Guided Van Tour

Learn from a local

Join us for the Village Voyage Van Tour, a two-and-a-half-hour guided tour of key historic sites in the Amana Colonies. Our 14-passenger, climate-controlled tour van will take you to four historic sites in the Amana Colonies to learn about our unique heritage and journey from Germany to Iowa. You’ll learn about our communal life before 1932, including our gardens, agriculture, religion, and way of communal living. Space and times are limited, so reservations are recommended.

Season: Van tours run from May to October, Monday through Saturday, at 11:00 am and 2:00 pm*. Tours may be canceled in severe weather. *Tours are limited to tour guide availability.

Price: Adults 18 years and older are $25 per person; ages 5-17 are $18. We are unable to accommodate children who require car seats or booster seats. Groups of 8 or more receive a $3 discount per person when booking as a group. Mimimum of four individuals per tour. If we do not have four paid partcipants, we will not run a tour.

Accessibility: We want all visitors to be able to experience the Amana Colonies. At this time, some of our historic sites and our tour van are not fully ADA accessible due to the nature of the historic properties and vehicles. We understand this creates barriers for some guests, and we are actively working to identify solutions to improve accessibility over time. If you need accommodations, please contact the Visitors Center in advance, and we will do everything we can to assist you.

The Tour:

• The first stop is at the main campus of the Amana Heritage Society. An award-winning video that helps explain our history and the communal era (1842-1932) will set the tone for the tour. You may have questions about life during this time or how things have changed or not changed, and your guide will gladly answer them.
• The second stop is in Middle Amana, the only surviving intact communal kitchen.  Here, you’ll learn about Shop Street and then enter the kitchen and discover how 40 people were fed five times a day, what the meals were like, and how nothing was wasted.  It is a fascinating look at something we all take for granted, dinnertime.
• Our third stop is the High Amana General Store.  This is a trip down memory lane.  The store seems frozen in time, with tin ceilings and old display cases. It’s like walking back in time, 100 years. Everything is original except the products that are sold and the clerk.
• The final stop is at the old Homestead Church. Each village had its own church, but today, Homestead Church is no longer used for services and has been given to the Amana Heritage Society. You can enter the church and learn about the Amana Church Society religion. Sit on the plain pine benches that are still used today and learn about the beliefs of the church members and how they are different from or like your religion.

Please call the Visitors Center at 319-622-7622 to arrange; reservations cannot be made online.

*Some dates and times are reserved for private events, so please call ahead if you want to take the tour on a specific date to ensure it is available. Reservations are recommended.