14 Fun & Tasty Things To Do In Leavenworth, WA

After 10 days in Spokane, our next stop in Washington was Leavenworth. We stayed there for five nights and had a wonderful time.

Leavenworth is a mountain city styled after a Bavarian village. As a result, stores, restaurants and even hotels in the city have to be built with the Bavarian theme in mind. That, along with its mountainous surroundings, make the city a cute place to visit with lots of things to do in the area.

Here’s a roundup of our time there, including where we stayed, things to do in Leavenworth and where we ate and drank.

Where We Stayed In Leavenworth

We stayed all five nights at the Hampton Inn Leavenworth using Hilton points. I mentioned earlier that hotels are built with the Bavarian theme in mind and the Hampton Inn is no exception. We’ve stayed at quite a few Hampton Inns on our 50 state road trip and this is certainly the most distinctive-looking of them all.

It was a great place to stay. The staff members were friendly, there’s good amenities (a pool that’s nice and warm, both an indoor and outdoor whirlpool, guest laundry facilities, etc.), there’s a Safeway grocery store next door and it’s only a mile to downtown Leavenworth. You can check out my full review here.

Things We Did In Leavenworth

Alpine Coaster At Leavenworth Adventure Park

A fairly recent addition in the city is Leavenworth Adventure Park. They have a mining sluice and climbing wall, but its key attraction is an Alpine Coaster. It’s half a mile long, twisting and turning down the mountain while you travel at speeds of up to 27mph. I wrote a post more about it here.

It’s a real thrill, so to give you an idea of what it’s like – and the amazing scenery on the ride itself – here’s a video of the two rides I took.

Leavenworth Reindeer Farm

On our way out of town, Shae visited Leavenworth Reindeer Farm where you get to meet, pet and feed reindeer. Seeing as we’d visited Leavenworth in late April, she was lucky enough to see newborn reindeer which enhanced the whole experience. Check out this post for more about the farm and all kinds of fun reindeer facts.

Exploring Downtown

We had beautiful weather on our first day in Leavenworth, so it was nice walking around downtown to check out the stores, architecture, restaurants, breweries, etc.

Even the Starbucks there is designed to fit in with the city’s look.

Waterfront Park

Just a short walk from downtown Leavenworth is Waterfront Park. If you’d like to park your vehicle for free in Leavenworth, there’s free parking available down there although I imagine all the spaces will get taken quickly during busier times of the year.

If you’re visiting with kids, there’s a playground with one of the most scenic backdrops they’re ever likely to play in.

Waterfront Park runs along the Wenatchee River which provides some stunning views as you walk along.

From Waterfront Park a bridge crosses over to Blackbird Island, which can then be crossed over on the other side to Enchantment Park where you can also find a skate park.

Leavenworth Nutcracker Museum

Decorative nutcrackers have been a tradition in Germany for hundreds of years. In keeping with the city’s Bavarian theme, Leavenworth Nutcracker Museum is a somewhat quirky museum featuring more than 9,000 nutcrackers – both standard and decorative.

I’m not a fan of decorative nutcrackers at Christmas, but it was fascinating to see such a massive collection of them in one place, especially some of the more creative designs. And with tickets only costing $5 for adults and $2 for children, it’s worth the small outlay to check it out.

The museum is pet-friendly if you can carry your pup, so we popped Truffles in her K9 Sport Sack (our affiliate link) so she could join us.

Greater Leavenworth Museum

Next door to the Leavenworth Nutcracker Museum is the Greater Leavenworth Museum, a museum providing history about the city of Leavenworth.

One of the most interesting images from the museum was the one below. It’s photos of the city taken over time, with the color image at the front being more recent, fading to a black and white photo from more than 100 years ago.

For about 20 years in the early 1900s, Leavenworth was a thriving sawmill town. However, the railroad that brought logging in and out of the city was rerouted through Wenatchee in 1925 which led to a major downturn in Leavenworth in the following decades.

The Leavenworth Woman’s Club was responsible for starting the rejuvenation of the city, with Bob Rodgers and Ted Price subsequently being instrumental in advancing the concept of modeling the city after a Bavarian village. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Grand Coulee Dam

While in Spokane, we had people suggest that we drive Hwy 2 to Leavenworth rather than I-90 as it’s a much more scenic drive. They weren’t kidding about that – it’s beautiful. The picture below doesn’t do justice to how wonderful the drive along the lakes and rivers were at times.

The people who’d recommended driving Hwy 2 also recommended stopping off at the Grand Coulee Dam.

In addition to the dam itself, there’s a visitor center on site where you can learn more about the dam, hydro power, the water cycle and much more.

Where We Ate & Drank In Leavenworth

Icicle Brewing Company

Leavenworth has a large number of breweries, wineries and cideries. The first we visited was Icicle Brewing Company which is pet-friendly on their patio out front. They have heaters outside which made it more pleasant to sit at when it was a little cooler.

I ordered a flight with four of their beers:

• Dark Persuasion (a German chocolate cake ale)
• Priebe Porter
• Tiramisu (an imperial pastry stout)
• Nitro Porter

Of the four, the Tiramisu was my favorite.

Rhein Haus

Another location that’s pet-friendly outside is Rhein Haus.

