Derby week takes Louisville over in early May, and by the first Saturday the whole city is turned toward the twin spires at Churchill Downs. Hats come out of their boxes, the Kentucky Oaks runs the day before the big race, and the infield fills with a crowd that has been at it since breakfast. For a family in a motorhome, the week plays out from a campsite just outside the noise, at the Louisville Metro KOA across the Ohio River in Clarksville, Indiana, or the Louisville South KOA in Shepherdsville.
The rig stays parked through the whole stretch, beds made and the fridge stocked on the first afternoon, so the kids can be asleep early while the city keeps going. On race day it stays plugged in at the pad and everyone goes in by rideshare. Coming back, dinner is whatever comes off the grill at the picnic table, and the morning after is coffee outside with nowhere to be.
Lock the campground before you book the rig. Derby week is when demand for motorhomes and for campsites peaks together, so the rigs in the listings and the KOA pads go to the same families in the same scramble. Ask the KOA for the length of the site you're holding, because that number decides how big a motorhome or trailer you can bring, and only then pick the rental that fits it.
The Kentucky Exposition Center runs an RV lot on the fairgrounds with its own Derby rate, but as of September 2026 the Expo Center lists 2027 availability as uncertain during its expansion and puts requests on a wait list, so count a site there as a bonus if one opens up.
Clarksville and Shepherdsville KOAs as a Louisville base
Outside Derby week the same two campgrounds are where a rig sleeps on a Louisville trip, and the Expo Center's own camping flyer sends its overflow to both when the fairgrounds fill. Clarksville sits on the Indiana bank of the Ohio with the Louisville skyline across the water, so a city week from there means short drives over the bridges and evenings back on the quiet side of the river. Shepherdsville is south of the city in Bullitt County, the better pick for a family that wants bourbon country and the lakes closer than downtown.
The fairgrounds keep both campgrounds busy well past May. The National Farm Machinery Show fills the halls with tractors and combines, the NSRA Street Rod Nationals line the grounds with chrome, and the dog show and the Mid-America Trucking Show each bring their own crowd of rigs. On those weekends the flyer warns that electric sites often sell out and the spillover heads for the same KOA pads, so check the Expo Center calendar before you lock a week in town.
Taylorsville Lake makes a good night away from the city, with an equestrian campground under big old trees and the state park's 42 improved sites with electric and water, plus 10 pull-through equestrian sites. Bourbon country around Bardstown and the trails at Otter Creek Outdoor Recreation Area are day trips from either KOA, and a couple who would rather run that circuit in something smaller will find it on the Louisville campervan page.
Kentucky's longer motorhome trips, from the Red River Gorge to Lake Cumberland and Land Between the Lakes, are laid out on the Kentucky RV page.