Lancaster County, Pennsylvania is home to the oldest Amish community in the country. Immerse yourself in Amish culture, engage in family-fun activities, or find inspiration in the arts and culture scene. Here’s our top ten things to do in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.
1. Spend a day of relaxation at Serenity Day Spa at your Best Western Village Inn & Suites. Choose a massage or facial treatment after a long day of sightseeing.
2. There’s plenty of family-fun things to do in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Bring the kids to The Turkey Hill Experience, an interactive indoor exhibit about the company’s ice cream. At the Taste Lab, you can make your own ice cream flavor by picking an ice cream base and adding in flavors and toppings of choice.
3. Another kid-friendly thing to do in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania is taking the kids to Choo Choo Barn, Traintown, USA. Train lovers will enjoy the 1700 sq. ft. model train layout, featuring 22 operating trains, and even an Amish farm barn raise. The establishment has been around since 1961 and has been entertaining kids and hobbyists alike.
4. Get caffeinated on the Lancaster Coffee Trail and try coffee from cafes like Passenger Coffee & Tea, named by Food & Wine as “Best Coffee Shop in Pennsylvania” or Hudson Botanical, an Australian brunch restaurant serving Aussie coffee.
5. Visit historic, covered bridges, often referred to as “kissing bridges” because of the love birds who frequent them, and which Lancaster County is known for. From Kurtz’s Mill Covered Bridge to Keller’s Mill Covered Bridge, there’s all types of bridges for everyone.
6. Stroll Prince Street, better known to locals as Gallery Row, because of the art galleries that populate the creative street. Check out the Christiane David Gallery or the Freiman Stoltzfus Gallery or Liz Hess Gallery for original works of art by local artists.
7. Recently a recipient of Trip Advisor’s 2021 Traveler’s Choice Award, at the Old Windmill Farm, experience the Amish life firsthand on the farm. Authentic farm activities include milking a cow, gathering eggs, baking bread, feeding baby calves, and churning butter.
8. Take a buggy ride with Aaron & Jessica’s Buggy Rides, a family-owned and operated company. Pass through the Amish countryside, where some of the first farms were settled in the 1800s and much of the land is still plowed by horses, and chow down on homemade cookies and pretzels.
9. Dine at an Amish-owned restaurant. Check out Dienner’s Country Restaurant, which offers buffet style dining for both lunch and dinner, and homestyle cooking including rotisserie chicken, ham, mashed potatoes, and chicken pot pie. Go to Katie’s Kitchen for her array of Amish desserts including homemade pies, chocolate rolls, and banana split sundaes.
10. Go to an Amish mud sale. Aptly named “mud sales” for the muddy grounds in late wintery and early spring, these are no ordinary auctions. The events are major fundraisers for the volunteer fire fighters, and can draw crowds up of to 20,000 people. Get ready to buy quilts, locally-made crafts, livestock, antiques, furniture, and more.
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