We stopped there for lunch and, considering the city’s German theme, we started with a pretzel, washed down with a beer for me and cocktail for Shae.

We followed that up with another quintessential German food – sausage. I ordered an applewood-smoked bacon wrapped bratwurst, while Shae went for a not-so-German all-American hot dog; it was an all-beef frankfurter though, so we’ll count it as German-adjacent. I got my fries with curry ketchup – something else German that I love.

Bushel & Bee Taproom

While Shae was teaching online one afternoon, Truffles and I went for a walk around Leavenworth. After a while, we stopped in for a drink at the Bushel & Bee Taproom which is pet-friendly both inside and out on their deck.

The taproom has a good selection of craft ciders and beers available:

I ordered a flight of five different beers which came to $17 which is fairly expensive for a flight as it is. The beers were nice, but it was extremely poor value considering they don’t even fill the taster glasses halfway. The photo below is what I was served – that’s not after I’d tried all of them.

Leavenworth Sausage Garten By Cured

Another suggestion we’d received while in Spokane had been to visit Cured to try their sausages. I think they have a store in Leavenworth where you can buy sausages to take with you, plus they have Leavenworth Sausage Garten by Cured, the latter of which we visited for lunch on our final full day in the city.

I love currywurst, so that’s what I ordered and it was incredibly flavorful. Shae meanwhile got another beef frank and we also ordered a pretzel to share. The sausages are served in a bun but without any toppings by default; there’s a table with onions, relish, ketchup, mustard, etc. that you can add to taste.

We got drinks to go with our lunch – a hefeweizen for me and a (very tall) huckleberry cider for Shae.

Doghaus Brewery

In the basement of LOGE Leavenworth Downtown (a hotel), you can find Doghaus Brewery – a pet-friendly brewery that’s the smallest bar we’ve ever been in other than the Smallest Bar In Key West.

Doghaus Brewery has a selection of beers to choose from, as well as a cider, rotating red and white wine options and soft drinks.

I ordered a flight of four beers which came on a cute dog bone-shaped tray. The beers I got were:

• Lucky Bitch Blonde Ale
• Atta Boy Apple IPA
• Dirty Dog Hazy IPA
• Doberman Schwarzbier

My favorite was the schwarzbier, while Shae enjoyed the Manchester Road cider she ordered. Joel who owns Doghaus Brewery was very friendly too, so it’s worth a stop in at this fun little spot that’s somewhat hidden away.

Hard Row To Hoe Vineyards

Having visited a few breweries during our time in Leavenworth, we wanted to check out at least one of the many wineries that have tasting rooms downtown. Seeing as we had Truffles with us that day, we wanted to find somewhere pet-friendly, whether that be outside on a patio or inside.

After striking out at a couple of wineries that weren’t pet-friendly, we stopped in at another winery that had caught our eye when walking around – Hard Row To Hoe. They’re located in a room below street level, so I headed down to check if they were pet-friendly; they confirmed they were, so Shae came down with Truffles.

The winery is named not only after the fact that the ground at their vineyard is hard to hoe, but also after a story of an enterprising man in the 1900s who used to earn a living rowing local miners across a lake to a brothel.

The winery leans into that theme with its name, decor and even the names of their wines. It’s a fun story and would make a great spot to have a drink if you’re in Leavenworth for a bachelorette party.

Regardless of whether you’re there for a bachelorette party or not, it’s worth stopping by for some wine tasting. We were served by Dan who was excellent.

You get to try four different wines, all of which were very good, with the tasting fee waived if you buy a bottle. Our favorite was the Cabernet Franc, so we bought a bottle to go.

Munchen Haus

While visiting the Greater Leavenworth Museum, Judy who was working there recommended that we eat at Munchen Haus. After checking out of our hotel, we stopped there for lunch before driving on to Seattle. This eatery has covered outdoor seating which is pet-friendly.

Shae wasn’t very hungry, so she just had a pretzel. I’m not one to pass up the opportunity to order some kind of German sausage, so I got a Dirtyface Beer Wurst which is made with Dirtyface Amber Lager from nearby Icicle Brewing with a side of potato salad.

Munchen Haus has a massive selection of something like a dozen different mustard and ketchup flavors you can choose to top your dogs, along with onions, etc.

Of all the sausages we had in Leavenworth, this one was my favorite. The currywurst at Leavenworth Sausage Garten was more flavorful due to the nature of its seasonings, but the sausage at Munchen Haus was the best overall as it was juicy and tasty with flavorful condiments to boot.

Blue Spirits Distilling

We weren’t quite done there. After finishing up at Munchen Haus, we had one more stop to make in Leavenworth – Blue Spirits Distilling. Seeing as we’d already checked out of our hotel, we had Truffles with us and so were pleased that they’re pet-friendly both inside and outside.

Blue Spirits Distilling makes vodka, gin, rum and whiskey. You can do tastings of some of the different spirits or get a cocktail. I decided to order a flight with my choice of three spirits – mango vodka, cherry whiskey and bourbon whiskey. They were all very good, with the cherry whiskey being my favorite.

Shae went for one of their cocktails – Smart As A Whip. This comes with Whiplash Whiskey, cherry, Luxardo (an Italian liqueur) and lemon. She really enjoyed her cocktail and would’ve happily had another if we didn’t have to drive that day.