🏛️ CulturalWeekend · from Baltimore, MD
Lancaster County — Amish Farmlands, a Buggy Ride & the Strasburg Rail Road
Less than two hours north of Baltimore, Lancaster County unfolds into some of the most beautiful and best-preserved agricultural landscape in the East — a patchwork of Amish and Mennonite farms where horse-drawn buggies still share the roads and centuries-old ways of life continue in plain view. Day one drives the back roads through Intercourse and Bird-in-Hand, past whitewashed farmhouses and roadside quilt and produce stands, and takes a buggy ride behind a Standardbred horse for a look at Plain life from the inside. Day two turns to the county's rich rail and folk heritage: a ride on the Strasburg Rail Road, America's oldest continuously operating railroad, and the sprawling Landis Valley Village & Farm Museum, before exploring historic Lancaster city and the drive home. Note that many Amish-owned businesses and farm stands are closed on Sundays.
Day 1 — Amish farmlands of Intercourse & Bird-in-Hand and a buggy rideDay 2 — the Strasburg Rail Road, Landis Valley Museum & historic Lancaster city
Day 1 — Bird-in-Hand & Intercourse, PA
Day 1 — Bird-in-Hand & Intercourse, PA
🚗 1 hr 50 min driving📍 5 stops
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Morning
🚗
Drive
Baltimore, MD → Bird-in-Hand, PA
1 hr 50 min8:00 AM → 9:50 AM
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The Amish Farmlands — Bird-in-Hand & Intercourse
The rolling farmland east of Lancaster city, threaded by the villages of Bird-in-Hand and Intercourse, is the heart of the oldest and largest Old Order Amish settlement in America, established in the early 1700s. Driving the narrow back roads here is the essential first act — mule teams working the fields, laundry strung between farmhouses, one-room schoolhouses, and horse-drawn buggies clopping along the shoulder are everyday sights, not staged attractions. Roadside stands sell quilts, root beer, whoopie pies, and just-picked produce on the honor system. Drive slowly and courteously, share the road with buggies, and be aware that most Amish businesses close on Sundays out of religious observance. This is a working landscape; treat the residents' privacy with respect and refrain from photographing people.
9:50 AM📍 See location
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Lunch
🍽️ Lunch10:50 AM
Bird-in-Hand Family Restaurant & Smorgasbord
Pennsylvania Dutch cooking is hearty, sweet-and-sour, and built for farm appetites, and the family-style restaurants and smorgasbords of Bird-in-Hand are the classic way to taste it. Expect fried chicken, ham loaf, chow-chow, buttered noodles, pepper cabbage, and the famous shoofly pie, often served all-you-can-eat at long tables. Many of these kitchens are run by local Plain and Mennonite families using recipes passed down for generations. It is filling, inexpensive, and deeply regional — the antithesis of a light lunch. Be aware that these establishments typically close on Sundays.
3 options · tap to switch
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Afternoon
Amish Buggy Ride, Bird-in-Hand
★ 4.7Climbing into an authentic horse-drawn buggy for a ride along the back roads is the most direct way to slow down to the rhythm of Amish life. Several long-established operators around Bird-in-Hand and Intercourse — most run by Amish and Mennonite families — take visitors on narrated loops past working farms at the unhurried pace of a Standardbred horse, often turning down a private farm lane a car could never follow. Drivers share candid, first-hand explanations of Plain beliefs, schooling, and the reasons behind the horse and buggy. Rides run roughly twenty to forty-five minutes and are the highlight of the day for most visitors. As with everything here, most buggy operators do not run on Sundays.
12:00 PM📍 See location
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Evening
Kitchen Kettle Village, Intercourse
★ 4.6As the afternoon winds down, the little village of Intercourse offers a relaxed final stroll. Kitchen Kettle Village is a cluster of some forty small shops built around a family jam-and-relish kitchen, selling local canned goods, quilts, leather, and crafts, with samples of chow-chow and fruit butters to taste. It is more commercial than the farm roads but a pleasant, easy way to pick up regional foods and handmade goods before dinner. Evenings in the countryside are quiet and dark; plan to be settled at your lodging by nightfall.
