🌿 RelaxedLong weekend · from Pittsburgh, PA

Ligonier, Bedford & Laurel Highlands: Pennsylvania Mountain Towns

The Laurel Highlands mountain towns east of Pittsburgh preserve the most intact early-American resort and agricultural culture in western Pennsylvania. Ligonier is a picture-book town around a diamond (square) with Fort Ligonier (the 1758 British fort on the Forbes Road that secured Pittsburgh for the British), a covered bridge, and the Idlewild Park (the second oldest amusement park in the United States, operating since 1878). Bedford, 50 miles east on the old Lincoln Highway and the Forbes Road, is a classic Pennsylvania German market town with antebellum commercial architecture and the Bedford Springs Resort (a National Historic Landmark where seven US presidents took the waters). The combination makes a leisurely three-day circuit through the Allegheny Mountains.

Day 1 — Ligonier: Fort Ligonier and the DiamondDay 2 — Shanksville and Johnstown: September 11 memorial and flood historyDay 3 — Bedford Springs Resort and Bedford County
Day 1 — Ligonier

Day 1 — Ligonier

🚗 1 hr driving📍 4 stops
🌅
Morning
🚗
Drive
Pittsburgh, PA → Ligonier, PA
1 hr8:00 AM → 9:00 AM
Fort Ligonier
Fort Ligonier
★ 4.8
A fully reconstructed 1758 British military fort on the Forbes Road — the fort General Forbes built as his forward supply base before taking Fort Duquesne (Pittsburgh) from the French in November 1758. The reconstruction includes the main fort, the outer entrenchments, and the museum documenting the Forbes Road campaign and the French and Indian War artifacts excavated from the site. The museum has the largest collection of French and Indian War artifacts in North America, including the ordnance, personal effects, and documentary record of the campaign.
9:00 AM📍 See location
🍽️
Lunch
Ligonier Diamond
Ligonier Diamond
★ 4.8
The central square of Ligonier — a classic Pennsylvania mountain town diamond with a 1914 bandstand, surrounding commercial buildings from the 19th century, and the most intact small-town main street in western Pennsylvania. The Wooden Nickel restaurant on the square is the lunch standard; the surrounding shops cover antiques, local crafts, and the soft pretzels that are the regional snack standard.
10:00 AM📍 See location
☀️
Afternoon
Idlewild Park
Idlewild Park
★ 4.2
The second oldest continuously operating amusement park in the United States (since 1878) — a woodland amusement park on a ridge above Ligonier that has maintained a character independent of the corporate theme park formula since the 1950s. The Soak Zone water park, the vintage Mister Rogers' Neighborhood of Make-Believe (licensed from the show, with Daniel Tiger's trolley and the real set pieces), and the original 1930s carousel are the three primary attractions.
12:00 PM📍 See location
🌙
Evening
Ramada Ligonier / Inn at Ligonier
Ramada Ligonier / Inn at Ligonier
★ 3.8
Overnight in Ligonier — the mountain town's several inns are within walking distance of the Diamond. Dinner at the Open Hearth restaurant or the Ligonier Tavern.
5:00 PM📍 See location
Day 2 — Shanksville & Johnstown

Day 2 — Shanksville & Johnstown

🚗 2 hr driving📍 4 stops
🌅
Morning
🚗
Drive
Ligonier → Shanksville, PA
40 min8:00 AM → 8:40 AM
Flight 93 National Memorial
Flight 93 National Memorial
★ 4.9
The memorial to the passengers and crew of United Airlines Flight 93, who prevented the hijacked plane from reaching its intended target (the US Capitol) on September 11, 2001 — the crash site in a reclaimed strip mine near Shanksville is marked by a wall of names and a field of honor. The visitor center at the Tower of Voices (a wind chime tower with 40 wind chimes for each person who died) tells the story of the flight and the passengers' decision to resist. A somber and moving site in an otherwise rural Pennsylvania landscape.
8:40 AM📍 See location
🍽️
Lunch
🚗
Drive
Shanksville → Johnstown, PA
35 min9:40 AM → 10:15 AM
Johnstown Flood National Memorial
Johnstown Flood National Memorial
★ 4.8
The site of the 1889 South Fork Dam failure — the dam above Johnstown was owned by the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club (a Pittsburgh millionaires' club that included Andrew Carnegie) and its inadequate maintenance caused the dam to fail on May 31, 1889, releasing a 40-foot wall of water that killed 2,209 people in Johnstown. The memorial is at the dam site; the Johnstown Flood Museum in downtown Johnstown and the stone viaduct that survived the flood are the other primary sites. The deadliest peacetime disaster in American history before the 20th century.
10:15 AM📍 See location
☀️
Afternoon
Johnstown Inclined Plane
Johnstown Inclined Plane
★ 4.7
The steepest vehicular inclined railway in the world — a 71.9% grade incline built in 1891 after the 1889 flood to evacuate Johnstown residents to the hilltop if the river threatened again. Still operating as public transportation, the incline carries both people and vehicles (cars can drive onto the cable cars) to the Westmont neighborhood 502 feet above the downtown. The view from the top station over Johnstown and the surrounding hills documents the bowl-shaped geography that makes the valley prone to flooding.
12:00 PM📍 See location
🚗
Drive
Johnstown → Bedford, PA
45 min1:00 PM → 1:45 PM
🌙
Evening
Bedford Springs Resort
Bedford Springs Resort
★ 4.6
A National Historic Landmark resort hotel that has operated on the mineral springs of the Raystown Branch of the Juniata River since 1796 — seven presidents have stayed here, including James Buchanan (who used it as a summer White House). The current main building (1905, Greek Revival colonnaded facade) is the most architecturally significant resort hotel in Pennsylvania. The Spring House dining room and the natural mineral spring pool complete the historic resort experience.
5:00 PM📍 See location
Day 3 — Bedford & Drive West

Day 3 — Bedford & Drive West

🚗 2 hr driving📍 1 stop
🌅
Morning
Bedford Historic District
Bedford Historic District
★ 4
Bedford County seat — a Pennsylvania German market town on the Forbes Road with intact 19th-century commercial architecture and the 1766 Fort Bedford site (the Forbes Road supply depot that preceded Fort Ligonier). The covered bridge tour through Bedford County (14 covered bridges, the highest concentration in Pennsylvania) begins on the roads north of town. The Old Curiosity Shop antique market on Pitt Street is the most atmospheric commercial stop in town.
8:00 AM📍 See location
🍽️
Lunch
🚗
Drive
Bedford, PA → Pittsburgh, PA
2 hr9:00 AM → 11:00 AM
Plan your own escapeExplore more trips →