Bardstown is about 60 miles from downtown Lexington, roughly 1 hour 12 minutes by car: US 60 west to Versailles, the Bluegrass Parkway west to Exit 25, then US 150 for three miles into town. From Blue Grass Airport it is 54 miles and about an hour. The parkway is quick and easy, and the smart play is to leave early and stop at Woodford Reserve, Four Roses or Shaker Village on the way, so the drive becomes half the trip.
Why Lexington people should go
Lexington is the horse half of Kentucky’s bourbon-and-horses reputation. Bardstown is the bourbon half, concentrated: Visit Bardstown counts 11 distillery experiences within 16 miles of Court Square, including Heaven Hill’s home campus, the family-run Willett, Bardstown Bourbon Company’s whiskey library and Lux Row’s six-story barrel wall. Instead of driving between distant campuses all day, you can do two tours before lunch and still walk to dinner in a town settled in 1780.
Route options from Lexington
| Route | Drive time | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| US 60 to Versailles, Bluegrass Parkway west, Exit 25, US 150 | About 1 hr 12 min total | Getting there fast |
| Detour to Woodford Reserve, then the parkway | Woodford is about 68 min from Court Square | A world-famous tour before check-in |
| Via Lawrenceburg (Four Roses, Wild Turkey) | Four Roses is about 44 min from Court Square | Seeing both halves of Four Roses |
| South via Harrodsburg, Perryville and Springfield | Shaker Village is about 67 min from Court Square | History lovers; a slower, prettier day |
The official directions take the Bluegrass Parkway west 60 miles to Exit 25, then a right onto US 150 for 3 miles into town. The Bluegrass Parkway is a four-lane road through open farm country with few towns and not much traffic outside holiday weekends. Fill up before you leave Versailles if your tank is low.
Where to stop on the way
Woodford Reserve, Versailles
The obvious stop. Woodford Reserve, at 7855 McCracken Pike, is a National Historic Landmark where distilling on the site dates to 1812. It books online only, on a rolling 90-day window. The 70-minute Path to Flavor tour costs $35 to $40, and the 45-minute Spectacle for the Senses tasting is $25. Take the early slot, then drive about 68 minutes to Bardstown. The road between Versailles and Frankfort, past horse farms and stone fences, is one of the prettiest in the state. Our Woodford Reserve and Versailles guide has the full menu of tours.
Lawrenceburg: Four Roses and Wild Turkey
Four Roses’ distillery at 1224 Bonds Mill Road is a Spanish Mission-style building from 1910, open Wednesday to Saturday 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday noon to 4 p.m. Here is the Lexington-to-Bardstown bonus: Four Roses distills in Lawrenceburg but ages and bottles in Cox’s Creek, 12 miles north of Court Square. Tour one on the way in and the other during your stay, and you have seen the whole operation.
Wild Turkey is 10 to 15 minutes away, but its tour days and format have temporarily changed, so check its visitor center’s Facebook page before you plan around it. See our Lawrenceburg guide.
The southern route: Shakers and a battlefield
For a non-bourbon drive, go south instead. Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill near Harrodsburg has 34 original 19th-century buildings, exhibits Tuesday through Sunday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. ($20 adults) and lunch at the Trustees’ Table from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Perryville Battlefield, site of the largest Civil War battle in Kentucky, is 45 minutes from Bardstown, and Springfield’s Lincoln Homestead State Park, where Thomas Lincoln courted Nancy Hanks, is only 27 minutes out. Fit in two of the three, not all of them. Our Shaker Village guide covers the loop.
How to spend a weekend
Friday night: arrive via the parkway, check in, and walk downtown for a pour at the Old Talbott Tavern or a flight at Circa 1856.
Saturday: take the tours Bardstown does best. Heaven Hill’s Bourbon Experience opens at 9:30 a.m.; book its $55 Heaven Hill Springs tour for a shuttle ride to the new $200 million distillery. Lunch at Five Brothers overlooking the rickhouses. In the afternoon, head to Lux Row for the barrel wall photo and a tasting (its stills are paused in 2026, but tours continue), then dinner downtown.
Sunday: drive southeast to Loretto for Maker’s Mark (our guide), about 34 minutes from Court Square, where the tour takes about an hour and 15 minutes and you can dip a bottle in red wax. Check Sunday tour times when you book. From there, loop home through Springfield to the Bluegrass Parkway.
Where to stay, and which end of town
Coming off the Bluegrass Parkway, you arrive on the east side of Bardstown, where La Quinta sits on East John Rowan Boulevard near the parkway and the other chain hotels line Chambers Boulevard and Morton Avenue. They are the easy choice for late arrivals. For a walkable stay, pick a downtown inn instead: the Talbott Inn on Court Square, the 1819 Jailer’s Inn, Bourbon Manor on North Third Street, or the Bourbon Ball Inn, a restored building from about 1795 with three suites. On a late-September weeknight in 2026, most chain rooms ran $64 to $124, and historic inns $160 to $231. Our where to stay guide has the full comparison.
Seeing bourbon from both ends of the process
Lexington visitors often know Kentucky’s showpiece distilleries around Versailles and Frankfort. Bardstown fills in the rest of the picture. Heaven Hill’s new Springs distillery shows a modern plant built to fill 150,000 barrels a year, while Preservation Distillery pot-distills in tiny batches on a 40-acre former tobacco farm. Willett’s family still sits on some of the highest land in Nelson County. And Four Roses gives you both halves of one company: distilling in Lawrenceburg, aging and bottling in Cox’s Creek. Put one of each on the itinerary and the whole business makes sense by Sunday.
What’s different coming from Lexington
You are coming from horse country, so fall timing cuts both ways. Keeneland’s 2026 Fall Meet runs October 2 to 24, with no racing Mondays or Tuesdays, and the Breeders’ Cup returns to Keeneland on October 30 and 31. Lexington hotels fill, and many Breeders’ Cup visitors stay in Bardstown and drive up, about an hour to the track. If you live in Lexington, those same weeks are a good time to leave town for Bardstown instead.
The drive back is the other difference. The parkway is dark and fast, with deer, and an hour is a long way after an afternoon of tastings. Stay the night, or bring a driver who is not tasting. Bardstown-based Kentucky Bourbon Boys and Lexington-area firms such as Horse & Barrel Tours and Central Kentucky Tours are listed Bourbon Trail transportation partners. Our tours and transportation guide has details, and our Lexington day trip page covers the reverse trip from a Bardstown base.
