The ultimate winter wonderland for a quick gettaway, or a weeks vacation. Great for families with small children.

Leavenworth is a small town snuggled up against the east side of the cascade mountains, with tall mountains and Fir trees towering overhead. The main attraction is the shopping street area consisting of about 3 blocks of Bavarian-styled buildings featuring all things German and Touristy. We stayed 2 nights at the fatastic little hotel called Anna's Pension, and could walk just 2-3 minutes to the closest shops and restaurants, with the furthest stuff being about 5-10 minutes away. We barely did it all in 2 nights, and still have a few new restaurants and shops to try out the next time we go. HIGHLY recommend eating at the Mozart Cafe and Andreas Keller (same building - Mozart located above and the Andreas Keller below). Great food and service at both. The Mozart is more refined and elegant with Harp music in the background, while the Andreas Keller is more casual/faily friendly with live Accordian music.

Leavenworth is definitely worth the trip. You don't even feel like you are in the U.S.. This little Bavarian Village is not only beautiful but the people are friendly. We went there for Christmas and it was almost magical! With two feet of snow on the ground and more coming down, the little town, all lit up, was like being in the North Pole. Our grandkids loved tubing down the hill at the ski area as well as sledding in the city square. Of course the shopping and food was great too! We would love to go back in the springtime. We stayed at the Enzian Inn and would highly recommend it. If you have the opportunity to go to Leavenworth, don't pass it up.

I spent lots of time doing research on Leavenworth and area, and I'm glad I did. Be sure to read "Leavenworth: Miracle Town".
We spent our entire 2-week vacation in our RV at Icicle River RV Park, preparing most of our own meals, etc. We saved a whole lot of money this way because everything in this little town is very expensive from restaurants, mostly serving German food, playing miniature golf at $6.95 per person (a rather difficult course; not for kids) to everything in all the little shops. We spent a good share of 4 days going through most of the little shops but not buying anything but a Christmas ornament for our daughter.
The Chamber of Commerce is good about handing out printed materials but don't seem to know anything verbally. Example: We asked for the route of the Autumn Leaf Festival Parade (in it's 41st year) and they couldn't tell us. The shop owners are very unhappy with the Chamber. In fact the shop owners were much more helpful! We did find that the residents could not tell us the meaning of some common German words used on the street. That was frustrating.
We took several drives to the countryside; it's beautiful.
We did fully enjoy the Autumn Leaf Festival Parade and entertainment. The Salmon Festival at the Fish Hatchery was almost entirely for kids and a waste of time for us.
We made full use of Prey's Fruitbarn and got 2 25 lb. boxes of #2 apples to make applesauce for freezing. They were helpful.
Outside of Leavenworth, we spent time in Cashmere at the Applets & Cotlets factory. The lady giving the tour talked so fast that we missed most of what she said. The Cashmere Pioneer Museum was very large and interesting, if you wish to see Indian artifacts, again.
The RV park where we stayed was very nice and quiet, and the price was right. Parking in the "downtown" area was a problem, but the RV Park had a free shuttle service which we made use of on parade day.
Would we go back again? No, we did everything we wanted to do, so won't need to.
Best places to eat include Tumwater Inn for lunch or dinner, Big Y Cafe for excellent hamburgers, The Soup Cellar, Leavenworth Pizza and Kodiak Pizza.
For those of you who might be an Oregon resident, make sure you show your Oregon driver's license to the clerk at the cash register BEFORE she starts to ring up your purchase. This is how you can avoid paying Washington sales tax. I don't know if this also applies to Montana residents or those from other non-sales tax states.