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I’ve always wanted to go see Amish country, but I didn’t even know where to start planning for a trip like that! Then one day my husbands uncle told my mother-in-law that Berlin, Ohio was the Amish and Mennonite capital of the world! The more I looked into Amish Country, Ohio the more we wanted to go! Little did we know it would turn out to be one of the best family vacations any of us had ever taken!
Pre-Planning
When planning this trip I wanted a preliminary itinerary so we would know what to do and where the highlights would be so we wouldn’t miss anything, and let me tell you, our trip would have been much, much different if I had not done this. I would highly recommend pre-planning as I did. Our trip would have been a bust if we wouldn’t have pre-planned. It really allowed us to maximize our time.
First thing on the list in terms of planning was scouring online for ideas and areas of interest. This was a MAJOR factor. I found out several things.
1 – Most of Amish Country is closed on Sundays. This was a big deal. We originally planned our trip around the weekend and Sunday was going to be our major day of venturing and exploring. If I hadn’t found this info online, the entire trip would have been a bust.
2 – Even through the week most shops and restaurants close around 5 or shortly after.
3 – Check which month you’re travelling, a lot of places are closed through the winter season.
4 – When you’re traveling on roads, go slow. Several areas are hilly and right over that hill you’ll be behind a horse and cart.
These four tips were in the back of my mind when planning this trip. The next thing we did was pick out a date and book a house. It was cheaper for us to book a house than a hotel and we’re so glad we did! The home was absolutely beautiful and it was right between Millersberg and Berlin – the PERFECT spot in Amish Country! It was comfortable and large enough for all 7 of us! Here are several pictures of the beautiful home:
Closer to the trip I printed out a map on a large piece of paper with the town of Millersberg, Berlin, Sugar Creek, and Walnut Creek. This map had pinpoints of areas of interest that I thought that we might want to visit. I used Google Maps to create it, and I pinned several blog posts on pinterest about Amish Country Ohio and places to visit. Once I printed the map, beside each shop I wrote the hours of operation. I highlighted all the restaurants and wrote their hours down as well. This was a major success! We were able to successfully plan our days out by the business’s hours of operation. Now this sounds like a lot of work, but it’s really not. It only took a couple hours to research and create the map with the details.
Day 1
Our first night in Amish Country Ohio was on a Sunday night. Our trip was from Sunday – Wednesday and we honestly wished we had one more day. We were definitely able to do a lot, but we wanted to do a few more things; nevertheless it was still a wonderful trip!
Monday was full of walking and exploring. We decided that Monday would be the best day to experience Berlin. Berlin is basically a bunch of shops and restaurants together within walking distance.
We started our day at The Ginger House Coffee shop and had a nice breakfast and coffee. We then ventured over to Sol’s. This was a huge store with lots of gifts and souvenirs! I bought a lot of Christmas presents here and we even ventured back over to this shop before we left! I would highly recommend this place. We then went to Humble Hearts Country Gifts who was having a 50% off sale at the time and we racked up on so many good deals!!
Next we visited the oldest building in Berlin Ohio which was built in 1817. It was so neat to see the architecture and walk through a building that had seen many decades.
Country from the Heart, 39 Outpost, Helping Hands Quilt Shop, and Sommers General Store were also a neat little shops to visit.
We decided to eat lunch at Mrs. Yoders Kitchen and we loved the drive over. We saw several Amish kids at school playing and just the wide open country. it was absolutely breathtaking!
Next on our stop was Heini’s Cheese Chalet. We were able to sample different cheeses and see how it was made. You don’t want to miss this. The cheese is DELICIOUS and at a wonderful price! We ended up visiting this place twice, too!
Right across the street from Heini’s is Kauffman’s Country Bakery. We picked up several delicious baked goodies here too!
Our next stop of the day, and quite possibly our favorite, was Hershbergers Truck Patch. Here we spent several hours. Starting off with a buggy ride, then playing with the animals, to enjoying their shop. Here we played with several goats, Gypsy Vanner colts, mini Hereford cows, and a massive cow that was taller than my husband! This is a place you’ll want to spend some time at!
On the way back we stopped by another Cheese Factory – Guggisberg Cheese. We weren’t as impressed with this one as we were with Heini’s, but it was definitely a nice cheese factory!
We were told to not miss out on Keim’s Lumber! It’s basically a beefed up Lowe’s or Home Depot… It was amazing!! I work in the wood door and hardware business and I was amazed at the selection of hardware and wood doors they had!
We all were exhausted at this point so we ended up at the Der Dutchman for supper and it did not disappoint. Between the gorgeous views and the delicious food, it was a great end to an amazing day.
Day Two
We started this day off at the Olde World Bakery. We had fresh sausage and delicious coffee. This coffee shop was a little more pricey so we didn’t spend too much money on food here.
After breakfast we ventured to Berlin Antique Mall. I loved this place!! I bought several items here including an old fashioned sled (down in Georgia you don’t see things that like for sale). If I had the room in my car I would have bought much more!
Next we went over to Berlin Leather and Shoe, which was a nice shop, but not nearly as nice as the precious puppies we got to play with!
Next was Tis the Season Christmas Shop which is actually the largest Christmas shop in Ohio!! They had rooms and rooms of Christmas décor and ornaments and trees. Everything you could imagine! We ended up not buying anything here because it was way overpriced, but it was nice to experience!
Our next stop was our absolute favorite of the entire Ohio trip. The Farm at Walnut Creek. Every one of us wished we had made an entire day of this place! The first part we rode through in our car and fed animals. There were so many different types of deer, pigs, elk, llamas, water buffalo, emu, etc. We had many, many laughs. They also had giraffe, zebra, Brahma cows, Longhorn cows, and Highlands!
At the end of the ride through, we stopped and there were several more animals and places to see! We fed camels, Gypsy Vanners, Mule, and goats! We also visited an Amish home and got to see how their homes were and how they lived. It was so neat! There were several Amish women baking pies and talking in their Amish-Dutch language, which was beautiful to hear. We also got to see a blacksmith at work with some horseshoes. This was by far our favorite place in Amish Country!!
By this point we were all starving so we headed to Sugar Creek to a little place called “The Honey Bee Café”. This was one of my favorite restaurants here! It’s a farm to table restaurant and it was lovely. The atmosphere and entire experience was worth the late lunch. We loved it!
We were so close to Sugar Creek we decided to stop at the world’s largest cuckoo clock!
We traveled over to Walnut Creek Cheese and looked around, then ended up at Coblentz Chocolate Company. If you like chocolate, you’ll LOVE this place!
We all were still so stuffed from The Honey Bee Café we didn’t eat supper except for some meats and cheeses we had picked up from Heini’s Cheese Chalet. We were all exhausted from our long day and took it easy the rest of the afternoon and rested up for our long drive home the next day!
I LOVED our trip to Amish Country, Ohio and we plan on going back this year! The atmosphere, the people, and the experience was so rewarding. We were so humbled learning about the Amish and Mennonite and their culture. We learned a lot about their ways, their history, and their lives. I hope that if you’re planning on taking a trip to Amish Country you’ll enjoy it just as much as we did!
