Three Good Stops

New Orleans to Louisville: where to stop

706 miles, about 10 hr 11 min of driving. Here are the real towns worth stopping in between New Orleans, LA and Louisville, KY, and why each one earned it.

Your first stop

Laurel, MSStretch your legs in Laurel, MS · mile 138

The other 4 stops on this drive

Named for your own departure time and driving style when you plan the trip — your first full plan is free.

C•••••, ALstretch, fuel, meal · mile 278
A•••••, ALstretch · mile 419
N•••••, TNstretch, fuel · mile 559
C•••••, KYovernight, meal · mile 603

Name every stop — first trip free

No card for the first trip. After that it's 99¢ for three trips, or $2.99 a month.

How the days break up

DayMilesDrivingNight in
16038 hr 38 minCave City, KY
21031 hr 33 min—

How we picked these

Every stop is a real town on your actual route — not a chain billboard. We score towns on what a driver needs at that point in the drive: fuel and food for a stretch break, parks and grass when a pet is along, hotels and restaurants when it's an overnight. Detour distance counts against a town, so nothing here costs you a long side trip.

This page is planned for a 9-hour driving day leaving at 8:00 AM. Change any of that — your hours, your MPG, pets, small children, an EV's charging range — and the stops change with it. Plan New Orleans to Louisville your way →

Questions

How far is New Orleans, LA to Louisville, KY?
About 706 miles, roughly 10 hr 11 min of driving before stops.

Can you drive New Orleans to Louisville in one day?
Not comfortably. At a 9-hour driving day it splits into 2 days, with a night in Cave City, KY.

Where is a good place to stop between New Orleans and Louisville?
Laurel, MS is the first one on this route.