Leavenworth Hotels & Vacation Rentals for Christmas

Kids go wild for this unique Christmas event, which features appearances from Mr. and Mrs. Claus along with appearances from your favorite cartoon characters. On Sundays leading up to Christmas each year, more than a dozen participating businesses around Leavenworth serve a free cookie to any child who asks for one.

Before the lighting festival, crowds congregate in Front Street Park to enjoy deliciously spiced cider, gluhwein, and fresh roasted chestnuts. Rousing performances from an Army National Guard Dixie band build to a crescendo of Christmas cheer.

Sample seven different festive brews in the equally seasonal surroundings of Leavenworth's favorite local hangout. The water used to produce the beers is sourced minutes away, at Icicle Creek.

The main attraction of Leavenworth hotels at Christmas is the town's famous lighting festival, which illuminates over a million lights each weekend in December. Crowds fill Front Street Park on weekend evenings for live musical performances as dusk descends. Appearances by Mr. and Mrs. Claus and the mayor inaugurate the holiday celebrations in glorious, traditional fashion. Front Street is photo-ready during the festive season, aglow with twinkling lights and enthralling store window displays.

Pick out the last of your Christmas presents in Front Street Park, where a Bavarian Christmas market brings you traditional holiday cheer, German style. Leavenworth Village Voices choir sings holiday favorites, while Mr. and Mrs. Claus hand out goodies and vendors purvey Bavarian goods and foodstuffs. Everything, from cuckoo clocks to nutcrackers and lederhosen, is on sale.

Every year, Icicle Creek Center for the Arts curates a colorful program of Christmas entertainment. Enjoy live readings, plays, and movies in this barn-come-concert hall to the south of the city. Watch a prestigious performance of the Bolshoi Ballet's The Nutcracker or grab a ticket to Magical Strings Celtic Yuletide. Don't miss the Snowy Owl Christmas live radio show and Cool Yule holiday ballads sing-alongs.

The private collection of George and Arlene Wagner was opened to the public in 1995. More than 6,000 handmade nutcracker figurines from around the world are displayed at the museum, ranging in age from modern-day to some 2,000 years old. Take a picture with Karl, the life-sized beer-imbibing nutcracker, and don't forget to pause in the gift shop.

Trotting horses jingle through Front Street and the local green spaces decked in dustings of snow this time of year. Hail horse horse-drawn carriage rides from Eagle Creek Ranch and Red Tail Canyon Farm, both just outside the city. Alternatively, come to Icicle Outfitters and Guides and enjoy a ride complete with hot chocolate, spiced cider, and coffee. You'll head out on a 30-minute ride along Icicle River beneath the soaring Stuart Mountains.

Take the three-hour trip through the snow-kissed Cascades mountain range and enjoy Blazing Bagels' cranberry orange muffins and other sweet holiday treats of the region as you glide through picture-perfect mountains, silent in their snowy garb. Your family will be spellbound.