Day trips from Nashville · Park
Land Between the Lakes
112 miles from downtown Nashville · about 2 hours to Golden Pond, nearer 1 hour 40 to the Dover end
USDA Forest Service, Golden Pond, Kentucky and Stewart County, Tennessee
Land Between the Lakes is a 170,000-acre national recreation area on the peninsula between Kentucky Lake and Lake Barkley, with three hundred miles of undeveloped shoreline. It is the largest block of public land within easy reach of Nashville.
- Size
- Over 170,000 acres
- Shoreline
- 300 miles, natural
- Elk and Bison Prairie
- $5 per vehicle, 3.5 mile paved loop
- Planetarium
- $7 age 13 and up, $4.50 ages 5 to 12
Permits, fees and access
General access, driving, hiking, picnicking and wildlife watching are free. Individual facilities charge. The Elk and Bison Prairie is a 700-acre enclosure with a paved loop open sunrise to sunset, and it is enclosed vehicles only, so no motorcycles, bicycles or walking. The Golden Pond Planetarium runs 10am to 5pm with the last show at 4pm. The Homeplace 1850s Working Farm, Woodlands Nature Station, Turkey Bay off-highway vehicle area and four campgrounds round it out.
One thing to know first
This place is much bigger than people plan for, and the drive between the visitor center at Golden Pond and the far ends of the peninsula is substantial. Pick two or three stops rather than trying to see it all.
Access rules, fees and closures verified August 15, 2026 against the agency that manages this place. They change, sometimes without notice. Check before you drive.
I keep this list because it is genuinely how people spend weekends here, and because almost every guide to it is out of date. If you are weighing a move to Middle Tennessee and want to know which part of it puts you closest to the things you actually like, ask me. No pitch.