Amana Colonies Convention and Visitor Bureau Review

Cool little village with small shops and eateries. Not what we expected but our young kids enjoyed it. One short day is enough to see everything.

Beautiful place!!! Definitely we will come back. I m very glad that my husband on our way back to Chicago saw the post otherwise maybe we never had come here. The General Store has plenty of little and beautiful things, of course Christmas is every where. The chocolate factory, the ice creams, the restaurants... it was a quick visit. Highly recommended!!!

A great time painting. Friendly people.. A great time!!!

Today there was an art market. It is a town of German origin with the central street full of shops, very touristy but worth it. They have free parking areas.

Great place! Millstream brewing company out did themselves could not of been more happy

I was moderately disappointed with my experience. I did not see one single person wearing a bonnet, NOT ONE. The shops had hand sanitizer for customers to use, however the sanitizer smelled like DEATH. I was so sick from the smell that I went into a Casey s to wash my hands and rid them off the death smell. I do give it one star because the guy at the ice cream shop gave me a ton of samples and someone left their cute ceramic snail for me to steal.

Cute little village town. Good ice cream, fun little shops. 9/10

The Amana Colonies are made up of 7 villages and are a wonderful place to visit that is full of old world charm and friendly people. Main Amana is where most of the shops and restaurants are to be found though we also enjoyed driving through and seeing the other villages where there are a few scattered shops. In main Amana everything is walkable and public parking is free. The village is beautifully clean and serene. The shops are full of handmade goods as well as antiques and a smaller number of items that are more mass produced. They host regular festivals throughout the year that are always a good time. There is also a brewery and a handful of wine shops. We have visited several times and will definitely return. Fair warning that during these times of Covid-19, mask wearing is taken lightly here, with some places requiring them indoors and some not mentioning it at all. Based on personal observations I'd say a little more than half the people in the village and shops were wearing masks.

A comfortable walk through a small European village with old time shops and great treats. The Ronneburg German restaurant was a must see as were the Christmas store, the general store, the ice cream shop,and the butcher shop.

Quaint little towns with old buildings and reasonable prices. Very friendly service.

It is a nice place to visit. Dont know how many items r made in amana tho.

An awesome experience!!! There's a lot of shopping, museum's, pubs,and amazing eats!!! I highly recommend spending a day or two here to take in all of the German influence on this area!!! Great shopping for the whole family.

No other place to eat but the Ox Yolke Inn bar none. Then enjoy all the unique shops & atmosphere of Main Amana. Make sure to visit one of the Festivals during the year.

A very fun experience. Very fun for both adults and children.

Great little village to shop and eat. Can easily spend a day there walking and shopping.

Very friendly very quaint good food and awesome stores

Great shops and German food. It's also a good place to learn about our colonial past.

Historic, stores are fun and friendly and the food is good.

AMAZING PEOPLE, GREAT SHOPS !!! CERTAINLY worth the time...

It was a great day trip! Everyone was very friendly! We will definitely be back!

Beautiful little town. We will definitely be going back. I love the little shops and the owners were all so nice!

This is a family classic. We love the wine and the food, and the shops.

We entered into the Dachshund Derby by registering on line. That's what it said to do....on line or at the event. NO WHERE did it say you had to check in once arriving. ANYWAY.....we were watching the races, waiting for our dog's name to be called( by the starting line) not once did we hear his name called and all of a sudden they said "OK, next is the championship race" I said wait, wait, we never go to run yet. They said, "sorry you must not have registered." We argued that point and asked if he could just run with the last race. NOPE was their answer. This event was so unorganized. Couldn't hear what they were saying as they had their faces covered with a mask, no loud speaker, nothing :( Not once did they talk to the crowd and say we are about ready to start the races, if you haven't checked in, do so, nor did they say anything much at all. Dogs and people just started going into the arena so I guess it was time. We had family members come from 2 hours away, and Team T-shirts made for this event. What a disappointment that event was. Bad experience. IN response to your response... Just t be clear. We seen the table but no where did it say to CHECK IN HERE! THERE WERE 6 OF US STANDING AT THE START LINE....NOT ONE OF US HEARD YOU CALL OUR DOG'S NAME, YOU CALLED 2 OTHERS, NOT ONE WAS OURS. Also, Dachshund owners are one big family....they would have felt bad that our dog was left out, they would not have cared if he would have ran!

Iowa is beautiful but this place is simply amazing!

Fun for a day of sight seeing and shopping. Love the general store for "old" candy!

4-stars because Amana people are cool, but I wouldn't necessarily drive across the country to see it.

