Day trip to Bowling Green from Springfield
Bowling Green, Kentucky is 50 minutes north up I-65 and home to the National Corvette Museum, the Lost River Cave, and Western Kentucky University. A fair full day.
Corvette on display at the National Corvette Museum
Corvette Museum and factory
The National Corvette Museum ($18 adults, $10 kids) is the anchor stop, right off exit 28. Allow two hours for the exhibits including the sinkhole gallery that swallowed eight Corvettes in 2014. The factory tour across the highway is $12 additional and runs weekdays only; it must be booked ahead and phones are not allowed inside. Combined, budget half a day and $30 per adult.
Lost River Cave and downtown
Lost River Cave on Nashville Road offers a boat tour of an underground river for $22 adults and $16 kids, about 45 minutes on the water plus above-ground trails. Downtown Bowling Green around Fountain Square has decent lunch options: Home Cafe for a $13 lunch plate, or Steamer Seafood for oysters. Total drive from Springfield: 62 miles, about 50 minutes each way with no traffic. Cross the state line 20 minutes north of Springfield on I-65.
Frequently asked questions
What people ask before they set off on this one.
62 miles or about 50 minutes up I-65 north across the Kentucky state line.
The sinkhole exhibit is genuinely interesting to anyone, and the museum is well designed. If you’re indifferent to cars entirely, skip and just do Lost River Cave.
Yes, weekdays only and booked in advance through the museum's website for $12. No cameras, phones, open shoes, or under-age-seven visitors allowed.
Central time, same as Springfield. No time change crossing the Kentucky line here.
Hotels in Springfield
Hotels we cover across Springfield
- Quality Inn & Suites Joelton Nashville 2★ · 4.7/5
- Hampton Inn Pleasant View TN 2★ · 4.6/5
- Hampton Inn by Hilton Springfield 2★ · 4.4/5
- Holiday Inn Express & Suites Nashville North Springfield by IHG 2★ · 4.4/5
- Quality Inn Pleasant View 2★ · 3.9/5
- Quality Inn White House 2★ · 3.7/5
- Springfield Inn TN 2★ · 3.2/5
- Charming Springfield Escape with Furnished Deck 3★
- Family friendly Home w Yard: 27 Mi to Nashville 3★
- Comfort Inn White House 2★
- Hampton Inn White House 2★
- Holiday Inn Express White House by IHG 2★
- Motel 6 White House TN 2★
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