Corvettes, Cocktails, Caves, and Consignment—when I headed to Bowling Green, KY, with my sister, I knew we were in for some extra special fun. Why? There is plenty to do here that you can’t do anywhere else in the United States!
Gather your girlfriends (or, like me, your sister, who you don’t get to see very often!) and head to Bowling Green, Kentucky, for a weekend filled with adventure, delicious food, and plenty of time to shop.
Whether you’re into racing Corvettes (yup, we did that!), sipping wine with gorgeous farm backdrops (did that too!), or are just into the hunt and scoring fabulous finds at local thrift shops (yes, please!), this is the unconventional girls’ trip for you.
Before we dig into your itinerary, let’s look at a few fun facts about Bowling Green.
If you didn’t already know, this town, home of Western Kentucky University, is about an hour north of Nashville and an hour and a half from Franklin and Leiper’s Fork, Tennessee. It’s also home to a few well-known American brand names.
Why Visit Bowling Green, KY?
Home of the Corvette
Bowling Green is famously known as the “Home of the Corvette.” Since 1981, every Corvette in the world has been manufactured in the city’s General Motors plant.
Even if you aren’t a motorhead, you will want to check out the driving experience at NCM Motorsports Park and the nearby National Corvette Museum.
The Mysterious White Squirrels
Bowling Green is home to a unique population of white squirrels, and the locals love them. These albino-like squirrels are not only curious creatures but also inspired the name White Squirrel Brewery, Bowling Green’s only brewery making beer in town.
Mammoth Cave National Park
Just outside Bowling Green is Mammoth Cave National Park, home to the world’s most extended cave system and designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site and International Biosphere Reserve. It has more than 400 miles of explored passages, and there are still uncharted sections that park rangers, archeologists, anthropologists and other scientists haven’t even explored.
Pro-Tip: You don’t need a national park pass to visit, but you must book tickets to explore the cave. The most popular cave tours do sell out, so book in advance!
Incredible Consignment and Thrift Shopping
It’s not often you find more consignment and thrift shops in a town than you do boutiques and big-chain stores, but Bowling Green has embrace the “reduce, recycle, reuse” culture when it comes to clothing, housewares, furniture and collectibles. If you love to dig to find treasures, you won’t be disappointed.
Duncan Hines’ Roots
Did you know that Duncan Hines, the man behind the famous cake mixes, was originally from Bowling Green? Before he became the king of boxed cake mixes, he was a restaurant critic and published a popular food guide called “Adventures in Good Eating” and a cookbook called “Duncan Hines Adventures In Good Cooking and The Art Of Carving In The Home.“
3-Day Itinerary in Bowling Green, KY
Welcome to Bowling Green! It’s time to dig into your itinerary and discover why this town is worth the drive (or flight!) to visit and explore with friends.
Day 1: Fast Cars, Fine Food, & Fabulous Finds
Morning
Arrive in Bowling Green
- Drive time from Nashville: about 1 hour
- Drive to from Louisville: about 2 hours
Kick off your trip with a few laps around the race track in a C8 Corvette at the NCM Motorsports Park (505 Kimberlee A. Fast Drive). I knew my big sister trusted me when she hopped in the passenger seat and only cursed a few times as we got up to speed along the straightaway.
While I am not a car junky, this is an experience I would do over and over again.
Not only did the car handle really nicely (I got to drive the 2024 C8), but I also got to show up some gentlemen who were questioning why this “relatively” young woman was having the same experience as them.
Yup, I had an older gentleman ask to drive separately from me so he could go as fast as the lead car would let him. Apparently, he thought I would drive very slowly, and he would have to pace with me. I think his wife wanted to kill him after that comment.
Happily, the other gentleman at the same drive time as me was thrilled to have me on his ride. He just begged for the orange car.
Fine by me! I got the new grey one. Ha!
What to expect: You must watch a safety video before you can get on the track. Once the video is done, you will walk out with your group and pick cars.
The instructor(s) will go through the controls, etc. with you and get you comfy before they get into their own car, which is the lead car. You will follow this lead car (or the car behind the lead car if you are in the back), which is how your drive will proceed.
The lead car will set a pace; if they feel you can match it, they will go faster each lap. There is one long straight away where they really let you gun it.
On my 15-minute ride (three laps), I went about 90mph max, which was super fun, but I definitely would have gone faster if allowed. I’m not sure my sister could have handled that, though. HA!
Pro-Tip: Pre-book your Corvette experience online to ensure you can get a time that fits your schedule. Pro racers rent out the track to practice, so your drive time may have to be scheduled around theirs.
Also, make sure you review the vehicle damage waiver before you arrive.
What to wear? Dress in style, but remember to wear long pants and closed-toed shoes. Otherwise, you will not be able to drive or ride as a passenger.
