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Amish Country

Amish Buggy Rides

Narrated horse-and-buggy rides along back roads past working Amish farms, offered by several operators around Bird-in-Hand and Intercourse.

Amish Country

Amish Country

The rural heart of Lancaster County — Bird-in-Hand, Intercourse, and the Strasburg area — known for farm stands, back roads, covered bridges, and a working Plain-community landscape.

Amish Country

Bird-in-Hand Farmers Market

A classic Lancaster County indoor farmers market in the village of Bird-in-Hand, with local meats, cheeses, baked goods, crafts, and lunch counters.

Amish Country

Covered Bridges

Lancaster County's historic wooden covered bridges, well suited to a self-drive loop paired with an Amish Country day.

Day Trips

Day Trips

Two easy day trips from Lancaster — Hershey for chocolate and theme-park fun, and Gettysburg for Civil War history — each within about an hour's drive.

Lititz & Ephrata

Ephrata Cloister

An 18th-century communal religious settlement in Ephrata, now a Pennsylvania historical site and museum with austere medieval-style buildings.

Plan

Four-Night Itinerary

A relaxed four-night plan based in Lancaster, blending the city, Amish country, the northern towns, and one day trip.

Day Trips

Gettysburg

A Civil War battlefield town about an hour from Lancaster, home to Gettysburg National Military Park, its Museum & Visitor Center, and a touring battlefield.

Day Trips

GoggleWorks Center for the Arts

GoggleWorks is one of the country's largest interactive art centers, housed in a 145,000-square-foot former goggle factory in downtown Reading, with free admission and parking, working artist studios, galleries, classes, and a café/cinema.

Day Trips

Hershey

A chocolate-themed town about 45 minutes from Lancaster, home to Hersheypark, Hershey's Chocolate World, and The Hershey Story museum.

Lititz & Ephrata

Julius Sturgis Pretzel Bakery

A historic pretzel bakery in Lititz offering tours where visitors can twist their own soft pretzel.

Amish Country

Kitchen Kettle Village

A walkable collection of shops and food stalls in Intercourse, known for jams, relishes, and chow-chow, plus crafts and casual eateries.

Lancaster City

Lancaster Central Market

A long-running public farmers market in a brick market house on Penn Square in downtown Lancaster, packed with stalls of produce, meats, baked goods, and prepared foods.

Lancaster City

Lancaster City

Lancaster is the walkable downtown city at the center of Lancaster County and the home base for this four-night trip.

Lititz & Ephrata

Lititz & Ephrata

The two northern towns of the trip — Lititz, a compact and charming small town known for pretzels and chocolate, and Ephrata, home to the historic Ephrata Cloister.

Plan

Pennsylvania Dutch Culture

Background on the Pennsylvania Dutch — Pennsylvania Germans, not Netherlanders — the Plain communities, their folk art and foods, and how to visit the region respectfully.

Day Trips

Reading Public Museum & Neag Planetarium

The Reading Public Museum, with its Neag Planetarium, gathers art, science, and culture under one roof — from an Egyptian mummy and dinosaurs to works by Degas, Rodin, and Warhol — alongside an arboretum and grounds.

Day Trips

Reading, Pennsylvania

Reading (pronounced "REDD-ing"), the seat of Berks County, is a former industrial powerhouse — the "Pretzel City" and home of the Reading Railroad — now offering an iconic mountaintop Pagoda, a revitalized arts scene, and a walkable West Reading dining strip, all about 40 minutes north of Lancaster County as a different kind of day trip.

Amish Country

Shady Maple Smorgasbord

Shady Maple Smorgasbord in East Earl is billed as the largest buffet in the United States — a ~200-foot, Mennonite-family-owned Pennsylvania Dutch all-you-can-eat institution that is both a beloved spectacle and a frequently debated "tourist trap."

Amish Country

Strasburg Rail Road

A heritage steam railroad in Strasburg running excursion trains through Amish farmland, across the road from the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania.

Day Trips

The Reading Pagoda

The Reading Pagoda, completed in 1908 atop Mount Penn, is the city's defining symbol and its single must-do — a hilltop overlook with roughly 30-mile views, best at sunset, near the William Penn Memorial Fire Tower and the Mount Penn trails.

Day Trips

West Reading Dining & Drink

Reading's best food and drink is concentrated in the adjacent boroughs of West Reading, Wyomissing, and Shillington — anchored by the walkable Penn Avenue strip — spanning fine dining, century-old institutions, a cluster of breweries, a distillery, a meadery, and local coffee roasters.