One of the most frequent question we get asked is “Can we get an Amish Buggy Ride?”
First, never without prior reservation and never on Sunday.
Second, if we have enough advance notice, and if your schedule allows enough time to include one…MAYBE!
About Amish buggies. They most commonly seat 2 to 4 people, including the driver. So each “Amish buggy ride” can accommodate 2-3 people per trip. And they travel very slowly, so a trip from the farm house driveway to the “corner” 1/2 to34 mile and back might take 15-20 minutes of travel time, plus the load and unload time. So you have to allow time to get out to the farm for your scheduled ride, and allow 20-25 minutes per buggy full.
Why are they sometimes hard to schedule? Remember Amish buggies take a bit more time to get ready than our “English” vehicles (cars). The buggy must be pulled out of the “garage” by hand by the host, they must then go and fetch the horse and the harness from the barn, then assemble them all together to get road ready. At the end of the”trip” All this has to be put away, plus probably feed and water the horse. Add about a half hour on each side of the “ride.”
So a “simple” Amish Buggy Ride for a family of 4 might take the host 2 hours to accomplish. For larger groups, keep adding in the 20 minutes per “buggy full”.
Additionally, due to meal and home tour hosts being tied up with those options, we will have to plan for Amish buggy rides at separate locations from the Amish Home Meals and Amish Home tours. The one operation that does attempt to help with rides actually uses a larger wagon and not an “official” Amish buggy. We can tell you about this option when you contact us.
Amish buggies are generally NOT handicap accessible. They have a very small boarding step that is about 15 inches off the ground.
Cost – Amish Buggy ride offerings are new in in the Arthur Amish community from our Amish hosts. Only a few folks will attempt them at this time. They have traditionally not offered these, and because of this we expect prices to evolve this summer. Also many Amish folks hesitate to “charge” for an experience but rather accept donations. For the two hour time commitment, expect to pay or “donate” about $50 or $10 per person for the hosts time.
Call us and we will check with our hosts and see what can be done.
ACM Tours
138 S. Vine St, Arthur Illinois
217-543-2766