Pennsylvania With Kids Family Travel Guide

🔔PennsylvaniaIndependence Hall in Philadelphia, the brick building where the Declaration of Independence and Constitution were signed

Independence Hall, Philadelphia. The room where the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were both signed still stands, and you can walk into it.

State Guide

Pennsylvania With Kids Family Travel Guide

“Pennsylvania packs the country’s founding story, a chocolate factory turned amusement park, and a mountain range into one state, and most families only ever see one corner of it.”

By Nicole Damiano, ASTA Verified Travel Advisor and Certified Travel Advisor · I build Pennsylvania trips around the pieces that work with kids. A real day in Old City Philadelphia, a full day at Hershey, and the parts of Amish Country and Gettysburg most road trips rush past.

HarrisburgCapital
13.06MPopulation
May – OctBest time to visit
PHL · PITMain airports
An Old Order Amish horse and buggy on a road in Intercourse, Pennsylvania

Nicole’s Perspective

I have eight years teaching social studies behind me, and the founding era is the part I loved teaching most. Pennsylvania is where I send that knowledge to work. Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell sit two blocks apart in Old City, and I plan that half day the same way every time, timed tickets for the Hall booked first thing, the Bell whenever you walk by because it never needs a reservation.

What I spend the most planning time on is the parts families try to cram together that do not belong on the same day. Philadelphia history, Hershey with little kids, Gettysburg with a ten year old who is studying the Civil War, Amish Country at the pace it deserves. Pennsylvania rewards a real route more than almost any state I book, because the driving between all four is short and the temptation to rush is constant.

Beyond the Bookshelf

A shelf of Pennsylvania stories, the movies that made Philly and Punxsutawney famous, and the bands from Philadelphia for the drive.

Beyond the Bookshelf Pennsylvania: The Lovely Bones, The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, The Dutch House, The Johnstown Flood, American Rust, Rabbit Run, Maniac Magee, Fever 1793, Wolf Hollow, The Bears on Hemlock Mountain, G Is for Keystone, Rocky, Philadelphia, Groundhog Day, The Sixth Sense, Witness, Taylor Swift, Daryl Hall and John Oates, Boyz II Men, The Roots, P!nk, Patti LaBelle, Pennsylvania Dutch Country Cooking, The City Tavern Cookbook, The Amish Cook's Baking Book, As American as Shoofly Pie, Moon Pennsylvania, Backroads of Pennsylvania, DK Eyewitness Philadelphia, A History of Pennsylvania, Weird Pennsylvania
Read

Kids

Watch

Listen

Cook

Explore

Book links go to Bookshop.org, which supports local bookstores. Film and music links go to JustWatch and Spotify. As an affiliate we may earn from qualifying purchases.

Pennsylvania Place by Place

Pennsylvania is really three different trips wearing one name. Philadelphia is a walkable history lesson. The middle of the state is chocolate, farmland and a battlefield within an hour of each other. Pittsburgh, three hundred miles west, is its own city with almost nothing in common with the other two. Six places worth naming, east to west.

Philadelphia City Hall with the William Penn statue on its tower

01

Philadelphia

An Amish horse and buggy on a rural road in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania

02

Lancaster County

Hersheypark entrance and rides in Hershey, Pennsylvania

03

Hershey

The Pennsylvania Memorial monument on the Gettysburg battlefield

04

Gettysburg

The Delaware River cutting through the Delaware Water Gap in the Pocono Mountains

05

Pocono Mountains

The fountain at Point State Park with the Pittsburgh skyline behind it

06

Pittsburgh

Must see and do

Six things worth building a Pennsylvania trip around, picked for families, with what they cost where a cost exists.

View west from Little Round Top across the Gettysburg battlefield

See: The Gettysburg battlefield. The 24 mile auto tour is free, and standing on Little Round Top is what makes the story stick for a 10 year old. The museum, film and Cyclorama ticket is $20.75 adult, $15.75 for ages 6 to 12, under 6 free.
The red Storm Runner coaster track rising over the trees at Hersheypark

Do: Hersheypark. More than a dozen coasters, a water park inside the same gate, and the chocolate factory ride at Chocolate World next door is free. Any day tickets run about $67 online, $55 for juniors and seniors, kids 2 and under free.
A Philly cheesesteak sandwich with melted cheese and grilled onions on a soft roll

Eat: A cheesesteak from Pat’s or Geno’s, on the same South Philly corner, so you can try both and pick a side. Order it wit or without, meaning onions, and skip the lettuce and tomato. That’s not a thing here.
Fallingwater, the Frank Lloyd Wright house built over the waterfall at Mill Run

