Branch Out Area Attractions

Visit French Lick West Baden Visitors Center

Our full-service visitors center offers personal trip planning assistance, area and regional visitor information and free WiFi. Find places to play, book your stay, learn about upcoming events and more. Ask about our complimentary assistance with professional planning for any need, including group tours, travel writers’ visits and meetings, conferences and retreats. You can also request travel information.

French Lick West Baden Museum

Travel in the footsteps of hometown son and basketball legend Larry Bird. Relive the thrilling tales of legal (and illegal) gambling, and the gangsters who won big and laid low here. Drink in the story of Pluto Water and its curious effects on guests staying at our two magnificent hotels. A museum must-see; the world’s largest circus diorama depicting the 1915 Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus at its winter home.

French Lick Scenic Railway

The ultimate train enthusiast’s destination! French Lick Scenic Railway boasts some of the best scenery in the Midwest. Spend a day riding one of our historic trains through the beautiful Hoosier National Forest and Burton Tunnel. Throughout the year, the Railway hosts special events like Chocolate or Bourbon Tasting Trains, Wild West Hold-Ups, The Dinosaur Adventure Train and The Polar Express.

French Lick-West Baden Indoor Karting

Fast go-karts and great fun in one place! Enjoy the ultimate racing experience in a 65,000 square-foot facility with a challenging quarter-mile road course, full arcade and large observation area. This is a great place to celebrate almost any occasion from family reunions to church groups, team building and everything in between. Everyone loves the thrill you get from racing!

Shotz Miniature Golf and Lazer Tag

Indoors or outside, laid-back or more intense, adventures of all types are waiting year-round at Shotz Miniature Golf and Lazer Tag. Featuring indoor laser tag, a 9-hole indoor miniature cosmic golf course, Lazer Frenzy, an 18-hole outdoor mini golf course, a 35-foot rock climbing wall and a three-station bungee trampoline. A family-friendly destination offering fun for everyone. Single and group rates are available.

French Lick Winery

Celebrating more than two decades of wine making, French Lick Winery has more than 30 wines available for tasting, ranging from dry to sweet to fortified and bubbly. There’s also a gift shop with a variety of wine-related accessories and logo items, apparel and gourmet foods. Open seven days a week, conveniently located just off the main highway through the towns of West Baden Springs and French Lick.

Big Splash Adventure Indoor Water Park

Explore 40,000 square feet of exciting water attractions for all ages, and the latest interactive games at The Treasure Chest Arcade all under one roof at Big Splash Adventure — one of the few retractable-roof water parks in the world. Open year-round with blue skies and warm water guaranteed. Tackle the 40-foot Slide Tower, float down the Lost River or spend the day at Buccaneer Bay. All paths lead to a fun-filled day for the entire family.

Escape! French Lick

If you like mysteries and you're up for a challenge, then you're ready for French Lick's own escape room! With only 60 minutes, you must work together to gather clues and hints, solve the riddles and figure out an escape route before time is up. This team activity allows for four to 10 members to play and is great for families, friends and corporate team-building. Select from four themed experiences: Al Capone and Where's Harry? are two of the classic puzzles at Escape French Lick, while Time Capsules and Mission X are the two newest challenges for you and your crew to tackle.

Abbeydell Hall

The sounds and style of Branson, Missouri shows are now on stage at West Baden Springs. Producer Rhett Thomas, who gained national and international success working for years in Branson, has launched original live music productions playing in the Abbeydell Hall at the Legend of French Lick.

Shows run select weekends throughout the year, and all are family-friendly and open to all ages. Dinner and show options are available as well as a show-only option. Top performers and musicians engage the audience, creating lasting memories you and your family will forever cherish. Visit silvernightentertainment.com for show times and updates.

Wilstem Wildlife Park

Experience it all at Wilstem Wildlife Park's 1,100 countryside acres, with ziplining adventures, ATV tours, and exotic animal encounters you can only experience here. Choose from a range of experiences where you can see and even touch animals up close, including a Spa Appointment Encounter where you can give a bath to the African elephants that vacation at Wilstem in the spring, summer and fall. Other experiences feature giraffes, kangaroos and grizzly bears, which are among the dozens of wild animals that call Wilstem home. Visit the website for current offerings.

Patoka Lake

26,000 acres of unspoiled beauty combined with 8,800 acres of water wonderland create the perfect vacation getaway. Patoka abounds with opportunities to enjoy water sports, fishing and much more. Facilities include a modern 455-site campground, nine boat-launching ramps, hiking trails, 17 miles of paved bike trails, an exercise trail, disc golf course, archery range, swimming beach and visitors center.

