36 Hours in Louisville

1. WALKING INTO THE PAST, 1 p.m.

Founded in 1778 at the only falls along the Ohio River, Louisville thrived on tobacco and bourbon trade, and its most prosperous families built lavish, Victorian-era mansions in the central Old Louisville neighborhood. Now those historic houses, spread out over roughly 40 blocks, are drawing a new generation of residents snapping up Romanesque, Gothic, Queen Anne and Beaux-Arts homes that sit shoulder to shoulder on boulevards and pedestrian courtyards. David Domine, who has written several books on the area and runs Louisville Historic Tours, calls it “America’s most exuberant neighborhood.” He leads daily two-hour walking history tours ($20 per person) that highlight architectural details like tobacco leaf reliefs, Moorish windows and split Kentucky limestone facades.

2. BRANDY IN BOURBON LAND, 5 p.m.

One of Louisville’s newest distilleries is bucking the city’s bourbon heritage and making brandy. In the emerging Butchertown neighborhood, so named for its meatpacking operations, Copper & Kings, housed in a former warehouse, has installed three stills for the production of its grape- and apple-based brandies and botanical-infused absinthes. Forty-five-minute tours ($12 per person) explore the distilling process and visit the basement where the barrels are sonically aged, or exposed to loud music that the distillers say encourages flavor-enhancing circulation in the barrels. The tour ends in the glass-walled rooftop tasting room and patio where guests can try the company’s signature 124-proof Butchertown Brandy, as well as apple brandy and ginger absinthe, while surveying the downtown skyline.

3. GROCERY GRUB & PUB, 6:30 p.m.

Across the street from the distillery, the new Butchertown Grocery serves refined food in a former family store with brick walls, wood ceilings, marble tables and romantic lighting. The chef and owner Bobby Benjamin has a considerable fan base for his crowd-pleasing menu, which ranges from lobster risotto ($17) and diver scallops with parsnips and fried leeks ($27) to a Southern burger with pimento cheese and bacon jam ($18). Come with a reservation or be prepared for an hour-or-more wait. In the event of the latter, or for after-dinner drinks, take the back stairs up to the speakeasy-style bar, where Patrick Hallahan, the drummer for My Morning Jacket and a partner in Butchertown Grocery, oversees the playlists.

4. BREAKFAST CLUB, 8:45 a.m.

Don’t ogle the flaky croissants ($3) or cones full of macaroons ($3.75) at the front counter of Blue Dog Bakery & Cafe. Continue straight to the host stand and ask for a table, or they’ll all be gone by the time Blue Dog starts serving breakfast at 9 a.m. Many dishes feature delicious bread, including the toasted baguette with Serrano ham ($8) or the egg, bacon and avocado sandwich with Cheddar, greens and mayo ($9).

5. BRIDGE CROSSING, 10 a.m.

Drive back toward downtown along waterway-hugging River Road and stop at the two-year-old Big Four Bridge at the 85-acre Louisville Waterfront Park. A new spiraling access ramp winds its way up to connect with a decommissioned train bridge, now repurposed as a mile-long stretch for pedestrians and cyclists, offering opportunities to stretch your legs while snapping photos of this bridge and others that link Kentucky and Indiana.

6. BUNG A BARREL, 11 a.m.

Evan Williams Bourbon Experience, on downtown’s Whiskey Row, opened in 2013, restoring bourbon distilling to its original location. Guided tours ($12 per person) feature a multimedia presentation on the brand’s 18th-century namesake, Evan Williams, whiskey maker and wharf master, and a presentation on the distilling process. The micro-distillery produces bourbon that is shipped to its main facility for aging, and visitors on the first tour of the day often get to hammer the bung, or wooden peg, into the fill hole of the most recent barrel. Tours stop in a retro barroom to taste bourbons, then exit through the booze-filled gift shop.

