21 Things to Do in Leavenworth in the Fall
I love Leavenworth, the Bavarian-themed town in the middle of the North Cascades in Washington State. Every season brings out a different side the town and fall is no exception.
There’s of course the big Oktoberfest celebrations, fall foods, and more than enough yellows and reds in the trees to satisfy leaf peepers!
Here’s my list of 21 things to do in Leavenworth in the fall!
1. Celebrate Oktoberfest
The biggest party in town during the fall is Oktoberfest. You can’t have a Bavarian-themed town without a Bavarian-themed celebration!
Leavenworth goes all in for three weekends in October with beer gardens, German food, live music, dancing, stein-holding contests, costume contests, moustache contests, and plenty of people wearing lederhosen and dirndls.
This is also a family-friendly event with a Kinderplatz for kids with carnival games, activities, a root beer garden and even a 62-foot Ferris wheel.
💁♀️ Tab’s Trip Tip: Buy your tickets early as they do sell out a couple months in advance. Admission gets you into the Festhalle and Front Street Park, but you can still enjoy the party atmosphere wandering around town for free.
2. Go Beer Tasting
There are several breweries and taprooms around town where you can try locally brewed pilsners, IPAs, ales, stouts and seasonal festbiers.
I like sitting outside at a picnic table under a patio heater at Icicle Brewing with a pilsner when the weather cooperates. For something quieter, Doghaus Brewery has a cozy “speakeasy” taproom that’s dog-friendly.
Prost!
Book a Brewery Walking Tour for Guided Tastings ➡️
3. See the Fall Colors
If there’s one reason to visit Leavenworth in autumn besides Oktoberfest, it’s the leaves.
By fall, the mountains surrounding town start trading their summer greens for shades of yellow, orange and red. You don’t even have to go on a strenuous hike to see them either.
Walk the trails along Waterfront Park and Blackbird Island, drive through Tumwater Canyon, or just around downtown beneath the vibrant trees.
If you don’t mind getting out of town, take a drive toward Lake Wenatchee for even more fall scenery.
💁♀️ Tab’s Trip Tip: Fall colors don’t follow an exact schedule every year. If leaf peeping is the main reason for your trip, don’t assume a particular weekend will automatically be peak color. Watch the live webcam for current color conditions.
4. Attend the Autumn Leaf Festival
Speaking of colorful leaves, Leavenworth actually celebrates the changing seasons with its Autumn Leaf Festival in September.
In fact, it’s Leavenworth’s longest-running festival, dating back to 1964.
The weekend includes live music, food and other festivities, but the big event is the parade downtown with gaudy floats, fun small cars, bands and Bavarian groups making their way through the streets.
5. Ride the Halloween Alpine Coaster
The Alpine Coaster at Leavenworth Adventure Park gets a spooky makeover in October.
The track turns into a Gothic Bavarian fairytale with skeletons and haunted house features appearing along your ride down the mountain.
The coaster itself drops 234 feet and includes three 360-degree helix circles. You control your own speed, so you can go as fast as 27 mph or slow it down to a meander scenic ride.
💁♀️ Tab’s Trip Tip: I thought the coaster was super fun! However, I also think it’s waaaaay overpriced for how short the ride is, especially if you’re paying for an entire family.
6. Find Fall Foods
‘Tis the season for all things pumpkin and fall-themed!
As you look for things to eat, keep an eye out for seasonal drinks, baked goods and other limited-time fall treats.
Grab a pumpkin spice latte from J5 or Argonaut to carry around while you shop, choose an adorable acorn-shaped gingerbread cookie from The Gingerbread Factory, or order a plate of pumpkin ravioli at Larch, just to name a few.
7. Visit Kris Kringl’s Halloween Displays
Yes, I’m telling you to visit a Christmas store a few months early! 😜
Kris Kringl is a year-round Christmas shop, but come fall, you’ll find Halloween villages in the back room and autumn decorations mixed in with all the ornaments and Christmas decor.
It’s a fun little stop even if you’re nowhere near ready to start thinking about Christmas yet.
8. Go Trick-or-Treating Around Town
On Halloween Day, most shops around town participate in the trick-or-treat event.
Look for ghosts displayed outside the stores so you know who’s got candy waiting inside.
It’s an easy way for families to incorporate trick-or-treating into a Leavenworth trip without having to find a residential neighborhood.
9. Take a Historical Walking Tour
You’ve probably wondered at some point: Why exactly is there a Bavarian village sitting in the middle of Washington?
Bavarian Walking Tours can answer that.
A local guide dressed in Bavarian garb will take you around town while sharing stories about Leavenworth’s history and how it became the tourist destination you see today.
There are several versions of the tour, including traditional history-focused walks and options that incorporate beer, wine or lunch.
Tour participants also receive a complimentary seven-day pass to the Greater Leavenworth Museum.
Book the Bavarian Historic Walking Tour ➡️
10. Go Wine Tasting
A crisp fall afternoon and a glass of Washington wine make a pretty good combination.
There are around 20 wineries and tasting rooms scattered throughout Leavenworth and the surrounding area, so you don’t even have to leave downtown if you don’t want to.
You’ll find wines produced both locally and elsewhere in Washington, with everything from reds to whites to rosés and keep your eyes out for the gluwheins rolling out!
