Tourist Information for Leavenworth, WA

What a fantastic long weekend we just spent in Leavenworth WA. There wasn’t a festival or a special occasion to celebrate, just a need to get away and a welcoming invitation.

Brooke at the Bavarian Lodge had invited us months ago to stay at the hotel for a weekend. We’ve had lots of family and work related circumstances that kept us from taking her up on her offer until now. It was definitely worth the wait to get away for a three night stay.

The Bavarian Lodge stands on US Highway 2, directly across from Front Street and the Gazebo in the park. It’s undergoing a major expansion, but don’t be put off by the scaffolding. We still found the hotel quiet and restful.

Our standard double queen room was lovely. It was well decorated. I especially appreciated the leather arm chair and the soft, warm throw. It was really nice to snuggle up under the throw while we watched movies from the Lodge’s extensive DVD collection. The room also had a microwave, fridge and coffee set-up. But if you don’t want to make coffee in your room, there’s a beverage station in the lobby where coffee, hot water and tea, chocolate and cider are available 24/7.

Despite looking out on US 2, our room was quiet when the window was closed. The only downside to our room was the noise of children in the room above us, running back and forth and jumping off of the beds above our heads. If they had not quieted down at 11 o’clock, Scotte may have had to complain to the front desk. We were glad he didn’t have to, but know that the desk would have dealt with it, had it been necessary. The Bavarian Lodge is a family hotel, so the noise of children is to be expected, though it did remind us to ask for a top floor room every time we plan a hotel stay.

We took a peek at the turret suite on our floor. It was beautifully luxurious. It would make a lovely romantic get-away. It includes a spa tub that looks out on the town center.

We have never encountered a friendlier hotel and front desk staff in our travels. (Well, except for Disney® Parks cast members, but that’s an extreme standard.) Every time we entered or exited the hotel, we were greeted with friendly hellos or offered restaurant and sightseeing advice. We also found the housekeeping and breakfast service staff very friendly and welcoming. Brooke told us it’s one of the things she likes most about working for the Bavarian Lodge. She said it’s really a family and she’s proud to be a part of it.

The breakfast buffet was what you’d expect, except that the attention to detail was quite high. The standard hotel waffle station was elevated by the addition of strawberries and whipped cream on Sunday. The weekday syrup and butter were plentiful as were the peanut butter and jam. There was cold cereal, fresh baked scones and muffins and a toaster with a variety of bread. Each morning a different egg dish, a breakfast meat and potatoes were available, as well as biscuits and gravy. The breakfast room is large and comfortably decorated. It was easy to linger over our newspaper and Starbucks® coffee and juice. Breakfast is available in the ground floor breakfast room 7-10am weekdays, 7-10:30am on Saturday and Sunday.

On the Monday morning of our stay, Brooke took us on a tour of the addition. We got to see just how much work and planning is going into the new, luxury rooms. Each of them will have a fireplace and a glass shower enclosure. City center facing rooms will each have a balcony from which you can enjoy the sights and sounds of Leavenworth’s many festivals. The rooms facing away from the city center will also have balconies and will look out on a new patio area. The remodeled hotel will also have a brand-new wine bar. The addition and wine bar will have the same comfortable lodge style design as the rest of the hotel. Reservations for the new rooms began August 15, 2014. If you don’t yet have a reservation for Oktoberfest or Christmas Lighting, call asap to see if you can snag one of the new rooms for Leavenworth’s busiest festivals.

While we stayed at the Bavarian Lodge as their guests, this post is our own opinion and not written in exchange for our stay.

Fritzi and Mitzi travel to Leavenworth

April 1st found us on the road to Leavenworth, no foolin’! We took off after work. We already had reservations in Leavenworth at Dream House Suites. We’d stayed there for one night in 2010 and made it our base of operations this trip.

We’re always relieved and thankful to get on the road. Dinner was a quick stop at Zips Drive-In in Ritzville. It was very busy on a Friday night and the Fish n’ Chips were not nearly as good as what we usually experience at our hometown Spokane Zips restaurants. Next time we’ll wait for a stop in Moses Lake if we can’t wait until Wenatchee or even Leavenworth.

It’s staying light so much later every day now that we had good traveling light pretty much until the Quincy cutoff from I-90. It was interesting for us to realize that we’d never driven that direction on WA-28 in the dark before. We often leave Leavenworth late in the afternoon or sometimes evening, but we hadn’t traveled to Leavenworth so late in the day before. The road was quite good, with no construction going on at the moment. But that can change rapidly in Washington as the road construction season is so short here. It’s really a good idea to check with the Washington State Department of Transportation before traveling anywhere in the state. You can get travel alerts, construction information and pass reports all in one place. I’ll write more soon on the WSDOT and the valuable service they provide travelers in Washington State.

