Tips for visiting fan to Lexington

[collegefootballfan81]

Hey All,

My buddies and I are big college football fans, and we love traveling to new places for games. We’re working on a blog that gives tips to other football fans when they travel to away stadiums for games. I’m trying to hit all the SEC schools, and I was hoping you’d indulge me on some questions about Kentucky football games. Basically, what I am asking is that if you and I met randomly on an airplane and I told you all about my trip to Lexington for a football game, you wouldn’t have to say, “You did it all wrong, next time you should …”

Since you guys are the experts on a perfect trip to Lexington, I wanted to see if you would answer a few questions. Feel free to answer any or all of them that you’d like, and if you can think of any other info I’ve overlooked feel free to throw that in there too!

TRAVEL

1. What’s the most convenient/cheapest airport to fly into? Is there a specific airline that is best/cheapest to fly on?

2. Suppose some travelers are a little more adventurous and don’t mind flying into an airport that’s a 3-4 hour drive away from the game if it would make for a cool drive or takes them by some cool sites/attractions – anything like that people should know about when they’re booking flights?

3. Is a rental car necessary? How is the public transportation system/Uber in Lexington?

HOTEL

4. What’s the hotel situation like over the weekend of a game? How good is airbnb, vrbo, etc. in Lexington? Are there any great resort towns nearby to stay at for a day?

FOOD

5. What are your favorite places to eat around Lexington during the college football season? How is the food in the stadium (anything a one-time visitor can’t leave the stadium without eating)?

TICKETS

6. What is the best option for visiting fans to buy game tickets? School Ticket office? StubHub? Local Classifieds?

TAILGATING

7. Any general tailgating advice for a first-timer at a Kentucky football game? Specific areas for visiting fans?

TRADITIONS

8. Some schools have unique game day traditions – do you guys do anything that’d be worth a visitor planning their schedule around? Are there any buildings or sites near campus or the stadium that visitors should check out?

OTHER ATTRACTIONS

9. If fans decide to make this more of a family vacation, are there any local sites/attractions that they would need to make room for on their schedule? Any can’t-miss Historical/Educational or Fun/Entertainment sites?

SAFETY

10. Are there any general safety issues fans should be aware of? Any areas visitors should avoid for parking, walking, etc? I know every fan base has its share of bad apples, but would you classify your general fan base as hospitable/neutral/in-hospitable?

OTHER SEC SCHOOLS

11. Lastly, since I'm trying to do this for all the teams in the SEC, I thought I'd ask if you have any experience traveling to other schools in the conference? Favorite/Least Favorite SEC school to visit for games? Any horror or success stories or general advice you'd give from your experiences?

As mentioned, feel free to answer any/all/none of the questions, and throw on any extra info that I may have overlooked. I’ll be sure to report back when our blog is posted so that you can see the finished product!

 

[cobalt_mcg]

1) Bluegrass Airport (LEX) is the best airport to fly into. Not sure about cheapest airline, but I imagine if there's a Southwest flight it would be the cheapest. I always fly Delta.

2) You could fly into Louisville (SDF) and hit some of the Bourbon Trail. There are plenty of beautiful distilleries between Louisville and Lexington which is only a 1 hour drive.

3) Rental isn't really necessary if you know how to use Uber/Lyft and don't mind surge price gouging. A sub-compact rental car would probably end up being cheaper at around $100 for the weekend.

4) Plenty of hotels, but the two main hotels downtown and the other hotels with a couple of minutes of campus tend to fill up quick for BIG games. Never checked AirBNB in Lex, but their rise in popularity will probably result in good options.

5) Nothing inside the stadium is really a must get, but there are plenty of great places to eat. Blue Door Smokehouse, Red State BBQ, Middle Fork Kitchen, Malone's, Goodfellas Pizza, Windy Corner, etc. If you have any food in mind, I could get more specific. A hot brown is a Kentucky tradition if you visit Windy Corner, Winchells, or Ramseys.

6) Stubhub or scalpers are the best ticket option unless it's a big game. UK's ticket office is fairly reasonable, though.

7) Tailgating advice would be to try and make it to a game when Keeneland is in fall session. Tailgate there, watch a few races, then make your way to the stadium and make some friends. Plenty of tailgating going down for night games.

8) As mentioned before, Keeneland during the day and a UK game at night is a tradition that I would put up against any other even if the football is mediocre. It's entirely unique to Kentucky and an absolute blast.

9) I believe there is a science museum downtown called the Explorium that younger kids would love.

10) Campus is generally a very safe place, no concerns there.

11) Auburn was kind of boring, even though we won the game I attended. Georgia is a great college town. Vanderbilt has Nashville. LSU is absurd, in a fun way.

I would shoot for either Oct 8th vs Vanderbilt or Oct 22nd vs Mississippi St for a game. Keeneland should be in Fall session then and those games will most likely be a night game on the SEC Network.
Also, like most places Lexington has a thriving craft beer industry. Be sure to hit up Country Boy and West Sixth. There are several others, but those are the best two, imo.

 

[Glenn's take]

Travel-It depends on where you are coming from. Lexington's airport is only about 5 miles away from the stadium and downtown (the stadium is not downtown but is still the same distance). The only problem is it's a smaller airport with smaller runways so not everyone flies there and not all planes can land there. Louisville and Cincinnati (there airport is actually in northern Kentucky) are both very viable options. They are about an hour and a half away.

Hotels won't be a problem. Maybe the ones downtown might be full but you won't have any trouble finding one. Lexington is probably a little bigger city than you give it credit for if you've never been there. It's not like some places where if you take the school away the city barely exists.

I'm from Louisville so I'm not very helpful on the Lexington food scene. Certainly no specialties inside the stadium that you need. I never eat inside the stadium.

The other poster got the other attractions right. The bourbon trail is not that far away and pretty fun. If you care at all about horse racing you should try to get to either Keeneland or Churchill depending on when you come and where you stay. Keeneland's fall meet runs October 7-29 and then Churchill opens the next week through Thanksgiving if you don't mind going to Louisville.

Safety won't be a problem.

Alabama is far and away my favorite place to see a game but it's hard as a UK fan. Nobody really gives us any crap because they don't view us a any kind of a threat so they are all usually very nice.

 

[PhattyJ4UK]

Sit in new club level for free food and ability to purchase a brew