Tour the National Corvette Museum
After you DRIVE a Corvette, go to the National Corvette Museum (350 Corvette Dr, TICKETS) to learn more about this iconic American sports car.
My sister and I chose to take a self-guided tour as we both like to go at our own pace, but there are also guided tours available if you want to dig into the history, mechanics, and cultural impact of this classy sports car (that I really want to own but it’s probably not practical at this time in my life with kids to run around to stuff).
Lunch
- Step into Novo Dolce (651 U.S. 31 W Bypass STE 101) for a laid-back lunch at this college-town gastro pub. You’ll find salads, burgers, pizza, and plenty of southern favorites (pimento cheese, anyone?) on the menu, as well as a nice selection of cocktails to kick off your weekend with your friends.
This is a local and 20-something favorite in town (we asked around). It has a very casual vibe if you aren’t looking for anything too fancy, and don’t have time to change after your Corvette experience.
Afternoon
Get ready for thrift and consignment shopping (part 1)!
Thrifting and consignment shopping is much bigger in Bowling Green than I thought, so you will want to carve out some time to do some digging.
My sister and I found 18 shops (map at the bottom) after a quick search, and we visited nine of them during our three-day trip.
Today, check out Consignment World and Dibs On and Off Broadway. They are across the street from each other and both feature a ton of housewares, furniture, nick-nacks, collectibles, toys, seasonal decor, and much, much more.
If you have time, you can hit up one of the Goodwills down the street.
- Consignment World:824 Broadway Ave, Bowling Green, KY 42101
- Dibs On and Off Broadway:1219 Indianola St, Bowling Green, KY 42101
- Goodwill: 740 U.S. 31 W Bypass, Bowling Green, KY 42101
More Bowling Green Thrift and Consignment Shops
We didn’t get to check these out, but if you have time, they are worth popping into when you want more options.
- Michelle’s Consignment Boutique (all fancy gowns): 1135 U.S. 31 W Bypass, Bowling Green, KY 42101
- Consignment Corner: 1100 U.S. 31 W Bypass, Bowling Green, KY 42101
When your blood sugar starts to crash from all of the shopping, you can pop into nearby GADS (Great American Donut Shop, 901 U.S. 31 W Bypass), a 24-hour institution in Bowling Green, when you need coffee and donuts any time of day or night.
Check into Your Hotel
There are a number of hotels, B&Bs, and even a golf course lodge you can book in Bowling Green, but here are a few I’d recommend depending on who you are traveling within Kentucky.
- Embassy Suites by Hilton Bowling Green | DETAILS
It is perfect for those looking for modern style, plenty of space to spread out, cozy beds, and complimentary happy hour drinks.
- Kentucky Grand Hotel & Spa | DETAILS
Declared one of the most romantic hotels in the world by Elle Magazine, this suites-only boutique hotel is perfect for a luxurious girls’ getaway, too.
- The Lodge at the Club at Olde Stone | DETAILS
The Lodge is perfect for anyone looking to combine their love of golf, pickleball, and/or country club life. If you are a large group, the 12-room property offers plenty of communal space to gather.
- Grand Victorian Inn | DETAILS
A classic, Victorian bed & breakfast if you want free breakfast and a little more looking after from your hosts.
Evening
Before or after dinner, you can check out some of the adorable shops in the historic downtown area around Fountain Square Park.
- Vette City Vintage, 939 College St, Bowling Green, KY 42101
- Back Down South, 433 Park Row, Bowling Green, KY 42101
- Mary Jane’s Chocolates, 432 E Main Ave, Bowling Green, KY 42101
- Candle Maker’s on the Square, 415 Park Row, Bowling Green, KY 42101
Happy Hour (4pm-7pm)
Pop into The Copper Bar (912 State St.) for a pre-dinner drink. Their seasonal cocktail menu is always worth a look, but they can always make your favorite drink. They also have beer and wine available if you aren’t into hard liquor.
Pro-Tip: they can make your drink to-go so you can enjoy any live entertainment happening in the square.
Dinner
Book a table at The Bistro (1129 College St.) for one of the best meals you will have in Bowling Green. The specials are worth hearing about before you settle on your entree. My sister and I enjoyed sharing a few appetizers, a giant salad, and a perfect fish entree.
Day 2: Shop, Sip, & Explore Nature
Breakfast
Start your morning at Spencer’s Coffee (1265 US 31-W Bypass), a local favorite known for its coffee and from-scratch pastries. I’ll vouch for their cappuccino, which was the perfect mix of steamed milk and foam.
You can also grab a coffee to go and then pop a few doors down to Cafe Kindness (937 College St.), a cozy downtown cafe with wellness-focused dishes like fresh smoothies, bowls, and toasts.
NOTE: Kentucky has many churches, and Bowling Green is no exception. Many cafes are owned by churches or Christians, so you may find religious sayings around, but have no fear—no one will preach to you or push you into a service.
