Things to do in Lexington

Culture · Versailles Road, west of the city

A 1936 racecourse in limestone and ivy that runs only two short meets a year and holds the world's biggest thoroughbred auctions in between.

Local tip: Sunrise trackwork is free, open to the public most mornings in the meets, and comes with breakfast at the Track Kitchen alongside trainers and grooms. It is a better morning than race day and costs nothing.

Nature · Iron Works Pike, north of town

A 1,200-acre working horse farm and park with two museums, an international three-day-event course and retired champions in the paddocks.

Local tip: The campground is one of the cheapest good places to stay in the region, and the park's outdoor trails are free to walk outside event weekends. Check the calendar — a major show closes half of it.

Nightlife · Manchester Street, west of downtown

The old James E. Pepper distillery site turned into bars, a brewery, a music venue and food halls, with the original rickhouses still standing.

Local tip: Goodfellas and the Barrel House end is where locals go; the newer Manchester Street development is where visitors do. Walk between them along the Town Branch Trail rather than driving.

Landmark · Richmond Road, east of downtown

The 1806 estate of Henry Clay, the senator who spent forty years brokering the compromises that delayed the Civil War, with the grounds free to walk.

Local tip: The house tour is worth it, but the real value is the grounds: eighteen acres of old trees in the middle of the city, free, and almost empty on a weekday morning.

Nature · Downtown out to the Horse Park

A 12-mile paved trail from downtown to the Kentucky Horse Park, now stitched into the city centre by the Town Branch Commons corridor built over Lexington's buried creek.

Local tip: This is the single best argument for living inside New Circle. You can ride from a downtown flat to open horse country without touching a road, which almost no American city this size can offer.

Nature · Off Old Frankfort Pike, industrial west side

The spring where Lexington was named in 1775, now a 26-acre nature preserve hidden behind warehouses, with a blue hole and karst features.

Local tip: Almost nobody outside Lexington knows it exists, and plenty inside do not either. Free, quiet, and the clearest place to see the limestone geology that made the whole region what it is.