Best non urban areas in Pennsylvania to visit

[finishthehat]

Nazareth is the home of Martin Guitars. I've wanted to hit that tour for a long time.
Puts you near other great destinations like Allentown, Bethlehem and Easton.

That's the Nazareth, as I'm sure you know, where Robbie Robertson pulled in feeling 'bout half-past dead.

 

[Boom_70]

Intercourse is a must when visiting the Lancaster area.

 

[Songbird]

New Hope is a nice little town along the Delaware River. Good restaurants, nice little shops - lots of antiques. It's about 2 hours northeast of Lancaster (the heart of Amish Country)

A little farther south along the Delaware is Washington Crossing, PA. Nothing to do there except see the spot where Washington led the colonial troops across the Delaware to NJ before the march down to Trenton.

I'm sure others here can recommend towns in the Poconos to visit.

If you're into touristy stuff there's Crystal Cave in Kutztown, Pa.

Then there's all the stuff others have mentioned already.

Second on New Hope.

 

[Boom_70]

No love for Jim Thorpe, PA on a sports site. Cool town.

 

[JR]

This is awesome. Thanks for the generosity.

 

[copperpot]

Elysburg, PA, is home to Knoebels, the world's largest free-admission amusement park, and its rides are top-shelf. It near Centralia, the town with a mine fire burning underneath it, which is worth a look just for how strange it is (steam billowing from the ground, houses with multiple chimneys, a sad and deserted bench in the center of town that says "We love Centralia"). Williamsport, home of the Little League World Series, isn't too far away. And while Scranton would fall under the "urban" umbrella, I'd give a shout out to the Lackawanna Coal Mine tour, which was fun and educational. Scranton's also home to the Houdini museum, which is on my agenda this summer. There's another coal mine tour, Pioneer Coal Mine and Steam Train Ride, in Ashland.

http://www.knoebels.com
http://www.centraliapa.com
www.vacationpa.com/Williamsport_To_Do
www.houdini.org
www.pioneertunnel.com

 

[wicked]

Intercourse is a must when visiting the Lancaster area.

As are Blue Ball, Paradise and Bird-in-Hand.

Pennsylvania: Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Alabama in between.

 

[YankeeFan]

Nazareth is the home of Martin Guitars. I've wanted to hit that tour for a long time.
Puts you near other great destinations like Allentown, Bethlehem and Easton.

That's the Nazareth, as I'm sure you know, where Robbie Robertson pulled in feeling 'bout half-past dead.

He might have known this, but I didn't.

Love little bits of info like this.

 

[Jake_Taylor]

I can't believe I didn't think of it last night, but if you go to Gettysburg just down the road is Hanover, as in Snyder's of Hanover, Utz, etc. You can tour pretzel and potato chip factories.

 

[Huggy]

Nazareth is the home of Martin Guitars. I've wanted to hit that tour for a long time.
Puts you near other great destinations like Allentown, Bethlehem and Easton.

That's the Nazareth, as I'm sure you know, where Robbie Robertson pulled in feeling 'bout half-past dead.

He might have known this, but I didn't.

Love little bits of info like this.

I didn't know that either.

Who would have thought that a Canuckistani like Robertson would be pointing the way - all these years later - for JR and HC's Canada Day weekend getaway!

 

[Captain_Kirk]

Gettysburg is tremendous, but hope you're not actually going on Canada Day. Think there's going to be a few thousand or hundred thousand in the area celebrating the 150th anniversary.

 

[wicked]

Schedule of Gettysburg events:

http://www.gettysburg.travel/150/event.asp

 

[jr/shotglass]

There's a town just east of Erie called North East. About 10 great wineries are in or around the town. They're almost always the best wines at local festivals.

Gettysburg does not thrill me. I'm sure it's equal parts of not being a history buff, and being subjected to six field trips there while in school. But if you're there, grab lunch or dinner on the square at The Pub. And you might want to drive 15 minutes down U.S. 15 to see the Mount St. Mary's campus in Emmitsburg, Md.

If you are around Scranton, there is a steam train that takes regular 10-mile round trip tours from the downtown Steamtown Mall. Pretty cool.

 

[HC]

Some interesting suggestions here. I think we're looking at NW Pennsylvania since Gettysburg and environs is about a 7 hour drive from Toronto (plus border crossing time). Erie looks like a good possibility ...

 

[kingcreole]

Gettysburg. That's really a must visit even if you aren't much of a Civil War buff.

I was just there last week. What a neat little town, outside of the battlefield. Their downtown was really cool I thought. And while I'm not a huge Civil War nut, you can't help but be amazed by the history on that battlefield. I stood in the Wheatfield - where 20,000 men fought - for about 15 minutes.

 

[jr/shotglass]

Well, U.S. 6 stretches across the entire northern tier of the state. There is nothing there in the 200-some miles from Erie to Scranton. Nothing.

 

[HC]

Well, U.S. 6 stretches across the entire northern tier of the state. There is nothing there in the 200-some miles from Erie to Scranton. Nothing.

Maybe we need to consider Ohio. Anyone been to Ashtabula? :D

 

[jr/shotglass]

No, Pennsylvania has plenty. It's a good state for tourism. Just get below the northern tier.

 

[Huggy]

Some interesting suggestions here. I think we're looking at NW Pennsylvania since Gettysburg and environs is about a 7 hour drive from Toronto (plus border crossing time). Erie looks like a good possibility ...

Great little ballpark in Erie attached to the Tullio Arena (or whatever the hell it is called these days), home of the Erie Otters. I have some contacts with the Otters who might be able to come up with some good ideas of things to do and places to go in the area.

 

[AtticusFinch]

Live in central PA now, plenty of places to visit, though I think most have been mentioned now. Second the visits to Lancaster and Gettysburg.