Family Fun in French Lick Part 1 • diy mama

For Christmas this year I wanted to take my family on a small family trip to somewhere special in Indiana. The Polar Express was high on my list for holiday attractions but I wanted to do it big by staying at a hotel when we went. This past week was that trip and I’m so thankful Visit French Lick West Baden hosted us and made our trip extra special.

I’ll be sharing this series in two posts because our family was able to do so much in two days! I’m excited to go back in the summer months to do ziplining, horseback riding, spelunking and a few other activities we missed this time around.

French-Lick-Plutos-Pizzaria — Pluto’s Pizzaria

French Lick Day 1

The Room

We’re only 2.5 hours away from French Lick so we were able to have two full days enjoying French Lick and West Baden. We arrived at French Lick Springs Hotel around 11 and were able to check-in early. Obviously, the first order of business was for the girls to jump on the beds in our beautiful room. The hotel was established in 1845 giving the rooms so much charm. I loved the oversized doors in the spacious rooms.

Bowling and Pizza

After exploring our room we headed to the basement for the girl’s first time bowling! Pluto’s Alley is a six-lane bowling alley that is right next to an arcade and Pluto’s Pizzaria. We had lunch while we bowled and I highly recommend getting the breadsticks! They had bumpers and a bowling assist ramp so the girls were able to do it ‘on their own’!

Pool time

We were very impressed with the pool at French Lick Springs Hotel. There is an indoor pool, an outdoor pool and an outdoor hot tub by the gardens. I’ll admit, the outdoor hot tub on a cold winter day, with 80s music playing, and no kids was pretty epic. Of course, playing inside with my family was also super fun. The hotel offers poolside delivery of food and drinks and the floor was heated! I loved picturing that space in its heyday with all of the poolside chairs occupied and people splashing in the pool!

The Hotel

The hotel has amazing detail and I wish I would have had time to take a historical tour of the property. That is at the top of my list the next time we come. As a hospitality major, I love the historical aspect of hotels. There is an abundance of amenities at the hotel including a free trolly around town, so many beautiful holiday decorations (I’ll show more in my Part 2 of this series), KidsFest (where you can drop off your kids for childcare), free valet parking, formal gardens, multiple gift shops, and a playground. Despite there being so many fun attractions around French Lick, we could easily spend an extended weekend enjoying the French Lick Springs Hotel.

French-Lick-trolley-at-night — French Lick Resort Trolley

The Polar Express

The Polar Express was our big draw to French Lick but I will say that it is a destination town with so much to do! I share more in my The Polar Express in French Lick Indiana blog post but I wanted to share highlights here as well. Upgrading our tickets on the French Lick Scenic Railway so we could have a full table to ourselves was key. Our train car was heated, had bathrooms and included souvenir mugs.

The experience was more than I had hoped for a truly magical experience. I wasn’t as fond of the activity tent and gift shop but the actual train ride was really fun. I’m happy we waited until our daughter was 6 (although 5 would have been great too) and paired it with a hotel stay. It made the trip so much more meaningful. We’ll definitely do it again when Lilly is 5-6 years old.

I’ve made a short video of our experience on both days but be sure to check out Part 2 of the series to see what we did on the second day!

If you’ve been to French Lick and West Baden, let me know what your favorite things to do and eat were! We’ll be going back when the weather is nice!