5:00 PM📍 See location
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Lancaster / Bird-in-Hand lodging
Spend the night amid the farmland or in nearby Lancaster city. The Bird-in-Hand Family Inn and the Amish Country-themed inns around Intercourse put you right in the fields, some offering farmhouse breakfasts and views of buggies passing at dawn. For more dining and nightlife, historic downtown Lancaster — fifteen minutes west — has boutique hotels including the Lancaster Marriott at Penn Square beside the Central Market. Working farm-stay bed-and-breakfasts are also available for a fuller immersion in rural life. Book ahead in peak season, when the county fills with visitors.
Day 2 — Strasburg & Lancaster, PA
Day 2 — Strasburg & Lancaster, PA
🚗 2 hr 5 min driving📍 4 stops
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Morning
🚗
Drive
Bird-in-Hand, PA → Strasburg, PA
20 min8:00 AM → 8:20 AM
Strasburg Rail Road
★ 4.7Chartered in 1832, the Strasburg Rail Road is the oldest continuously operating railroad in the Western Hemisphere, and a ride behind one of its coal-fired steam locomotives is a highlight of any Lancaster County visit. Restored wooden coaches roll a leisurely 45-minute round trip through the heart of the Amish farmland to the village of Paradise, the whistle echoing across fields where teams of mules are still at work. Passengers can choose open-air cars, a dining car, or first-class parlor seating, and children can wave to the buggies from the windows. Directly across the road, the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania houses a vast collection of historic locomotives under cover. Steam departures run most days in season, but check the schedule, as service is reduced in the off months.
8:20 AM📍 See location
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Lunch
Landis Valley Village & Farm Museum
★ 4.6North of Lancaster city, the Landis Valley Village & Farm Museum is one of the country's finest open-air museums of rural Pennsylvania German life. Founded by two brothers who spent their lives collecting the tools and folk arts of their heritage, it preserves more than a dozen historic buildings — a tavern, a country store, farmsteads, and craft shops — where costumed interpreters demonstrate blacksmithing, weaving, tinsmithing, pottery, and heirloom-seed farming. It illuminates the deep German-speaking culture from which the Amish and Mennonites descend, stretching back to the early 1700s. Heritage animals and gardens fill the grounds, and seasonal festivals bring the whole village to life. Plan an hour or two to wander.
9:20 AM📍 See location
Lancaster Central Market
★ 4.7In the heart of downtown Lancaster stands Central Market, the oldest continuously operating farmers market in the United States, trading in the same spot since the 1730s and housed in a striking Romanesque brick hall since 1889. Its stalls brim with the produce of the surrounding farms — Pennsylvania Dutch sausages, horseradish, sticky buns, pretzels, cheeses, and prepared foods from a growing range of cuisines. Grab lunch from several stands and eat among the bustle, or pick up local specialties to take home. The market anchors historic Penn Square and is the natural gateway to exploring the old city. Note that Central Market is open only on select days, typically Tuesday, Friday, and Saturday.
10:20 AM📍 See location
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Afternoon
Historic Downtown Lancaster
One of the oldest inland cities in the country, Lancaster served briefly as the capital of the United States for a single day in 1777 and was the state capital of Pennsylvania into the early 1800s. Its walkable downtown radiates from Penn Square and the Central Market, lined with red-brick rowhouses, colonial-era churches, and a lively contemporary scene of galleries, coffee houses, and restaurants — the Gallery Row arts district and the monthly First Friday draw a young creative crowd. Landmarks include the 1852 Fulton Theatre, the county courthouse, and the President James Buchanan's Wheatland estate on the city's edge. It makes a rich, contrasting close to two days spent largely in the countryside before the drive south.
12:00 PM📍 See location
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Evening
🚗
Drive
Lancaster, PA → Baltimore, MD
1 hr 45 min5:00 PM → 6:45 PM
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