Two of the Dream House Suites open on Front Street

We drove into Leavenworth at about 9pm and made a quick stop for half-n-half and a gasoline fill-up at Safeway. Then it was on to Dream House Suites.

We had reserved suite #4, since the other suites were not available for all 3 nights of our stay. Suite #4 is not really a suite, but a roomy studio. It’s the most recently remodeled of the four suites and doesn’t face Front Street. There’s a kitchenette with a microwave, coffee maker, toaster, refrigerator and tableware, glassware and cutlery. The comfortable queen sized bed had plenty of good quality pillows and crisp, white sheets.

A cozy, comfortable room in the heart of Leavenworth, Washington

The only drawback to our room was a lack of sound-proofing. We could hear activity in the next room and guests coming and going. The entrance to the building’s suites area was next to our room so we could hear guests banging luggage on the wall, discussing loudly their plans for the day, and slamming the door on the way in and out. The next time we stay at Dream House Suites we’ll book one of the other suites and see if it’s any quieter.

The suite opened onto a large, shared deck, with comfortable outdoor furnishings. In the summer and autumn months it’ll be a lovely place to enjoy morning coffee or an evening glass of wine. The deck has a great view of the nearby mountains.

The view from our room, Dream House Suite No. 4

There’s not daily maid service in the Dream House. There are plenty of large, comfy towels, and there’s dishwashing liquid available to wash your own table service items.
We’ve experienced really welcoming service at the Dream House suites. We’ve gotten a call during our trip to let us know our room is ready and another to ask us if everything is as we expected. There’s a phone number available to contact management if you need anything during your stay. It’s not a typical accommodation. It’s small and private and the rooms are right on Front Street so Leavenworth is literally at your door. Suites 1 and 2 open onto Front Street and have decks overlooking the village as well as fireplaces and jetted tubs.

The welcoming entrance to Pension Anna

On Saturday morning we got up early to have breakfast at Anna Pension as guests of Gary and Michele Thebault. The Thebaults are delightful hosts and eagerly shared with us their love for Leavenworth and their beautiful pension.

We enjoyed the hospitality of their lovingly decorated breakfast room and delicious German breakfast. I loved the dense, dark, German style pumpernickel bread. It was delicious with butter and marmalade. Gary, dressed in authentic Bavarian trachten, sat with us and told us all about how they discovered Leavenworth and purchased the pension from the original owners over 4 years ago.

The beautifully decorated Bavarian style breakfast room

Since that time they’ve visited Bavaria (the real thing) in order to drink in the culture and shop for authentic clothing (trachten) and furnishings to augment the Black Forest crafted pieces already in the hotel.

The sunny lobby of Pension Anna

Anna Pension has only 16 rooms, but each is far from ordinary. As Gary put it, “We don’t have any ‘standard’ rooms.” Each is unique and outstanding. Everywhere you turn in the hotel you’ll see beautiful examples of carved and painted wood furniture. Some of it is truly antique, all of it is lovely.

Next to the hotel is an historic chapel that was moved to the property in the 1970’s and now provides some of the most unique accommodations we’ve ever seen. One three room suite, the Alte Kappelle, has an elegant king sized bed, a sitting room, a large jetted tub and a sleeping loft with twin beds. It would make an excellent place for a family to stay while exploring the Bavarian Village and the surrounding area.

One of the lovely suites in the Chapel at Pension Anna

Be sure to visit the Rates page on their website and click the icon to see photos of each room.

It was obvious to us that Gary and Michele love the Leavenworth area and really love taking excellent care of their guests. The details in the hotel made me want to stay there and explore the nooks and crannies. Gary told us that it takes them 3 weeks to decorate the hotel at Christmas time. They’re often booked a year in advance for festival weekends. I can see why.

Pension Anna

Anna Pension offers something no one else in Leavenworth does in the form of their own Leavenworth-dedicated iPhone App. And if you don’t have an iPhone, don’t worry. Anna Pension has you covered there, too. They offer you the use of an iPhone as your personal concierge for the duration of your stay with them. You can use the iPhone to find out what’s happening and where to eat in Leavenworth via our website, Accidental Bavarian, and to take photos and video. Upload the photos to Facebook and your videos to YouTube while you’re still on vacation. The use of an iPhone at no additional charge is one example of the way the Thebaults offer extraordinary service to their guests.

Breakfast table at Pension Anna

After our visit to Anna Pension, we left Leavenworth for North Seattle. Scotte’s uncle passed away recently and we were on our way to attend his memorial service. A recent mudslide meant that we couldn’t take US 2 through Stevens Pass, without a detour through Plain, WA, so we made the trip south from Peshastin via US 97 and Blewett Pass.

In upcoming blog posts I’ll talk about the trip over and back on Snoqualmie and Stevens Passes and our two days exploring Leavenworth. We ate at new places, found some new shops opening and met new friends and I want to tell you all about it.