How do I translate “Let's..”?

Question

In some languages this would be a type of imperative (first person plural imperative), but seeing as German does not have this feature I am wondering how I can express this desire.

I know of "Los geht's" for "Let's go" but I am wondering if there are ways of expressing, say, "Let's eat" or "Let's dance".

Answer 1

In German "let's" or "let us" translates to a type of imperative (first person plural imperative):

Lasst uns

In some context also: lasset uns

Let's visit uncle Tom.
Let's pray.

Lasst uns Onkel Tom besuchen.
Lasset uns beten.

But German also has other constructions to express the same meaning:

Kommt, wir besuchen Onkel Tom.
Kommt, wir beten.

Or as a question:

Wollen wir Onkel Tom besuchen?
Wollen wir beten?

Sometimes you just use the first person plural imperative of the sentence's main verb:

Besuchen wir Onkel Tom!
Beten wir!

There are even more constructions. So, when you translate from English to German you always can use "lasst uns". It is correct German and will be understood everywhere.

But because there are alternatives, native speakers do not use "lasst uns" as often as you might expect. How much those alternatives are used depends on the geographic region. "Lasst uns" is rarely used in the southern regions (Austria, Bavaria), but more frequent in the north. This was topic of this question (asked and answered in German language):
Regionale Verbreitung von »Lass uns …«

Answer 2

... but seeing as German does not have this feature

First of all that's a huge misconception. German language of course has an imperatve verb form, e.g.:

Setz Dich!
Lasst das!
Fahren wir!

Let's is a short form for let us, which literally translates to lasst uns. This way you can always translate these English phrases:

Let's eat => Lasst uns Essen
Let's dance => Lasst uns Tanzen

It's the imperative form of the verb lassen for 1st person plural.