Paoli Peaks

Enjoy a day of skiing, tubing and snowboarding at Paoli Peaks! Indiana’s premier ski resort includes 65 acres of skiable terrain with 15 trails, five chair lifts and three surface lifts. Not everyone in the family skis? No problem! Snow tubing is the ultimate activity for some serious family fun. Enjoy eight lanes of 700-foot long snow-covered slopes, specially constructed inner tubes and a 400-foot wonder carpet designed to get you back up the hill. A full-service ski and snowboard rental shop, pro shop and food are available on site.

Patoka Lake Nature Center

The Patoka Lake Nature Center features numerous displays about the area's rich natural resources and cultural history. The staff presents programs and special events featuring the reconstructed Moery Cabin, a non-releasable red-tailed hawk, bald eagle, eastern screech owl and other natural and cultural history features of the area. Programs on kayaking, Dutch oven cooking, nature hiking and other outdoor skills are also offered. Four hiking trails start at the Nature Center and the paved bike trail meanders directly in front of the building.

Patoka Lake Marina

Whether you're looking to zip around the lake or just have some fun relaxing or fishing, Patoka Lake Marina has a rental boat for you. This full-service marina offers everything from pontoon boats for the whole family to fishing boats for those looking to make that big catch. Year-round slip and buoy rental and an on-duty mechanic are also available. Check the tours page for more information on lake cruises.

Patoka Lake Winery

Patoka Lake Winery features a tasting room that is open daily to the public. It also offers a large gift shop, wine sales, and nice places to sit and sip. With more than 20 different wines varying from sweet to dry, and multiple flavors of wine slushies, there is something for everyone. Winery facility tours are also available by appointment. Open seven days a week.

Spring Mill State Park

Among Indiana's most popular parks, Spring Mill State Park offers cave tours, hiking, campgrounds, playgrounds, bike trails, boating, fishing, swimming, volleyball and a lodge with restaurant and meeting facilities. The main attraction is a restored pioneer village around a working water-powered gristmill. The Grissom Memorial building honors Hoosier astronaut Virgil "Gus" Grissom, who was one of the original seven Mercury astronauts.

Marengo Cave

As Indiana’s No. 1 natural attraction, Marengo Cave offers family fun for all ages. Take a walking tour of 40 or 60 minutes to get up close and personal with this cave that began forming approximately one million years ago. For more adventures, see the cave in its natural state with cave exploring (gear is provided). Mine gemstones by sifting through dirt and rocks to find sparkly jewels just like the early miners. These stones make great souvenirs! Individual and group rates available.

Cave Country Canoes

Cave Country Canoes offers a variety of canoe and kayak trips on the unspoiled Blue River, the first Indiana stream to be included in the state's designated Scenic Rivers System. It features lots of fun riffles, stretches of smooth paddling, beautiful scenery and abundant wildlife.

Holiday World & Splashin' Safari

Holiday World & Splashin’ Safari is a family theme park and water park combo located in nearby Santa Claus, Indiana. Take the plunge on some of the park’s signature roller coasters, including Thunderbird (the nation’s first launched wing roller coaster) and Voyage (ranked as the nation’s No. 1 wooden roller coaster by Time magazine). Splashin’ Safari, named the best water park in the nation by USA Today, includes the two longest water coasters in the world, numerous family raft slides and water slides, two wave pools and many more water activities for children. Both parks offer free soft drinks, free parking, free inner tube usage, free sunscreen and free Wi-Fi. 

Indiana Caverns

Explore the darkness and the depths of Indiana’s longest cave system, which stretches nearly 45 miles and features a history that’s even more expansive. This is one of 20 sites on the entire planet containing more than 20 species of subterranean animals, and recently discovered fossils at Indiana Caverns date back to the Ice Age. Try a 90-minute tour where you descend 110 feet underground and take a boat ride with spectacular views, or amp up the experience with a more interactive four-hour adventure where you descend, crawl, wade and paddle your way through the caves. The kids can also get interactive with a gemstone mining experience and a 400-foot underground crawl. An ideal getaway for any season, as the cave temperature is 56 degrees year-round.

Bledsoe Farms

Open Saturdays and Sundays from September 21 through October 27, Bledsoe Farms features a full harvest of fall fun highlighted by their corn maze and pumpkin patch. You can also see farm animals and enjoy wagon rides, mechanical bull rides, cow train, jumper pillow, bounce houses, gem mining, cornbox, sand pit, horse swings, mega slides, concessions and music.

Lark Ranch

The ultimate fall experience is nearby at Lark Ranch with Indiana's largest Fall Farm Festival. Open in September and October, it features a traditional U-Pick pumpkin patch, corn maze, hayrides, petting zoo, amusement rides, games, fall food favorites and a mile-long train ride. Plan a day trip for a great family-friendly fall activity.