Planar optical waveguides were fabricated in Pr:YLF crystals by ion implantation. In a further step, ridge waveguides were fabricated using precision diamond dicing. These enable strong light confinement and have propagation losses as low as 0.4 dB/cm. To study the influence of ion implantation on the spectroscopic properties, fluorescence and lifetime measurements were conducted in the ridge waveguides. Under blue pumping, small-signal optical gains of 6.5 dB/cm and 5 dB/cm were demonstrated at wavelengths of 607 nm and 639 nm, respectively. These results make ion-implanted ridge waveguides in Pr:YLF promising candidates for compact integrated lasers in the visible spectral region with high output powers in the watt range.