Self Guiding Tours in Illinois Amish Country
Amish Horse Farming
Illinois Amish Country brings images of rich farmlands, buggies, and horse farmed fields and a slower pace of life. It’s a world of rich beauty and striking simplicity – a world that’s best experienced by traveling the slower, scenic side roads.
Our very popular and informative Self Guiding Audio Tour will help you see the best of Illinois Amish Country while you become part of the daily lives of people who still live in a simple time and quiet place. Whether you enjoy driving, bicycling, or walking, these tours have been especially designed to give you a glimpse of a world that is uniquely different.
All are available at The Wood Loft in downtown Arthur.
Our Audio Self Guiding Tour – CD, USB or MP3 – is available for you to pick up at our store without prior reservation whenever you arrive in Arthur, . We’ve created this tour that will allow you to explore Illinois
Amish Country at your own pace. Based on the topics covered by our live step-on guides, your audio guide will explain the sights and the area, many of the Amish customs and lifestyle topics that you will see along the way, some of the history and local lore, and take you past many country shops and farms with roadside stands that you can stop at and explore at your leisure. About a 45 minute drive if you drive it straight through – but you’ll want to allow some extra time to stop along the way. Most folks take at least a couple of hours, but if you like to shop, our audio tour can easily fill a half day if you spend much time at the many country shops on the tour route. It will give you a good background in the Illinois Amish lifestyle and a general feel for the Arthur countryside so you can spend the rest of your visit wandering confidently on your own.
The Audio Self Guiding Tour begins and ends in Downtown Arthur, and comes with a country road map for orientation, so it makes a great “first thing to do” when you arrive in Amish Country! Most of the country shops are open at 8 or 9am until past 5pm, so you can pick up a self guiding tour at our shop (The Wood Loft, 138 S. Vine St ) in downtown Arthur anytime during the day or until late afternoon, visit the country and drop the CD back off in town in our after-hours drop box sometime after dinner.
Bicycle Tours – We host close to a thousand riders here in Arthur every September during the Amish Country Bicycle Tour sponsored by the Decatur Cycle Club. The great early fall colors, harvest time, a hearty meal, with flat to gently rolling roads shared by horse drawn buggies, and always perfect weather (Well… usually perfect weather anyway) make a great ride. Marked routes from 10 to 75 miles, sag wagons, and plenty of good food bring riders back each year.
But if you can’t make it that weekend, ACM Tours can set you up with routes, meal setups and more, for any time during the cycling season. Check with us. We keep track of closed or torn up roads, fresh road oil (you don’t want to mess with that!) and have marked maps available for wandering. Or we’ll mark a map for you with points of interest. If you wish to learn some background on the Amish community thru which you’ll be touring, take along an audio tape or CD or MP3 and pick up a bit of local lore along the way.
Arthur Walking Tours – We have free local Arthur maps that will introduce you to the local downtown businesses, the neighborhoods, and some of the history of our community. Unlike some areas in many cities, Arthur is a town that you can safely enjoy on foot. If you really want to relax, park your car and spend a couple of days on foot. You really can enjoy all of Arthur on foot. Spend some time at the park or pool, stroll the neighborhoods, grab a bite with the locals, visit the shops downtown, hang out a while on one of the many benches and watch the buggies go by, and enjoy an old fashioned ice cream soda at the drug store soda fountain.
Add a meal in an Amish home to your visit. We schedule a lot of meals for folks who wish to experience a family style meal in an Amish Home. While these bookings usually require a minimum of ten people and advance reservations, Early planning helps but it doesn’t hurt to check at the last minute either. Give us a call at 1-888-321-9663.
You can pick up one of our walking or audio tours without prior reservation when you arrive in Arthur. Be sure to stop into the Wood Loft, on the corner of Illinois and Vine Streets, right in the center of Downtown Arthur. We’ll get you set up for an enjoyable experience in Amish Country.
Amish Country is an easy to plan day trip if you originate anywhere within the Chicago, St Louis or Indianapolis area.
We are easy to get to! Arthur is just 9 miles west off I-57 at exit 203 (Arcola), 30 minutes South of Champaign, IL (I-72 & I-74) and just 40 minutes north of Effingham, IL and the I-70/I-57 junction
Let ACM Tours help with your itinerary details.