Lancaster, Pennsylvania
An hour and a half from Philadelphia, Lancaster County is home to one of the largest Amish communities in the world: families who plough with horses, drive grey buggies and live without mains electricity, among immaculate farms and wooden covered bridges. Around the old town of Lancaster and its 1889 market hall, people come for the countryside, the steam trains and German farmhouse cooking, without forgetting that this is first and foremost a lived-in place, not a show.
By PierrickLocal Guide ★8 · 14M+ views on Google MapsBy PierrickLocal Guide ★8 · 14M+ Maps views
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Lancaster, Pennsylvania · Photo Ad Meskens / CC BY-SA 3.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
Things to do in Lancaster, Pennsylvania in 4 days
Day 1
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America's oldest continuously operating public market, trading since the 1730s in an 1889 brick hall, where Amish and Mennonite families sell local vegetables, Lebanon bologna, shoofly pies and whoopie pies.
💡 Open on Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays, from 6am to 3pm. Come early, at opening time, as the best produce is gone before 10am, and Saturday is the liveliest day. Some stalls accept cash only. Price: free entry.
Jared Kofsky/PlaceNJ.com / CC BY-SA 3.0 (Wikimedia Commons)Learn moreMore
Nearly thirty 19th-century covered bridges, more than any other Pennsylvania county, still crossed by buggies, including Hunsecker's Mill, the longest at 55 metres, on a loop of back roads north of Lancaster.
💡 Download the tourist office's covered bridges map and do the circuit by car or by bike, in half a day. Drive slowly: the roads are narrow and shared with buggies. Price: free.
Photo (c)2006 Derek Ramsey ( Ram-Man ) / CC BY-SA 2.5 (Wikimedia Commons)
Day 2
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A 6-hectare farm presenting Amish life with respect and precision, with an 1805 stone house furnished without electricity, a one-room school, and a minibus tour past working Amish farms.
💡 Choose the package that combines the minibus tour and the guided tour of the house, which is more informative than the farm visit alone. Avoid Sundays if you want to see the Amish at work in the fields. Price: from $28.95, about €25, for the minibus tour and the farm.
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A horse-drawn buggy ride with an Amish or Mennonite driver on the country roads around Bird-in-Hand, with a longer version that stops at a working farm selling homemade biscuits and jams.
💡 Aaron & Jessica's Buggy Rides leaves from Plain & Fancy Farm, on Route 340; the short ride does not run on Sundays, replaced by a Sunday ride from April to October; in winter, the rides do not run on Sundays. The driver is happy to answer questions, but do not photograph the Amish face-on without their consent. Price: $18, about €15, for 30 to 35 minutes; $35, about €30, for a farm visit lasting 50 to 60 minutes.
David Wilson from Oak Park, Illinois, USA / CC BY 2.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
Day 3
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The state railway museum, opposite Strasburg station, keeps more than a hundred historic locomotives and carriages, from 19th-century steam to Pennsylvania Railroad electrics, some of which you can climb aboard.
💡 The museum is open Wednesday to Saturday from 10am to 4pm and on Sundays from noon to 4pm, last entry at 3.30pm. Combine it with the steam train opposite for a half-day of railways. Price: $10, about €9, for adults; $8, about €7, for ages 3 to 11.
David Wilson from Oak Park, Illinois, USA / CC BY 2.0 (Wikimedia Commons)Learn moreMore
Two villages on Route 340 in the heart of Amish Country, lined with bakeries, quilt and furniture shops, where grey buggies roll along the verge and farms sell eggs by the road.
💡 Park in the village and walk, or hire a bike to follow the quieter back roads running parallel to the 340. The Amish farm stands are closed on Sundays, like many businesses run by the community. Price: free.
Day 4
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Founded in 1832 and claiming to be America's oldest operating railroad, it runs steam trains with restored wooden carriages on a 45-minute round trip through Amish farms and tobacco fields.
💡 Book online, especially at weekends and in October. Departures follow one another throughout the day depending on the season. The Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania is opposite. Price: $32.40, about €28, for adults; $26.62, about €23, for ages 2 to 11.
jpmueller99 from Shenandoah Valley of VA, USA / CC BY 2.0 (Wikimedia Commons)Learn moreMore
A religious community founded in 1732 by the mystic Conrad Beissel, whose celibate members slept on wooden benches, with 1740s buildings of narrow corridors and low doors that feel straight out of medieval Germany.
💡 The state historic site is open Wednesday to Saturday from 9am to 4pm and on Sundays from noon to 4pm. Join the guided tour to go inside the buildings, then wander around the grounds. Lititz, 15 minutes away, with its 1861 pretzel bakery and its main street, rounds off the day nicely. Price: $10, about €9, for adults; $6, about €5, for ages 3 to 11.
RJWillems / CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)"Book" (hotels) and "via GetYourGuide" (activities) are affiliate links (Booking, GetYourGuide). Prices, times and distances are approximate.
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Good to know before you go
🍽️ Must-try food
Burgers and barbecue
brisket and ribs cooked low and slow, done differently in every state.
Clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl
the classic lunch on the San Francisco waterfront.
Mexican food
tacos from a truck in Los Angeles, a Mission burrito in San Francisco.
Pancakes and weekend brunch
a national habit, generous to the point of excess.
Craft beer, and California wine from Napa and Sonoma.
Dishes to look for in the good places: Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
⚠️ Best avoided
- Tipping is not optional: add 15 to 20% in restaurants and bars.
- Prices on menus and in shops exclude sales tax, which is added at the till.
- Do not plan more than four or five hours of driving a day: the distances are larger than they look on the map.
- Never travel without health insurance. A night in hospital can cost thousands of dollars.
- In summer, do not hike down into the Grand Canyon in the heat of the day: the climb back out is where people get into trouble.
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The little details that make all the difference once you're there.
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