The Donut Trail

Today is National Donut Day! This post is dedicated to all my fellow Donut Lovers out there. Here's a taste of our recent trip to the Butler County Donut Trail thanks to the sweet folks at the Butler County Visitors Bureau.

If you are a donut lover like me, head to Butler Co. Ohio just north of Cincinnati for a real treat. The Donut Trail consists of 12 independently owned donut shops sprinkled throughout Butler County. 

Here's how it works: 

You pick up a map and visit the donut shops along the Donut Trail. You can go in any order and set your own pace. At each spot, you get your Passport stamped (you can get the Passport at any of the shops or download it online) Once you visit all of the shops, you turn in your Passport for a t-shirt. (Cute husband not included.)

Each donut shop also has an awesome punny sign that makes a great photo prop. Whoever designed these signs is a genius - so cute!!

The shops on the Donut Trail range from super tiny take out only spots to Instagram worthy cafes with tables and refreshments. 

If you have the time, I recommend that you spread the trail over multiple days. We visited them over 2 days and were only able to have a small bite of the donuts because even with two people, it's impossible to eat even half of all the donuts without making yourself sick.

Pro Tip: Bring XL plastic storage containers, zippered plastic baggies and a cooler with you to store the donuts during your adventure

If you want to ensure that you can get the specialty donuts at the shops, you'll want to get up really early - those are the first to disappear. But we got a late start one day and even then, nobody had run out of donuts - the selection was just smaller.

Some standouts:

Jupiter - they have a great themed shop packed with art to match and they roast their own coffee. Grab a few bags of beans for a great souvenirs. The blueberry cake donut with lemon frosting is awesome.

Mimi's Donuts - they have some giant twisted donuts, apple fritter,s and bite sized donut holes. The ladies here are even sweeter than their donuts. Definitely get the tiny filled glazed donuts - the peanut butter filled with chocolate frosting is dreamy.

Milton's Donuts - the Banana Pudding donut was one of the very best that we tried. Loved the graham cracker crumbs on top.

Holtman's Donuts - it's definitely the fanciest of the bunch. The space is gorgeous and so are the donuts. Get the S'more donut and be wowed by the giant square homemade marshmallow on top. The gorgeous red, white, and blue donut below is their Red Velvet - so good!

The Donut House - it's not really a house, but they made us feel right at home. Definitely get the Pinecone - a HUGE pull apart cinnamon yeast glazed donut that is big enough to share with some friends.

While we were on the Donut Trail, there was a special Donut GeoTour for GeoCachers event going on at the same time. We met so many people from all over - New York, Washington State, Australia and more! The donut shops made special donuts for the occasion too.

There was truly something for everyone on the Donut Trail. Whether you like classic plain glazed donuts, cronuts, filled, sprinkled, tiny or ginormous - you will find it here. And you'll be supporting locally owned shops while taking a tour of beautiful Butler County. 

There's a lot more than donuts in Butler County.  Check out my posts about other fun in Butler County and the incredible Jungle Jim's grocery store.

Interested in learning more? You can get a copy of the Butler County Visitor's Guide by mail or online.

*** Disclosure: We were invited to take a trip down to the Donut Trail by the folks at the Butler County Visitor's Bureau. All thoughts and opinions are my own.***