Nice except all buildings separate and cold going each place outside

Great place to visit, so much to see. My favourite is the christmas shop

I have always enjoyed visiting here. Especially the ox yoke restaurant. I took my daughter here a couple of years ago and she loved it too. We will always come back anytime we're traveling through Iowa.

Charming small town America with German emigrant style. The main town of Amana has several shops that sell better quality of arts and crafts. The wool mill has goods that are well made, but not cheap.

The place is awesome. It could be even more awesone if the farms, especially the barns were kept up. Once outside the middle colony it was pretty run down. People go to see the way it was run. Have a least one farm doing things like they would have been done in the old days. Use horses. The Ronneburg has the right idea. But, much of the products for sale were not made there. They should be producing products sowcial to the colonies. They could even do online sales of authentic Amana products. If I want a purse made in Mexico, then I won't make the trip to the colonies.

As a native Iowan, I have been going to th Amana's my whole life. I live this place.

Cute shops and great atmosphere. Just needs a horse and buggie as public transportation!

Mostly retail mecca, but museum video and building tours were interesting.

Good stores, hard to find items, nostalgia at its best. Good restaurants, fabulous food.

Really cute place. Wish we'd had more time to explore. Really liked what we did see; the Chocolate Haus, General store and a quilt store.

Fun place just to stroll. I love the Amana meats and millstream brewery.

Great place for a day trip and fun place to take kids, we will be back soon! They have different events going on in the summer as well!

It's great to visit. Touristy but Ackermann winery and the Meat Shop are wonderful

Step back in time. Delightful commu city. Worth the trip.

We love shopping in Amana!! Plus the food at the Ox Yoke is amazing

Amana Colonies is a great place to visit, get a history lesson, and eat great German food. Be sure to taste some wines and a stop at the Millhouse brewery is a must!

Super cute German village, awesome shopping and history.

Wonderful and quiet idyllic town perfect for relaxing low key shopping for highly overpriced delicious and rich foods and beautiful local art

Has declined since the 80's. Things I wanted to visit were closed for refurbishing or because it was Sunday. Ox Yoke Inn still serving family-style meals.

Bucket List location. If it's not on your list, it needs to be.

Had lunch and shopping. What a wonderful afternoon with family

Great
Antiques

I used to say tounge-in-cheek "there are no tourist attractions in Iowa. Boy was I wrong! The colonies is a jewel of an attraction. I'm from Alabama and have missed this one many times, but won't ever again if I have the chance. History abounds here and tells the great story of European immigration to Iowa. Go there. You will be amazed..

Bakery and meat shop are fabulous! I was looking for barn quilts, but couldn't find any

Interesting shops with history. Friendly staff in all shops we visited. Will return in the future.

A really cute little town with a handful of stuff to do and buy, only issue seems to be everywhere is going out of business. I hope to come back and see new stores that might help keep the place going. They have like to breweries, and four different wineries which offer samples and discounts on multiple bottles. I will be back for the wineries and to try out the breweries.

Not as good as they used to be. Lost a lot of great shops

This is a must visit if you're in the area. We live about an hour and 15 minutes away and visit about once or twice per year. Lots of shops, nature things, etc. I've yet to visit during a festival. Looking forward to that someday.

Our "must stops" at the colonies are: the smokehouse meat shop, the popcorn store, the chocolate house, and the handmade soaps across the street from the chocolate. We also love dining family style at the restaurants.

Maifest was a lot of fun! Plenty of places to shop at, good wine to sample, music, food and beer!

Great food. Great shopping. Unique items everywhere. Great people. A must stop.

I love the colonies!!! There's always something new to discover there. I think the restaurants are a little overpriced but overall they are great in atmosphere and service. If you like wine Ackerman's has wine slushies that are great! I love spending the day there just walking around and looking on the shops.

Fun experience. Antiquing is the main focus. Good food shops but a little pricey.

Only spent a day here a wish we had spent more. Many shops to explore and historical displays. People were very welcoming. Think of it as Williamsburg without the attitude.

I think we've purchased almost a half of all the types of furniture the Amana Furniture Store makes. We just bought a nice Cooper desk from them and they helped me load it into our Escape.

Amazing! Great shops, decent prices. Took my son to see Santa, $3 per person goodwill donation money goes to the Children's Hospital at the University of Iowa. And any items (food/drinks) they sold in the barn at Tannenbaum Forest went to a cause, which I would rather go there than the local mall and spend a fortune for the mall Santa.

Visited Fern Hill during their annual ssle. Lots of great fabrics and unique gift ideas.Very friendly staff!

I was disappointed that there were no real Amish made items for sale. Just stuff that is made in China, that I could get off Amazon. Cute town though.