Lancaster County and Gettysburg sit less than an hour apart, which makes them an easy pair for a long weekend: two days of Amish farmland, covered bridges, and a steam railroad around Bird-in-Hand and Intercourse, then a final day on the Gettysburg battlefield with a Licensed Battlefield Guide before heading home.
Day 1Arrive in Lancaster County
Drive in and settle into Lancaster, then spend the afternoon getting a first taste of Amish Country by horse-drawn buggy.
🚗 Self-Drive In — Arrive Lancaster County
Door to door · ~2 hours from Philadelphia, ~1.5 hours from Baltimore
Lancaster County sits an easy drive from most of the mid-Atlantic — Route 30 and Route 340 both cut straight through the farmland that makes up the rest of the weekend.
🛍️ Lancaster Central Market, Lunch
~1 hour · Market stall prices, most items $5–15
The oldest continuously operating farmers market in the country, open since 1730 under its current Romanesque brick roof — Amish and Mennonite vendors sell soft pretzels, chicken corn soup, and whoopie pies alongside produce stalls.
🐎 AAA Buggy Rides — Amish Farmland Buggy Tour
~25 minutes · ~$18 USD / adult, ~$9 USD / child
A working Amish farmer drives an authentic horse-drawn buggy down back lanes between Intercourse’s farms, narrating Amish life and farming along the way — the single most popular first stop in the county for a reason.
AAA Buggy Rides · +17179892829 · www.aaabuggyrides.com
🍽️ Dinner — Bird-in-Hand Family Restaurant & Smorgasbord
~1.5 hours · Smorgasbord ~$28 USD / adult, ~$14 USD / child
A sit-down Pennsylvania Dutch buffet running since 1970 — roast turkey, ham, chicken pot pie, and a dessert table heavy on shoofly pie and apple dumplings, all served family-style.
Bird-in-Hand Family Restaurant & Smorgasbord · +17173938404 · bird-in-hand.com/restaurant-smorgasbord/
🛎️ Overnight — Eden Resort & Suites, BW Premier Collection
From $165–215 USD / night, for 2 people
A long-running Lancaster resort hotel with indoor and outdoor pools and easy access to Route 30, a central base for both nights of the Amish Country stretch.
Eden Resort & Suites · www.edenresort.com
Day 2Amish Farmland & the Strasburg Rail Road
A full day on the back roads around Bird-in-Hand, Intercourse, and Strasburg — a covered bridge, a steam train, and an afternoon of shopping at a village built around a 1950s country store.
🚗 Self-Drive — Old Philadelphia Pike Loop
~1 hour of driving total · Route 340 & back roads
Route 340 (Old Philadelphia Pike) threads Bird-in-Hand, Intercourse, and Smoketown past farms still worked with horse teams — go slowly and expect to share the shoulder with the occasional buggy.
🛍️ Kitchen Kettle Village, Browsing
~1.5 hours · Free entry, shop prices vary
A cluster of 40-plus shops and kitchens built around a jam-and-relish stand that opened in 1954 — free samples of jams, salsas, and chow-chow run most of the day, in Intercourse’s village center.
🚂 Strasburg Rail Road, Steam Train Ride
~45 minutes · from $20 USD / adult, from $12 USD / child
America’s oldest continuously operating railroad runs a coal-fired steam locomotive through 4.5 miles of the same farmland the buggies cross, with Amish farms visible from the open-window coaches the whole way.
Strasburg Rail Road · +17176874261 · www.strasburgrailroad.com
🍽️ Dinner in Strasburg or Bird-in-Hand (on your own)
Est. $15–25 USD / person
A handful of Pennsylvania Dutch diners and roadside stands along Route 896 and Route 340 serve the same chicken pot pie and ham loaf as the sit-down smorgasbords, at a fraction of the price.
🛎️ Overnight — Eden Resort & Suites, BW Premier Collection
From $165–215 USD / night, for 2 people
Second night at the same hotel.
Eden Resort & Suites · www.edenresort.com
Day 3Gettysburg & Home
An hour west to Gettysburg for a Licensed Battlefield Guide tour and the Soldiers’ National Cemetery, before the drive home.
🚗 Self-Drive — Lancaster to Gettysburg
~1 hour · Route 30 West
Route 30 runs almost the whole way, crossing the Susquehanna River at Columbia-Wrightsville before the farmland gives way to the rolling fields that surround the Gettysburg battlefield.
⚔️ Licensed Battlefield Guide, 2-Hour Auto Tour
~2 hours · $82.00 USD per vehicle, 1–6 people
A guide rides in your own car and narrates the three-day battle across its actual ground — Little Round Top, the Wheatfield, and the long open field of Pickett’s Charge — tickets are sold through the Gettysburg Foundation and guides are capped at the posted rate.
Gettysburg Foundation — Licensed Battlefield Guides · www.nps.gov/gett/planyourvisit/lbg-rates.htm
🕊️ Soldiers’ National Cemetery, Self-Guided Walk
~30 minutes · Free
The cemetery where Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address in November 1863 sits at the edge of the battlefield, its curved rows of modest headstones a quiet close to the day’s touring.
🍽️ Lunch on Lincoln Square (on your own)
Est. $12–20 USD / person
The restaurants ringing Lincoln Square, in the shadow of the 1797 Gettysburg Hotel, make an easy last stop before the drive home.
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