7. HOT CHICKEN, COOL SHOPS, 12:30 p.m.

Just east of the downtown district, the neighborhood of NuLu, a derivation of New Louisville, has attracted a critical mass of trendy restaurants and shops. Fuel up for foraging with spicy chicken (from $8.50) at the new Royals Hot Chicken, where the heat levels run from mild to “gonzo.” Nearby, Scout stocks stylish men’s wear, women’s accessories and housewares from candles to couches. Hit Revelry Boutique Gallery for local crafts and art, and Gifthorse for Kentucky-themed items like flasks that say “Bourbon & Bad Decisions” and kicky, Derby-appropriate bow ties. The former singer for the band Houndmouth, Katie Toupin, is the owner of Bermuda Highway, dealing new and vintage clothing. The neighborhood anchor Joe Ley Antiques stocks three stories with distinctive finds.

8. THE ART OF PLAY, 2:30 p.m.

Adjacent to the University of Louisville campus, the Speed Art Museum took advantage of its recent three-year expansion and renovation to install an interactive play space designed for all ages, create a 142-seat film theater and rework its collection to feature galleries that juxtapose works of various eras. Reopened March 12, the new Speed doubles the footprint of the old, including a glass-wrapped north building with an impressive dramatic lobby, bordered by exterior reflecting pools and sculptures. The museum houses a fine collection of Dutch and Flemish art and Kentucky works including portraiture and furniture. Don’t miss the lower-level Art Sparks, an innovative play area designed to elicit discussions on art across the generations through tracing, word games, light projections and more.

9. MAIN STREET FEAST, 5:30 p.m.

After SoHo in New York, Louisville hosts the largest concentration of cast-iron buildings in the country, many of them lining historic Main Street where travelers can stroll from restaurant to theater to bar over six blocks. Start at Proof on Main, the sophisticated but relaxed restaurant in the art-filled 21c Museum Hotel, with a Poison Arrow cocktail featuring a six-year-aged bourbon and blood orange bitters ($10) and charred octopus that comes sizzling with bagna cauda ($15). Make the subterranean Milkwood, from the chef Edward Lee, your stop for Asian-inflected Southern specialties, including smoked pork shoulder with coconut rice and curry oil ($22) with a side of collard greens and kimchi ($4).

10. CURTAIN’S UP, 7:30 p.m.

For a town its size — roughly 1.2 million in the metro area — Louisville has a rich cultural scene, including a symphony orchestra, ballet and acclaimed theater companies such as the Actors Theater of Louisville. Housed in a Greek Revival building, the company is known for staging the Humana Festival of New American Plays (March 2 to April 10), a repertory that has introduced award-winning works like “Crimes of the Heart” by Beth Henley and “The Gin Game” by D.L. Coburn as well as the popular Ten-Minute Plays series. If it’s dark, try the Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts across the street for concerts, musicals and one-man shows.

11. RERUN FOR THE ROSES, 10 a.m.

As close as you can get to the “most exciting two minutes in sports” without having a ticket, the Kentucky Derby Museum, at Churchill Downs, celebrates the pomp and history of the eponymous horse race. The museum features documentaries on trainers and jockeys, and interactive quizzes on horse races. The centerpiece is an 18-minute film, “The Greatest Race,” shown in an oval room with 360-degree screens museumgoers watch from stools that swivel. The film was updated to cover the 2015 Derby and eventual Triple Crown winner American Pharoah. Museum tickets ($15) include a walking tour of Churchill Downs that visits the paddock area and the track.

12. NOON FOSSIL HUNTING, Noon

Opposite Louisville, on the northern banks of the Ohio River in Indiana, Falls of the Ohio State Park protects a fascinating stretch of limestone composed of the skeletal remains of a Devonian Period seafloor. A great place to hike and bird watch, the park has a stone waterfront encrusted with 390-million-year-old fossils, including those of corals, sponges, mollusks and arthropods. The Interpretive Center, with its interactive exhibits ($9 admission), is a good place to train your eye.

Near Main Street’s Whiskey Row, the 21c Museum Hotel houses 91 rooms as well as a contemporary museum and the restaurant Proof on Main. Rooms from $269; 21cmuseumhotels.com/Louisville.

The landmark 1923-vintage Brown Hotel offers spacious rooms and an opulent lobby bar to return to after day’s end. Rooms from $199; brownhotel.com.