Leavenworth is a small town in the Cascades of central Washington that reinvented itself in the 1960s as a Bavarian alpine village — lederhosen, gingerbread facades, and all. The transformation is unapologetically artificial and completely effective. More than two million people visit each year, drawn by the mountain scenery, outdoor activities, and a calendar of festivals that includes Oktoberfest, Maifest, and one of the most elaborate Christmas light displays in the Pacific Northwest.
The setting does most of the heavy lifting. The Wenatchee River cuts through the valley, the Icicle Creek canyon heads into the Cascades to the southwest, and the peaks above town are genuinely dramatic. Hiking, river rafting, rock climbing, mountain biking, and cross-country skiing are all within easy reach. The downtown shops and restaurants pile on the Bavarian theming hard — good-humoured and commercially savvy in equal measure.
The Leavenworth Nutcracker Museum is a genuine oddity worth visiting, and the Leavenworth Ski Hill offers community skiing in winter. For darker history, the Iron Goat Trail near Stevens Pass passes the site of the 1910 Wellington avalanche — the deadliest in US history.