Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest

What a GEM!!!
Free on weekdays, $ 5/​carload on weekends.
The café is delicious! The meats, cheeses, baked goods and desserts are all from local sources. The fruits and veg are either grown at Bernheim or local. Everything is fresh and flavorful. It’s not cheap. Please remember you get what you pay for and it’s not McDonald’s (great thing). My family and I were there on Father’s Day. Between us, we had sandwiches, soups and I had a delightful strawberry salad.
The edible garden was a cool experience. It was nice to see all of the food you can grow at home. My only critique about it is that some of the plants weren’t labeled and more information would’ve been much appreciated.
I HIGHLY recommend climbing the fire tower. You won’t regret it. The view is breathtaking!!! The volunteer who was at the top was very helpful and informative. It can be strenuous for some, however.
There are different types of beautiful art work throughout the park. Even though we have not been to any of the special events, I’ve heard great things and can’t wait to go myself. There is a lot to see and do.
The park is right off I65 making it easy to get to. We will need to get the yearly pass because I see us going back often.

My husband and I visit Bernheim forest a lot wether it is to take photos of a client or just to walk the park together with our son. We enjoy it!!!

I love this place. It’s kept up so well and it’s beautiful! Many different trails for any experience level. They also have bike trails too. You can also go fishing there I believe. I can’t find anything bad to say about this place. The café they have has really good food too. Definitely worth seeing for yourself!

It just doesn’t get any better, this is a beautiful place. I love going there, for a few hours just to relax for a few hours of peace and beauty. We just joined as members, it’s a small expense, but full of values.

Beautiful park! Great playground!

Didn’t see anywhere to review the little café inside The Bernheim Arboretum so I am posting here. The Jim Beam Distillery up the street recommended we go here for lunch. The setting is GORGEOUS and the food was fresh, delicious and filling! Nice to find a place not serving fried food and all meat!

This is the best forest for hundreds of miles! There are lovely gardens, many trails to walk on and even a great little café. Plus, you can drive for miles in the park. Enjoy God’s creation!

This is a great park, with tons of hiking and picnic spots. If I am in the area again, I will go earlier and with better shoes so I can take advantage of even more of the hiking trails.
Be sure to hit-​up the tree top walk, this is gorgeous and the cool wood sculpture outside the visitor center.
I was a little disappointed that I paid $ 5 for my car to get in, but did not get a map or anything. This could be due to the fact that although they are open until dusk, the visitor center must close much earlier (we were there at 5:30 on Saturday in March and it was all shut-​up). Anyway, there are a lot of roads, and some signs, but a map would have been a great addition.
A fun place for family and friends to enjoy the beautiful country-​side. My understanding is that it is free during the week.

If you have young kids, this place is nirvana. Relatively easy day-​hike trails that will get your kids excited about the outdoors, help their confidence/​footwork over rougher terrain, and get them great exercise. On weekends, they have volunteers at the welcome center that will show them furs, eggs, frogs, etc. Lots of learning. Trails are superbly maintained. Love this place!

Great place for hiking, walking around the lake, being outdoors-​y. They have some fun events throughout the year, as well.
My favorite place to go for fall foliage enjoyment.
Free on weekdays, $ 5/​car on the weekends.

This place was fantastic. I highly recommend amassing your least sedentary comrades to explore this gorgeous park. Though the fall leaves won’t be there to gleam above you, they will be beneath your boots crunching under you which makes for a fun game of hide n’ seek with a furry low-​to-​the-​ground hiking companion. Enjoy the various art sculptures through their «resident artist» gallery (Extra fun in geo-​caching these spots for your own adventure with friends!). They were hosting amazing willow-​tree sculptures by Patrick Dougherty when I visited. Curving through a roofless tree-​limb only house was by far the best way to take me back to my post-​barbie, pre-​cheerleading days when all I really wanted was to just live outdoors (I doubt that this was actually a phase and I’m secretly super stoked to learn of these new habitats.) Just check it out if you think I’m crazy. Here is a link to their calendar for this month!
There is an arboretum back home that I enjoy (Central Park, Union, Ky) and by comparison, Bernheim has more to offer.
Programs, trails, art, and more! Good for pets, kids, birdwatchers, bikers, runners, and that scary guy eyeing me in the corner of this café…
Bring your water bottle, snacks and gear because this park is great to have fun all day!

We might not have visited but for the rave reviews from the locals and this place didn’t disappoint. What a wonderful spot. Miles of hiking paths, nice areas for a drive and lovely vistas. Plus it’s free on weekdays. This was one of the best things we found on our trip to the area and we highly recommend it.

I went here recently for the CONNECT event and have also wandered around one other time after doing the distillery tour at Jim Beam. There is a gorgeous lake, several trails, geocaching spots plus an artist in residence so there’s always interesting an added interesting element besides nature itself to admire.
It’d be easy to spend a whole day out here transcendentalist style immersed in the natural beauty and sounds of silence or taking a more rigorous hike through the woods.
Not surprisingly, there are some spiders as well so watch out. Last time I went, I got bit close to my elbow and had joint pain for over a week. Still not sure what kind it was, but I’m guessing the common Brown Recluse is not absent from these thickets.

Two C’s to summarize my experience:
Calm.
This forest is calm and relaxing. Literally, a breath of fresh air. I wish it were located closer to Louisville, as it would be a perfect place to get lost on a walk or enjoy a picnic lunch. I attended a Pecha Kucha event here on the Transit of Jupiter night and the sunset was breathtaking on the reflected water.
Confusing.
Getting to the event proved to be a bit difficult. Thank goodness there were signs everywhere, but even then it was slightly convoluted. I think that the person collecting the money at the front should have handed us a map. At $ 5 a pop, a small paper map would have been more than helpful.
I need to make an excuse to travel down to this forest again — when I need a day to unwind.

Am I seriously the first person to review this great place? Maybe there is another listing under a similar name…
Okay, here’s the deal… this is a huge and wonderful park only about 20 minutes south of Louisville (from, say, the Watterson @ 65). $ 5 a car load on weekends and free on weekdays, although I know they would appreciate donations. Privately run, not a city or state park.
Nice visitors center, very clean bathrooms and a shop plus café area for light lunches. I can’t personally vouch for the food, but friends have told me it was pretty good. Picnic tables to enjoy your own food or their’s.
Miles and miles of great hiking, very often in solitude. Most trails are nowhere near roads, unlike even the very nice parks of Iroquois and Cherokee in the city. Hiking can be serious business here, the Millennium trail is basically a half-​marathon, including hills.
A nice lake, some wildlife, plenty of trees including many labeled (hence the «arboretum and research forest» name) and meadows round out the forested trails. There are paved trails for easier walking or handicapped accessibility, also good for small kids. Kids science type events happen every now and then– things like flower hikes and butterfly hikes.
I swear that my dog thinks this place is heaven on earth. He grabs a scent and runs with it. He tries to chase ducks. He sniff and runs and plays and you just gotta be happy watching such joy. A must visit for active dog owners.