Pennsylvania Dutch Country Family Vacation
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We have been fortunate enough to be able to make visits to Pennsylvania Dutch Country several times for family vacations (sometimes even several times each year!). Often known as Amish Country, Lancaster, or Lancaster County, the area really consists of many towns and villages. With names like Intercourse, Bird-in-Hand, and Paradise, PA you really can’t go wrong on any trip to this beautiful area. The town of Hershey is close by as well, and it is generally included under the PA Dutch Country umbrella. If you are making a family vacation out of it, you can visit any of these areas while staying in another. If you are doing an East Coast trip, you can add PA Dutch Country to a longer road trip to places like Philadelphia (about 1.5 hours away), the Delaware and Maryland beaches, Baltimore (about 1.5 hours), Washington DC (2 hours) or New York City (3 hours). I have compiled some of our favorite things to do when we visit PA Dutch Country. It is an extremely family-friendly place to visit, and can also be great for couples as well (my parents went on their honeymoon here!). There are many more things to add to this list, but these 20 are a good start as you plan a family PA Dutch Country trip (and you should). Cherry Crest Adventure Farm is a great place to spend a day when the weather is nice and you want some outdoor fun for the kids! We have been several times, and our kids just love it. There are tons of fun family-friendly activities, like a huge corn maze, animals to pet and feed, tractor rides, and so much more. Even for those of us who are not religious, the productions at the Sight & Sound Theatre are pretty amazing. They “bring Bible stories to life” with their various productions. We saw an amazing show there (Jonah). The sets for their shows are very elaborate & they even use live animals, which was pretty cool. When I asked my daughter what she learned from the story of Jonah and the Whale she said “don’t jump off a boat, even if God tells you to.” That’s my girl. Dutch Wonderland is a cute amusement park that is great for kids that are on the younger side. We brought the kids here a few times when they were younger, and they absolutely loved it. There are lots of rides and a water play area for little kids, but with older kids I would go to HersheyPark instead. I have so many great, funny, and gross Hershey Park stories to share, but I will save those for another time. We’ve been to Hershey many times, in different seasons, and it is always so much fun. There are rides that are suitable for the entire family, from little kids to those daring roller coaster lovers (and then there’s me, who gets to hold the bags for everyone because I’m too chicken to ride). Hershey Park is consistently rated as one of the best amusement parks in the country. There is a fun water park area within the park as well. It is a great addition to a PA Dutch Country trip. If you’ve explored my website much, you can tell that we are a family of science loving nerds. Or at the very least, science museum lovers. We visited the Lancaster Science Factory on one of our trips, and we really enjoyed it. We like the hands-on learning that these kinds of places deliver, and this one didn’t disappoint. It was small, which suited our purposes fine, as we didn’t have an entire day to devote to the visit. There are so many horse & buggy ride providers that I cannot even remember the names of the ones that we have used. We have taken these rides through the Amish countryside a few times, and have always really enjoyed it. It’s not hard to find places to hop on a buggy when you are in PA Dutch Country, and I highly recommend giving it a try. The farm scenery is just gorgeous, and most of the guides are very knowledgeable and will answer There are lots of things to do in Kitchen Kettle Village, and you can spend a few hours walking around and taking it all in. There are shops where you can buy local items like canned foods, cafes, and one of the above-mentioned buggy rides. The kids can ride a pony & get their picture taken with a sign that says Intercourse (worth the trip). I am reluctant to even mention this because we love it sooooooooo much, and it is already really hard to get a reservation. There are a few places in the area where you can stay on a working farm in a B&B type of lodging and participate in some of the farm activities. Our favorite is Rocky Acre Farm (let us make our reservations first, and then you can try it). The farm house has a variety of different types of rooms that you can stay in, and a fabulous (communal style) breakfast is included. There are tons of cats and kittens, which is a dream come true for my daughter. The kids can collect the eggs that are used for breakfast, you can milk and feed the cows, take an ATV ride through the farm, a tractor ride & just completely decompress. This is a very family-oriented place (ie not romantic & I would never stay here without kids). It’s Christmas all the time at the National Christmas Center! You can pretty much see every type of Christmas related item ever created on display here. There are lots of decorated trees, of course, as well as information on the history of Christmas customs. When we were there, Santa was there too (it was right around Christmastime) and the kids got to do the whole sitting on Santa’s lap thing. Plus they have old-school