Or head outside of downtown to one of the wineries where you can sip your wine surrounded by the mountains and fall colors.
Join One of These Guided Wine Tours ➡️
11. Eat Bavarian Food
Fall is possibly the best season to lean completely into Leavenworth’s Bavarian theme.
Grab a giant pretzel, schnitzel or bratwurst and wash it down with a pumpkin beer.
München Haus is hands down my favorite. The hardest part is choosing between all the different bratwursts, mustards and toppings, especially their Apple Cider Sauerkraut.
You can also try Rhein Haus with its large biergarten, Andreas Keller for its cozy atmosphere and barrel booths, or Ludwig’s Gasthaus for traditional German dishes like Schweinshaxn.
12. Go Horseback Riding
One of the more peaceful ways to soak in fall around Leavenworth is taking a horseback ride through a forest of reds and yellows.
Instead of hiking through the changing leaves, let the horse do the walking for you so you don’t have to look at your feet on the trails and instead you can take in all the colors.
Check Availability with Wild at Heart Horse Rides ➡️
13. Go Fishing
Fall doesn’t necessarily mean fishing season is over.
The Wenatchee and Icicle rivers offer opportunities for fishing around Leavenworth, although what’s open and what you can catch depends on current regulations and the time of year.
If you’ve always wanted to learn how to fly fish rather than figuring it out yourself, Family Line Fly Fishing Academy offers guided instruction. You’ll learn how to find trout, choose flies and practice casting before trying to catch and release a rainbow trout in their private teaching pond.
14. Go Ziplining
Want to see some fall color while flying over it? Leavenworth Ziplines runs into October and has both a five-line and nine-line course through the Beaver Creek Valley.
Lines are as high as 190 feet above the valley, including one line that stretches a quarter mile.
15. Take a Horse-Drawn Carriage Ride
You’ll see horse-drawn carriages making their way through downtown throughout the year including fall. It’s a romantic way to enjoy a tour around town with the sound of clip clops from the hooves and waving at jealous passerbys.
Catch them in front of the Maypole on Front Street; rides are available on a first-come, first-served basis.
16. Visit the Farmers Markets
If you’re visiting earlier in the fall, you can squeeze in one of Leavenworth’s farmers markets before they close for the season:
- Leavenworth Farmers Market – Wednesdays & Saturdays
- Leavenworth Community Farmers Market – Thursdays
At both markets you’ll find an array of goods like jams, fresh cut flowers, locally grown produce, pottery, honey, soaps, and much more.
The markets continue into October, but check the schedule for your specific trip since they don’t operate throughout the entire fall season.
17. Play Mini Golf
As long as Leavenworth hasn’t gotten an early snowfall, mini golf is still on the table.
Icicle Village Resort has an 18-hole Bavarian-themed course complete with waterfalls, buildings and a waterwheel. It’s open all year, unless it snows.
There’s also the Enzian Falls 18-hole putting course across Hwy 2 from Enzian Inn. This one is open through October and has a more natural setting on a steep grassy knoll with river views and even a waterfall you can walk behind.
18. Visit the Nutcracker Museum
The Leavenworth Nutcracker Museum is what I like to call the Tardis of nutcrackers. Its relatively unassuming exterior gives you absolutely no indication of just how many nutcrackers are waiting inside.
The collection contains more than 9,000 nutcrackers from dozens of countries and covers thousands of years of nut-cracking history.
And these aren’t just rows upon rows of the wooden Christmas soldiers you’re probably picturing. You’ll find everything from ancient nutting stones to elaborate nutcrackers made from bone, horn, porcelain and other materials.
It’s weird, fascinating and very Leavenworth.
19. Visit the Greater Leavenworth Museum
If the historic walking tour leaves you wanting to know more about how Leavenworth went from a railroad and logging town to the Bavarian village you see today, stop by the Greater Leavenworth Museum.
The museum covers the history of Leavenworth and the surrounding Upper Valley through photos, exhibits and artifacts from the area’s past.
It’s also a good indoor activity for those fall days when the weather isn’t cooperating.
💁♀️ Tab’s Trip Tip: Reminder, if you take a tour with Bavarian Walking Tours, your ticket includes a complimentary seven-day pass to the museum, so don’t pay for admission twice.
20. Go Liquor Tasting
Visit the Blue Spirits Distillery tasting room to try everything from whiskeys, gins, and vodkas. I do have high standards when it comes to gin, and sadly they fell a bit flat for me. But perhaps they’re more to your taste.
Their cocktail flights look fun so I’ll be doing that someday.
The venue is a nice place to chill and order small bites with drinks and sit either inside or on their covered outdoor patio where dogs are welcome.
21. Pet Reindeer
The Leavenworth Reindeer Farm is a family-run establishment only a short mile away from downtown.
The tours are educational and gives you hands-on opportunities to interact with these Sven lookalikes. You’ll get to feed them fresh willow branches from your own hand and have the chance to hold shed antlers.
Afterwards, grab a snack at the farm’s concession stand, where you can eat Rudolph (Alaskan Reindeer Sausage) or try a hand-rolled Norwegian Potato Lefse.
Leavenworth has things to do all year round, so if you enjoy yourself during the fall wait until you see their magical transition to Christmastown!
