Travel: Leavenworth brings Bavaria to the Cascades

In Leavenworth, a Washington mountain town remade in the image of Bavaria, alphorns echo amid the Cascades and beer gardens line streets that look imported from the Alps.

Since the 1960s, Leavenworth has gone all-in on Bavaria. Buildings were constructed or renovated with facades that would hardly look out of place in southern Germany or elsewhere in the Alps, including Tyrol in Austria and Italy’s South Tyrol.

Between the architecture, taverns with beer gardens and seemingly random alphorn performances, you occasionally have to remind yourself which continent you are on.

Admittedly, some buildings along Front Street — pedestrianized like the main streets in European old towns — are a bit pastiche. Nobody will mistake them for medieval survivors of the Holy Roman Empire. Still, taken as a whole, Leavenworth feels surprisingly authentic.

Much of that comes from the commitment. After six decades, what began as a borrowed identity has become a tradition in its own right.

The irony is that Leavenworth did not become Bavarian because a large German community brought the old country with it. The transformation was a matter of economic survival.

Railroading and logging once sustained the town. When those industries declined, Leavenworth needed another reason for people to visit. In the 1960s, local boosters embraced a Bavarian makeover to lure visitors across the mountains from Seattle and elsewhere in the Puget Sound region.

Looking around today, it is difficult to argue with the result.

I visited for the opening of Oktoberfest, which began Oct. 2 and continues for two more weekends through Oct. 17. Judging by the crowd, all 2,263 souls counted in Leavenworth’s 2020 census had turned out — and then some.

The festivities unfold across beer gardens and three stages hosting 13 musical acts over the three weekends. Opening weekend brought a Swiss band known for yodeling accompanied by accordions. The Freddy Pfister Band arrives from Tyrol for the final weekend. Rounding out the lineup are polka bands, alphorn players and traditional dancers in ornate costumes.

There are 19 beers on the menu this year, including 12 imports from Germany and two nonalcoholic options. Familiar names include Paulaner and Hofbräu. The nonalcoholic choices are a particularly welcome addition to a festival so closely associated with beer.

Not everything is geared toward adults. The Kinderplatz has a 62-foot Ferris wheel, carnival games and a root beer garden for families.

Of course, Oktoberfest is only part of Leavenworth’s appeal.

The cityscape already looks as if it belongs in a Hallmark or Great American Family movie. At Christmas, the resemblance becomes almost ridiculous.

This year’s celebration runs Nov. 27 through Dec. 24, with more than half a million lights. Few places do Christmas like Leavenworth.

Yet even without the festivities, the mountains surrounding Leavenworth make the architecture plausible. Look beyond the facades, and you can understand why someone thought Bavaria might work here.

Just remember, when an alphorn sounds, that you are still in Washington.

If you go

I flew into Seattle and rented a car for the easy drive over the Cascades, which takes about two-and-a-half hours. Alternatively, fly into Spokane for a three-and-a-half-hour drive to Leavenworth or Portland for a drive of about five hours.

For dining, München Haus and Rhein Haus keep the Bavarian theme going. The latter’s outdoor seating offers fabulous people-watching. For a change of pace, try Visconti’s Italian Restaurant. On the wine list, look for the bottle of kerner from Kloster Neustift in Italy’s German-speaking South Tyrol — a relatively uncommon white. Weather permitting, grab a seat on the rooftop patio for wonderful views of Front Street and the mountains, especially in the lingering afterglow of sunset.

Stay at the family-owned Enzian Inn, where the decor feels like that of a rustic countryside inn somewhere in the Alps.

Dennis Lennox writes a travel column for The Christian Post.