Morning
You can pick up a picnic lunch at Cambridge Market (830 Fairview Ave) to take with you to Mammoth Cave National Park. You can enjoy your meal before or after your tour of the caves, but keep in mind that food is not allowed in the visitor’s center.
Pro-Tip: Check out their daily specials to enjoy something fresh and seasonal. I was surprised by how much I liked their hot turkey club sandwich (would have been just as good cold, so if you are packing it for a picnic, ask them to keep it cold).
Mammoth Cave National Park
Drive to Mammoth Cave National Park (1 Mammoth Cave Parkway), which is about 45 minutes northeast of downtown Bowling Green.
While there are several hiking trails above ground you can access, the caves are why most people journey to this slice of Kentucky. If you want to go into the caves, you must book a tour (unless the Self-Discovery Tour is being offered during your visit).
Here are a few of the options I’d recommend:
Mammoth Passage (1.25 hours): If you don’t like tight spaces and don’t want to be underground for long, this is the perfect tour. You will enter the Historic Entrance, where you will see many of the artifacts left behind by historic and prehistoric people. This tour includes part of the Historic Tour and all of the Discovery Tour routes.
NOTE: This tour does not see dripstone formation areas.
Frozen Niagara Tour (1.25 hours): This is the most famous tour available and sells out quickly. It also serves as the last stop for various cave tours (you would see this section on the Domes and Dripstones and Grand Avenue tours). Unlike the more extended tours, you won’t have to walk long distances or a ton of steps.
Note: you must take a short bus from the visitor’s center to the entrance.
Historic Tour (2 hours): If you are looking for a classic Mammoth Cave tour that includes the areas that made Mammoth Cave famous, this is the tour for you. You will explore the vast rooms that gave “Mammoth” Cave its name, but you will also have to go down into tighter places deep inside the cave.
You will have to go up and down hundreds of stairs and several steep inclines, so come with an interest in history and your adventurous spirit.
If you can’t decide between a few tours, remember that this tour includes parts of the Violet City Lantern, Star Chamber, the Gothic Avenue Tours, and the entire River Styx Tour.
Check out all of the tours you can book through the National Park Service HERE.
Food at Mammoth Cave N.P.
If you didn’t pack a lunch, there are several cafes, restaurants, and coffee spots in the Mammoth Cave Lodge. On the way to the visitor’s center, there is also a small camp store where you can load up on a few picnic provisions.
Remember, you can not bring food into the caves; you only need a water bottle.
What to Wear: Wear comfy shoes for walking and navigating through the cave passages. Pack a sweatshirt, as it stays about 56 degrees in the caves, which is welcome in the summer but can get chilly when you are down there for an hour or more.
Looking for more caves to explore? Check out Lost River Cave for an underground boat tour through caves and more above-ground hiking trails.
Afternoon
If you haven’t spent all day at Mammoth Cave, you can head back to your hotel to freshen up, take a dip in the pool, grab an ice cream sundae at Meltdown Ice Cream & Soda Fountain (900 State St.), or visit a few more thrift and consignment shops in Bowling Green.
If you have the energy, head straight for Beverly Hills Bargain Boutique (1608 U.S. 31 W Bypass) to shop til you drop. My sister and I are obsessed with this higher-end consignment shop that features brands like Anthropologie, Farm Rio, Free People, Prada, Gucci, and other big-name brands for cheap prices.
Did I buy anything? You bet! I got about $750 worth of clothing for under $200!
As you head to dinner, you can stop at Plato’s Closet (2945 Scottsville Rd.) and Goodwill #2 (5395 Scottsville Rd.).
Scroll to the bottom to learn more about the shopping scene in Bowling Green.
Evening
Drive out to the Old Stone BG to dine at The Vue (Olde Stone BG, 950 Village Way). This private golf club offers several bars that serve food and a lovely restaurant with an open kitchen.
If you are visiting on a weekend, definitely make a reservation and ask for a water view.
Day 3: Farm Fun & Wine Tasting
Morning
Have a lazy start to your morning. Grab coffee at your hotel or back at Spencer’s Coffee (1265 US 31-W Bypass). If you have the time and energy, you can head into your last and final thrift shop hop.
Here are your last two thrift shops to check out:
- Goodwill #3: 808 Campbell Ln, Bowling Green, KY 42101
- St. Teresa Thrift Store: 600 U.S. 31 W Bypass, Bowling Green, KY 42101
Brunch
Grab a table at Toro Tapas Bar (1760 Scottsville Road) to indulge in seasonal cocktails (and a few standards you will love), tapas, and brunch specials. Save room for the Tres Leches, or better yet, have it for your main course with a few vegetables and protein on the side.
