Some of the great Bardstown Road landmarks familiar to BU students include Twig & Leaf Restaurant, Heine Brothers’ Coffee, Carmichael’s Bookstore, Doo Wop Shop, Dot Fox, O'Shea’s Irish Pub, Book & Music Exchange, Wick’s Pizza, Graeter’s Ice Cream, Baxter Avenue Theatres, Homemade Ice Cream & Pie Kitchen, Dundee Candy Shop and El Taco Luchador.
Bardstown Road’s famous “Restaurant Row” is home to fine dining of every kind and live music lights up Baxter Avenue on nights and weekends.
Adjacent to the Bardstown and Baxter corridors, the area becomes tranquil, as the bustling strip gives way to single-family residences and a walkable grid of early 20th century Craftsman style homes with porch swings and shade provided by mature trees.
A few blocks northeast of Bardstown Road lies Cherokee Park, a 400-acre park designed by world-renowned landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted. One of the most popular parks in the country, Cherokee is home to bike and hiking trails, picnic pavilions, playgrounds, tennis courts, basketball courts, a bridle trail, a golf course, an archery range, a fishing pond, sledding hills, ultimate Frisbee and a rugby field. There’s even a lover’s lane if you know how to find it.
Even closer to Bellarmine – right across the street, in fact – lies Joe Creason Park, a 68-acre park that includes the Louisville Tennis Center, a 1.5-mile paved walking path, a playground and picnic area. Adjacent to Creason Park are the Louisville Nature Preserve and the Louisville Zoo.
Between the parks and the shopping/dining corridors, you’ll never run out of fun things to do in Louisville’s Highlands.