Louisville, United States

The Bellwether

Price per night from$117.35

Price information

If you haven’t entered any dates, the rate shown is provided directly by the hotel and represents the cheapest double room (inclusive of taxes and fees) available in the next 60 days.

Prices have been converted from the hotel’s local currency (USD117.35), via openexchangerates.org, using today’s exchange rate.

The Bellwether Photos

Style

Belle of Bardstown

Setting

Neighborhood to watch

Explore

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Boutique hotel The Bellwether’s archway-adorned building was once home to a switching station. Communication here now looks a little different with self-check-in and hands-off service. The couple behind this bolthole is anything but laissez-faire, having curated each bedroom individually (plus a standalone, four-bedroom home) to pay homage to the vibrant locale. Louisville’s whiskey heritage remains potent, but the city is also laced with a gastronomic reputation, which extends to the hotel’s polished French bistro.

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Facilities

Photos The Bellwether facilities

Need to know

Rooms

20, including four suites and one house.

Check–Out

11am; check-in, 4pm. You’ll check yourself in digitally, receiving instructions and a personal key code an hour ahead of your arrival.

More details

There's no breakfast at The Bellwether, but its restaurant serves brunch on the weekends.

Also

The Queen Suite (ADA) is set on the first floor with ramp access; its counters are lowered for wheelchair users, and there’s another ramp and grab bars in the roll-in shower. The communal areas are all accessible, but there are no adapted public bathrooms.

At the hotel

Free WiFi throughout. In rooms: smart TV, Bluetooth speaker, air-conditioning, mini fridge, coffee maker, microwave, bathrobes and Lather bath products.

Our favourite rooms

Although every room at The Bellwether is individually styled, each space is underpinned by a contemporary take on art deco design. We like the first floor’s King Standard for its bold, botanical mural and separate soaking tub. The sun always shines in the Golden Hour, with its radiant headboard, soft yellow palette and gilded accents. If you’re traveling en masse, opt for one of two spacious residences: next-door Bellwether House or top-floor Highland Station Penthouse Suite.

Spa

Staff can arrange treatments at local spas or in your room on request.

Packing tips

A sense of independence — there's no waiting on you hand and foot here, instead you’ll get to play unsupervised.

Also

The Bellwether adopts an invisible service approach, whereby there’s no breakfast and reception isn’t always staffed. Instead, you’ll check in with individualized access codes and be left to your own devices.

Pet‐friendly

The Bellwether welcomes pets in its first-floor rooms for a one-off fee of $35 each. See more pet-friendly hotels in Louisville.

Children

Welcome, but there's no specific kit. The One Bedroom King Suites each have a queen-size sofa-bed for two extra guests; or Bellwether House and Highland Station sleep 12 and 10 respectively.

Food and Drink

Photos The Bellwether food and drink

Top Table

Cozy up in one of the claret-colored banquettes.

Dress Code

Oversized shirts and Sézane knits are elegant ways of disguising any elasticated waistbands (or unbuttoned trousers) — which may prove necessary after indulgent dinners.

Hotel restaurant

As you enter M Peppers under a sign that states ‘Highland Station Police Department’, you’ll soon realize this is a restaurant where you’ll happily do time. The French bistro-nodding interiors are particularly arresting — kitted out with burgundy banquettes, vintage posters and rose-pink walls — as are chef Andrew McCabe's mod-Gallic plates. Steak tartare, endive salad and trout meunière share the menu with Southern favorites (ranch-dressed fried cornichons, an all-the-trimmings cheeseburger). There’s no breakfast, but a weekend brunch is decadent with Stateside spins on petit déjeuner. 

Hotel bar

The bar at M Peppers shakes up a mean cocktail, but swing by during the week when pre- and post-dinner apéro hours spotlight martinis, signature old fashioneds and glasses of French wine. 

Last orders

M Peppers opens daily for dinner: from 5pm to 9pm, Sunday to Thursday; until 10pm, Friday and Saturday. Brunch is served between 10am and 2pm, Saturday and Sunday.

Location

Photos The Bellwether location
Address
The Bellwether
1300 Bardstown Road
Louisville
40204
United States

The Bellwether sits on Louisville’s lively Bardstown Road (dubbed ‘restaurant row’) in the Kentucky city’s east end, near green spaces and up-and-coming eateries.

Planes

Louisville International Airport is about a 15-minute drive from the hotel; Ubers and taxis are easily arranged.

Automobiles

Louisville is well connected, plus its downtown is best explored on foot. Should you bring a set of wheels, there’s free street parking in front of the hotel.

Worth getting out of bed for

The Bellwether sits pretty on buzzy Bardstown Road, which has been nicknamed ‘restaurant row’. And so, strolls here tend to be of the appetite-rousing or walk-off-dinner nature. Other ways to do so are by wandering around bucolic Cherokee Park, along Ohio River in Waterfront Park or in the name-dropping Cave Hill Cemetery. Browsing in Louisville’s bookshops and record stores is also hungry work — after, head to the Highlands’ top eateries or Whiskey Row’s distilleries and bars. If you’re visiting at the start of May, up the ante with a day at the Kentucky Derby; its museum counterpart, with interactive exhibitions, is odds-on favorite to entertain you at other times of year. 

Local restaurants

Puglian chefs at Roc put a polished spin on comforting, Italian classics, which pair well with an extensive wine and bourbon list (when in Louisville...). A stalwart on the Bardstown Road culinary scene, Jack Fry’s has long drawn a crowd for its old-world charm and Southern recipes. At Seviche, Latin American flavors are coupled with local ingredients to create fresh, moreish dishes of ceviche, tacos and empanadas.

Local cafés

Sugar-dusted pastries and iced gateaux are decadent, all-day treats at La Pâtisserie Française. Wholesome breakfast options and latte-art-adorned brews make Gralehaus a neighborhood go-to for day-starting spreads.

Local bars

Aperitifs at art nouveau-inspired Darling’s are rather dear — lemon drop martinis are backdropped by feminine murals and fringed lampshades. Set on Louisville’s Whiskey Row, Angel’s Envy Distillery delivers spirit-based awakenings in its tours, tastings and rye-laced concoctions.

Reviews

Photos The Bellwether reviews

Anonymous review

By Mr & Mrs Smith

Every hotel featured is visited personally by members of our team, given the Smith seal of approval, and then anonymously reviewed. As soon as our reviewers have returned from this curated hotel in Kentucky and unpacked their bottles of bourbon and derby betting slips, a full account of their locale-loving break will be with you. In the meantime, to whet your wanderlust, here's a quick peek inside The Bellwether in Louisville… 

Ben and Sarah, the couple-owners behind The Bellwether, are rather fond of their Louisville neighborhood. Each individually styled room or residence showcases artwork by local artists — the painting by Jake Heustis in Bellwether House is particularly striking — and the heritage façade has been carefully restored to maintain its Wes Anderson-worthy quality, complete with brick arches and sage-green accents.  

The check-in process — or rather lack of — also nods to the building’s pedigree as a telecommunications station; instead of a formal reception area, you’ll head to the ‘selfie station’, which is decked out in old phones, to complete the process digitally (and seamlessly — fret not, luddites).  

Your hosts also look to the future of this area, having co-founded the ‘Friends of Bardstown Road’ project, which continues to plant hundreds of trees nearby. The Bellwether’s French brasserie, along with the rest of the Highlands’ feted restaurants and Whiskey Row’s watering holes, are further assurance of this community’s evergreen appeal. 

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Price per night from $113.46

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