Santa themed cigarette displays. There are a seemingly endless number of smorgasbord restaurants in Lancaster County. My husband has a deep-seated hatred of the word smorgasbord, possibly related to a traumatic childhood smorgasbord memory, so we call them buffets. Pennsylvania Dutch food is a thing, so there are tons of restaurants dedicated to it in the area. I admit, it’s not my favorite, but we always go to a buffet or two (when in Rome….) while we are visiting. There are things like buttered noodles, lots of meats, pickled things, scrapple, fried things, and lots of pies (shoofly and whoopie). Pretzels are popular too. Just like the multitude of horse & buggy rides, there are tons of mini golf places in the area. We have a mini-golf fan in the family, so we have tried a few of them here. There are a couple of pretzel factories in the area, but the one that we visited was the Intercourse Pretzel Factory, which I remember enjoying on a visit with my parents many years ago. Plus you may prefer the name. Right next to Hershey Park, but separate from it, is Hershey’s Chocolate World. It is free to get in, and they have the best milkshakes ever! There is a store where you can purchase all of the candy. Yikes! There is a free ride where you learn how chocolate is made, and they pipe in some faux chocolate scents to make you want to eat all of the chocolate. It works. They also have things like a make your own candybar assembly line (fun) and a 4D movie (ok). Those extras cost money, but you don’t actually have to be visiting HersheyPark to visit Chocolate World. If you have a family member (no gender-bias here) who is a fan of dolls, then he or she will love this doll outlet! The Doll Outlet has what appears to be millions of dolls and doll related items. The huge variety of outfits that fit American Girl Dolls was a big hit with my daughter. They even have Amish-style outfits for your AG doll. This is a must-do for the train enthusiast in the family. The days out with Thomas that are very popular & the train is actually pulled by a Thomas train. I am so happy that we are past the Thomas phase. Good luck to those of you who are still in it. Is it better or worse that Barney and/or Teletubbies? What can I say about the PA Ren Faire? If you want to see a bunch of grown men prancing around in period costumes, wearing tights, and talking in strange accents, all while getting really drunk on ale & eating huge (genetically modified?) turkey legs…this is the place for you! There are jousting tournaments and human chess. There are performers (and wannabe performers) everywhere you turn. Music, comedy, magic. Lots of food. Some of the best people watching ever. We go almost every year & have so.much.fun. I think we are weird. The Renaissance Faire usually runs from August to October, and they have various theme weekends (family, Celtic, etc). There is a Hampton Inn directly across the street, and we have stayed there for the pure convenience of it. It is expensive (for what you get) around the Faire time, so this can be a good use of Hhonors points if you have them. There are lots of different types of Amish tours throughout the area. I have visited the Amish Village many years ago, and I remember learning about various aspects of Amish life (one thing that sticks out in my mind is tobacco plants…weird). On most of our more recent visits, we have chosen to take the horse & buggy rides and visits to farms as a way to experience the beauty of the area and as a way to observe (from a distance) the Amish lifestyle. We haven’t visited the Herr’s Factory yet, but we have had it on our list of possible things to do during our visits. The times for the factory tours never seem to fit into our schedule, but it does look like a fun thing to do as a family. In all of our visits to PA Dutch Country, we have yet to try the Turkey Hill Experience, but it is on our list for next time. “The Turkey Hill Experience features interactive exhibits allowing you to learn about dairy culture, the story of Turkey Hill Dairy, and how the company’s ice cream and iced tea flavors are selected and created. You will truly experience what it’s like to be a Turkey Hill Dairy ice cream maker for a day, including the opportunity to create your own virtual ice cream flavor. In addition, you can sit in our vintage milk truck, milk our mechanical cows, star in your very own Turkey Hill commercial, and enjoy plenty of free samples of iced tea and ice cream!” Great ice cream and a beautiful farm setting…how can you go wrong? Lapp Valley Farm is consistently mentioned when the discussion turns to the best ice cream ever. It is homemade and really creamy. You can walk around a bit and see the farm animals and the peacocks. Just beautiful.Pennsylvania Dutch Country Family Vacation
20 Family-Friendly Things to Do
1. Cherry Crest Adventure Farm
2. Sight & Sound Theatre
3. Dutch Wonderland
4. Hershey Park
5. Lancaster Science Factory
6. Horse and Buggy Ride
my your dumb questions about Amish culture (ie Can Amish people drink alcohol? What is Rumspringa? Is there really an Amish mafia?).7. Kitchen Kettle Village
8. Farm Stay
9. National Christmas Center
10. PA Dutch Food
11. Mini Golf
12. Pretzel Factory Tour
13. Hershey’s Chocolate World
14. Doll Outlet
15. Strasburg Railroad
16. Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire
17. Amish Tours
18. Herr’s Snack Factory Tour
19. Turkey Hill Experience
20. Lapp Valley Farm