Splurge on: The guided tour at Fallingwater, $42 a person for an hour inside Frank Lloyd Wright’s house built over a waterfall. Kids have to be 6 or older, and summer slots book out weeks ahead.
Someone riding the natural rock waterslide on Meadow Run at Ohiopyle State Park

Hidden gem: The natural waterslides on Meadow Run at Ohiopyle State Park, ten minutes from Fallingwater. Locals bring old shorts and ride the smooth rock chute all afternoon. No fee, no lifeguard, and skip it after heavy rain.
Families climbing the Rocky Steps in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art

Free / with kids: Running the 72 Rocky Steps at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Free, the statue is at the bottom right for the photo, and the Liberty Bell a mile away is also free with no ticket needed.

Photos: Little Round Top by Northern-Virginia-Photographer, CC BY-SA 4.0. Rocky Steps by Dough4872, CC BY-SA 4.0. Fallingwater by lachrimae72, CC0. Storm Runner and Meadow Run, public domain. All via Wikimedia Commons.

Pennsylvania by the numbers

Facts to know before you go

13,059,432PopulationPennsylvania’s population as of the 2025 Census Bureau estimate, the fifth most populous state in the country.
2.8 millionIndependence NHP visitsRecreation visits to Independence National Historical Park in 2024, home to the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall, both inside the same few blocks of Old City.
FreeLiberty Bell entryThe Liberty Bell Center is free with no tickets required. Independence Hall next door needs a timed ticket, so plan for that one separately.
730,400Gettysburg visitsRecreation visits to Gettysburg National Military Park in 2025. The battlefield and visitor center are free. The museum, film and cyclorama experience runs $20.75 for adults.
~42,000Lancaster County AmishEstimated Amish population in Lancaster County, the largest Amish settlement in the world, roughly 7 percent of the county.
April 3Hersheypark 2026 openingHersheypark opens for its 2026 season on April 3. Hershey’s Chocolate World next door runs year round even when the rides are closed.

Getting around

How families do Pennsylvania

Philadelphia to Hershey is under two hours. Hershey to Gettysburg is about an hour. Pittsburgh is a genuinely separate trip, roughly five hours west of Philadelphia by car.

Road trips

Philadelphia, Hershey and Gettysburg connect into a real loop without much interstate driving. Pittsburgh is worth its own separate trip rather than tacking onto the eastern loop.


Walking and hiking

Independence National Historical Park is compact enough to walk end to end. Gettysburg’s battlefield roads work for walking and biking both, and Bushkill Falls in the Poconos has real family trail options.


Rail journeys

The Strasburg Rail Road runs steam trains through Lancaster County farmland, and Amtrak’s Keystone corridor connects Philadelphia and Harrisburg if you want to skip a leg of driving.

Interests

What draws families to Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania covers more ground, literally and otherwise, than most families expect from one state.

History

Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell, Gettysburg. More Revolutionary and Civil War history sits inside Pennsylvania than almost anywhere else in the country.

Food and chocolate

Cheesesteaks, soft pretzels, Amish farm stands, and an entire town built around Hershey’s chocolate. Pennsylvania’s food identity is as specific as any state’s.

Amish Country

Lancaster County’s horse and buggy farmland is thirty minutes off the Turnpike and feels like a genuinely slower version of the state.

Mountains and outdoors

The Poconos, the Allegheny National Forest, and Ohiopyle State Park’s whitewater give the western half of Pennsylvania a completely different feel from Philadelphia.

Only In Pennsylvania

Things you’ll only find here

Close view of the Liberty Bell showing its famous crack

SeeThe Room Where Two Documents Were SignedThe Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were both signed inside Independence Hall, and you can stand in the actual room.Photo: via Wikimedia Commons
Shoppers walking through the aisles of Reading Terminal Market in Philadelphia

EatA Market Running Since 1893Reading Terminal Market puts Amish farm stands under the same roof as Philly food institutions. It has been open, continuously, for well over a century.Photo: via Wikimedia Commons
Punxsutawney Phil the groundhog being held up at the Groundhog Day ceremony

Only HereA Groundhog Makes National NewsEvery February 2nd, a small Pennsylvania town watches a groundhog predict the rest of winter, and the whole country pays attention.Photo: via Wikimedia Commons

Doing It With Children

Poppy, our cavapooPoppy marks the family parts. Wherever you see her, that section is written for travelling with children.

Independence Hall requires a timed ticket and about forty five minutes of standing and listening, which is fine for a ten year old and a stretch for a four year old. Hershey and the Poconos both forgive a slower pace. Gettysburg works best for kids who already know some of the story, so a little reading before you go pays off more there than almost anywhere else on this list.