon! Definitely worth a stop if you are in the area!

Lexington is a super cute city and we loved our quick trip! If you are in the area you should definitely stop and explore – you won’t regret it.