I’m slowly working on blogging all the trips we’ve taken over the last few years and this one was one of my favorites! I have always wanted to visit Northwestern Arkansas and we finally were able to go there for a long weekend last fall. NW Arkansas did not disappoint, especially with all the fall colors and leaves changing- we went in November and it was perfect!
You’ll notice that a lot of our travels over the last few years have been to scope out locations to see if it’s somewhere we may want to move. But it’s also a great excuse to visit somewhere new and have some fun!
Like almost anywhere you’d go for a long weekend, there are lots of things to do and not enough time to do all of them. I always do some research on what our options are and then narrow it down based on what is kid-friendly, what will fit our budget, the time of year, and what I think we will enjoy the most.
Northwestern Arkansas has a lot to offer. It’s not a huge city by any means, but there’s a lot of options- especially if you love being outdoors, like we do. I really wanted to spend a lot of time in the Ozarks, but since this trip was really to scope out the towns to see if we were interested in living there, we chose activities closer to the town of Bentonville. We wanted to get a feel for Bentonville and the surrounding towns, how the traffic was, and where the good hiking spots were. But we’d go back to the Ozarks in a heartbeat!
I was unsure if we should stay right in downtown Bentonville and be close to things down there or if we wanted to stay a little bit out of town. We settled on staying in Bella Vista which is a little bit up in the mountains (I use the term mountains loosely because although it IS beautiful there, their mountains are quite small lol) and about 20 minutes from Bentonville. I was so happy we stayed there because there were trees everywhere, it was so beautiful, quiet, and really wasn’t that far away from other things. We stayed in a cabin style airbnb and it very much felt like a weekend getaway in the woods.
Here’s what we did:
Tanyard Creek Nature Trail:
When doing research on kid friendly nature trails nearby, this trail was highly recommended. It’s very toddler friendly- it’s not completely flat but the elevation changes are minor. It is beautiful, especially in the fall and leads to a gorgeous waterfall (pictured below). We hiked two different trails.
Tanyard Creek Falls Trail: which led to the waterfall and is 1 mile long. To take this trail, you will start at the paved trail at the bathrooms. Follow this until you arrive at a trail sign. Continue passed this sign and take a left after crossing a wooden bridge.
Tanyard Perimeter Loop: From there we looped around and then did this trail- the photo below with the huge rock was from the trail. That was also a really cool trail with lots of beautiful foliage, really cool rocks, and some caves. This trail is 1.9 miles long. If I remember correctly, we did part of this trail and then turned back because we were all getting hungry and wanted to get to Louise’s for lunch!
Spent a day in Bentonville:
We spent an entire day just in downtown Bentonville and really enjoyed it there. It’s such a cute town and is one of the cleanest downtown areas I’ve ever been to. It’s also not a huge town, so it wasn’t busy or overwhelming and everyone we encountered were so kind and friendly! We walked around the square, got ice-cream from the food truck, and loved going into the shops. Going into downtown shops with 4 kids isn’t exactly easy 🙂 so we took turns going into different shops, but we did bring everyone into Once Upon a Time Books- a used bookstore. They had a lot of vintage books and a really cute children’s area. If you visit, make sure to check out Blue Moon Bentonville Happy State Co, and Bentonville Mercantile for some really cute and unique souvenirs. Also make sure to check out In Season. I found it really randomly, as it isn’t in the square with the other stores and it is kind of tucked away. It’s a really cute boutique with the sweetest owner. I ended up talking to her for an hour about pretty much everything under the sun. The whole store was decked out for Christmas since it was November and she had some of the cutest items! I walked away with an adorable Christmas mug.
Oh and they have the most amazing Crepe Restaurant called Creperies. I made us go back a second time because it was so delicious- and they had gluten free options!
There was a lotttt more we could have done in Bentonville, but we just didn’t have enough time. I will share some of the other things I would have loved to do below.
Other restaurants we wanted to try but didn’t have time for:
Tavola
Tacos & Tamales
Table at the Station
Big Orange
Table Mesa
YeYo’s
Devil’s Den State Park: We did also stop here on our way back home and I highly recommend visiting if you’re nearby! It’s about an hour south of Bentonville. We did the Yellow Rock Trail, which leads to a huge overlook with amazing views. The trail itself is 2.6 miles and has some decent terrain changes and rocky areas. It’s a beautiful hike and described as moderate by All Trails. It took us about 2 hours to get to the lookout, but we also had 2 toddlers and a dog, so if you are going without kids or your kids are older, it shouldn’t take that long. Be aware that there is a huge drop off at the top (it’s literally a huge cliff). The photos above are kind of jumbled, but the second photo at the very top is a photo of my carrying my 1 year old on my back at the overlook. We felt totally safe taking our kids up here because it’s a pretty large area, but we definitely made sure the kids kept their distance from the edge because there isn’t a fence. I was worried about my almost 3 year old, so we just took a photo, enjoyed the view for a minute and then headed back down. I mainly just mention all of this, because I think anyone doing this hike should be aware that you are indeed walking up to a cliff haha but the hike is beautiful!
Other Things to Do in NW Arkansas:
I did a ton of research on the area before our trip. Here are some other things you can do that looked like fun:
Crystal Bridges in Downtown Bentonville
Airship Open Air Cafe Bentonville
Climb Bentonville
The Peel Museum & Botanical Garden
The Amazeum
Downtown Public Art Walk
Osage Park
Bentonville Bike Playground
Exploring the Outdoors:
Petit Jean State Park
Beaver Lake
The Ozarks
Beaver Lake
We loved our trip to Bentonville and would absolutely go back again! Highly recommend visiting in the fall- the weather was perfect and it was beautiful there. If you have any other recommendations to add to the list, please comment below!