Afternoon
It’s time to head out of town and see some of the Kentucky countryside. If you have room, stop at Chaney’s Dairy Farm (9191 Nashville Rd) for fresh-from-the-farm ice cream. This ice cream has 16% butterfat (most have 14%), making it extra creamy and delicious.
The ice cream shop in the back of the property can get packed on weekends with cheer squads and soccer teams enjoying a bite after their events, but there is loads of room to get away from the crowds.
If you are interested in farming and engineering, take the farm tour, where you will see the robotic milker in action. It’s pretty wild if you are a city girl like my sister and me, who thought cows still got milked by hand.
Early Happy Hour
Relax and unwind with a wine tasting at the Traveler’s Cellar Winery (3220 Fuqua Road, Rockfield, KY). It’s hard to believe this little winery is only 20 minutes from downtown.
You are welcome to bring cheese, charcuterie, or other picnic snacks to the winery to enjoy with your tasting or a bottle (or two) of wine from the winery. Just please do not bring outside alcohol.
If it’s in stock, try the honey wine inspired by Viking meads. They also make slushies out of their favorite red wine in the summer.
My sister and I loved chatting with the tasting room host and walking through the vineyards to say hello to the resident cats (Sylvester was very friendly and insisted that we pet him, while we didn’t see much of Miss Kitty).
As the weather gets cooler, I could totally see sitting around the fire pit with a glass of wine and good friends.
PRO TIP: Check the schedule. The winery hosts several events throughout the year, including live music and food trucks.
Evening
Reserve a table for dinner at Tony’s Steakhouse (Located at the Embassy Suites, 556 Hub Blvd.) to celebrate your last night together.
I will warn you now– save room for dessert, even if that means you need to skip an appetizer. The Kentucky State Fair award-winning chocolate cake is decadent, and you will wish you could take a slice home.
While Tony’s is known for their mouth-watering steaks, my sister and I aren’t big red meat eaters, which was totally fine.
Their chicken entree with a polenta cake was phenomenal. How often does anyone say that the chicken at a steak restaurant is good? Hardly ever!
Their fish special was also worth ordering; it was light, fluffy, and perfectly flavored.
A side of mashed potatoes seemed excessive, but where there are mashed potatoes, you will always find me. One side was more than enough for us to share, especially as we realized we needed to save room for dessert (hence the big warning I wrote above). We couldn’t finish our cake, which was just criminal, but we had to be up early for a flight home, and alas, the cake would not keep.
There were still plenty of things for us to do on a return trip, including a continuation of our consignment shop hunt, sampling more of the food and cocktails, checking out the library in an old theater downtown, or searching out the best day spas.
A three-day itinerary gave us the perfect taste of why this town is worth detouring to when in Nashville or Louisville for a few days.
How to Plan Your Girls’ Getaway to Bowling Green
Best Time to Visit
Plan your trip for spring or fall when the weather is perfect for outdoor adventures, dining, and shopping.
While the temperatures got into the low 90s while we were in town in mid-September, the evenings were cool, and there were plenty of spots to chill out during the day. The pools at most of the hotels were still open as well.
How to Get to Bowling Green, KY
Nashville is the closest airport (1 hour away), with Louisville only 2 hours drive.
You will need to rent a car to explore Bowling Green. Don’t plan on public transit or rideshares to get you everywhere you want to go, at least not at an affordable price. I use this site to find the best rates on cars.
Where to Stay
- Embassy Suites by Hilton Bowling Green | DETAILS
- Kentucky Grand Hotel & Spa | DETAILS
- The Lodge at The Olde Stone DETAILS
- Grand Victorian Inn | DETAILS
Packing Tips
Remember, you should wear closed-toe shoes if you plan to drive a Corvette or explore Mammoth Cave National Park. Extra space in your suitcase(or this packable duffle bag) is also a must to fit all of those thrift shop finds!
What You Need to Know About Thrift Shopping and Consignment Shops in Bowling Green, Kentucky
Thrift and consignment shopping are huge in Bowling Green, whether people realize it or not. A quick search on Google Maps served up 18+ shops my sister and I would attempt to explore over three days.
If you love “the hunt” and finding treasure you can’t find elsewhere, at least not for these prices, Bowling Green is your place, even if you can only pop up for a day.
From recognizable shops like Goodwill (there are three in the city and five in the area) to Plato’s Closet to my new favorite clothing shop in the universe, Beverly Hills Bargain Boutique, you will find plenty of clothes to outfit your trip.
For those looking for housewares, art, and random nick-nacks, Consignment World is your dream shop (more like a warehouse), and Dib’s On and Off Broadway will make you realize you have been paying way too much for antiques on the West Coast (like I do… way too often).
This post is part of a paid partnership with the Bowling Green, KY tourism board. As always, my opinions are my own. When they aren’t, you will be the first to know.
