By Joseph Garcia —

As the next school year soon begins, incoming freshmen from across the nation will come to join our ever-growing Cardinal family. For many, this will be their first time away from their hometown; this means getting acquainted with a city they will soon call home.

Louisville is a city full of life and is scattered with interesting locations.

Shopping

First and foremost, Louisville has tons of interesting little shops that can be easily missed when driving around. There are obviously the three malls to choose from: St. Matthews, Oxmoor and Jefferson.

While those have their own perks themselves, nothing beats supporting local businesses.

Two hotspots for these locally owned shops are New Louisville, or NuLu, in the East Market District and along Bardstown Road.

Both are interesting places where you can spend a whole day just walking up and down the streets checking out the shops.

Frankfort Avenue is another great shopping hub located down Breckenridge Lane. It’s a more subdued Bardstown Road, but in a cozier setting and another great place to walk.

Suggested Locations:

  • Joe Ley Antiques (NuLu)
  • Peddler’s Malls (various locations)
  • CRAFT{s} Gallery & Mercantile (Downtown Louisville)
  • Dot Fox (Bardstown Road)
  • The Great Escape (Bardstown Road)

Food

Not only are NuLu, Frankfort Avenue and Bardstown Road great shopping spots, they also have a lot of fantastic eateries.

Again, Louisville is full of “mom-and-pop” stores that are all locally sourced.

The Weekly Juicery is a great store in NuLu that offers healthy cold press juice options. It gets its produce from local farms.

But Louisville doesn’t just offer restaurants that offer food ranging from American classics to Roots, a great place for vegans/vegetarians. Like the city, there are some weird and unique places in Louisville.

Take SuperChef’s for instance, a superhero themed restaurant specializing in breakfast and more.

There’s also a lot of great sweet spots to satisfy any sweet tooth. Steel City Pops on Bardstown Road, Dairy Kastle in the Saint Joseph neighborhood just outside of Belknap campus.

Suggested Locations:

  • Roots (Bardstown Road)
  • Feast BBQ (NuLu)
  • Please & Thank You (NuLu)
  • SuperChef’s (Bardstown Road)
  • The Hub (Frankfort Avenue)

Entertainment

Looking for fun? Thankfully, there is always something going on in this city.

Again, the hotspots are around Bardstown Road and NuLu. For instance, in September, part of Bardstown Road closes for the Louisville Pride Festival and is separate and free from the one in June.

However, like with food, Louisville is more than just those two parts of the city. Closer to the University though is the Saint James Art Festival in October.

Besides large scale events, the beauty of the city itself is wonderful.

One of the best things about the University of Louisville’s location is the fact its right beside Old Louisville.

Old Louisville is a neighborhood of restored Victorian era mansions. It’s a great place to walk to since its just down 4th and 3rd Street. There’s also Central Park in the middle of Old Louisville.

Suggested Events:

  • Zombie Walk (Bardstown Road)
  • Louisville Pride (Bardstown Road)
  • Saint James Art Festival (Old Louisville)
  • PLAY! (Butchertown)
  • Waterfront Park (Near the river)

Graphic by Shayla Kerr / The Louisville Cardinal