One of the best, easy road trips for kids in our area is to Lancaster County, PA – this can be done as a long day trip or as an overnight/weekend trip. For this trip, we stayed 2 days, one night and focused on the Strasburg area. There is SO much to do here and just a 2 hour drive from where we live, it is a manageable and fun trip if you have little ones! Heres a breakdown of what we did on our trip!
Where we stay: Verdant View Farm
429 Strasburg Rd Paradise, PA
During our trip to Lancaster County, PA, we stayed at Verdant View Farm – My family stayed at this farm every year, twice a year growing up and I have some amazing memories from our trips here. It has been almost 20 years since our last visit so I was so excited to finally bring my girls here to experience it! It was just as amazing as I remembered – highly recommend staying here if you are planning a trip to Lancaster.
Verdant View Farm is a family run bed and breakfast. You have the option to book rooms in the main house, or they also rent out a little White House on the property closer to the road. We opted for the little White House this trip since we went with my parents and could rent the whole house for ourselves. This little White House also had a swing set in the back yard which was a huge plus for the girls.
Breakfast is served daily (except for Sundays!) and is incredible. Made with fresh ingredients from their farm – we had homemade applesauce, sausage, eggs, pumpkin muffins, and a delicious warm chocolate swirl cake (they always serve dessert with breakfast) 🙂
Each morning guests have the opportunity to help with farm chores. You meet outside of the barn at 7:30 am – my girls got to milk a cow, feed the cows, goats and chickens, check for eggs in the chicken coop and play with the bunnies. Feeding the cows was their favorite part and even the 18 month old loved it!
After chores, guest meet by the main house for breakfast at 8:30. There is a beautiful stone patio with tons of seating (and side flaps to enclose it in cooler weather). High chairs are provided for little ones which was a huge help for us!
Guests are encouraged to explore the farm during the day. We loved just walking around the beautiful property, watching trains (the Strasburg railroad runs along the back of the property!) and playing with the animals. We also loved watching for hot air balloons (we saw several!) and horse and buggies riding by on the road.
If you don’t plan stay the night in Lancaster – Verdant View also offers farm tours starting at $15/person.
The girls haven’t stopped talking about our time here and we are already planning our next trip back!
Strasburg Railroad
The Strasburg Railroad is a MUST if you are in the area. This is the best train ride we have done with our kids. The views can’t be beat and the station is beautiful and a destination in and of itself.
For all the details and photos from our trip to the Strasburg Railroad, read my full post here.
Strasburg Creamery
1 W Main St, Strasburg, PA 17579
Located in downtown historic Strasburg, the creamery is an old fashioned ice cream parlor serving homemade ice cream, milkshakes, ice cream sodas and more! (Dairy free options available!) they also serve lunch daily, coffee and weekend breakfast. They have the BEST ice cream included my favorite peanut butter Ice cream ever. I’ve tried a lot of ice cream in my lifetime and Strasburg creamery is still my favorite.
Inside the creamery is also a country store, with an old fashioned candy counter! My girls loved picking out a treat to bring home.
They offer indoor seating as well as outdoor seating on their patio.
Right next to the creamery is Strasburg winery. They offer tastings and wine by the glass. We didn’t go this trip but visited pre-kids and really enjoyed it! There is also a bakery and a BBQ restaurant nearby (they all share the same parking lot)
Cherry Crest Adventure Farm
More than just a farm – Cherry Crest is practically a full blown farm amusement park. Huge slides, “Sproutsville” neighborhood for imaginative play, the best interactive corn maze, etc.
Check out my full post on Cherry Crest farm here!
King Swings Playground
King Swings is a swing set retailer located in Strasburg. They have an awesome playground “show room” with all of their swing sets on display. It is open to the public and kids can come by and try out their many different swing sets. Unfortunately, it was closed for renovations during this trip, but we hope to visit next time we’re in the area.
Check out this video for more info!
Strasburg Jaycee Park
2 minutes down the road from Strasburg Creamery is Strasburg Jaycee Park. This was a great place to let the girls stretch their legs after the drive before we went to the creamery for lunch and ice cream
This is a small, fully fenced playground that is part of a huge athletic complex with several sports fields, basketball and tennis courts. It was fairly busy on a weekday afternoon so I’d imagine it gets very crowded on the weekends.
The playground sits on rubber surface and has toddler and regular swings, a small play structure for toddlers and taller one with several slides for bigger kids. This was a really nice park and a great place to let the kids burn some energy before lunch!
Other things to do in Lancaster County
- Dutch Wonderland – we didn’t make it this year, but Dutch Wonderland is a great amusement park for little ones.
- Choo Choo Barn
- Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania
Other Places to Stay:
- The Red Caboose Motel – Stay inside a real converted train car! This motel consists entirely of train cars that have been converted into hotel rooms. So much fun for kids! Located just down the road from the Strasburg Railroad.
Our Itinerary
Wednesday
- Leave home at 9 am – drive straight to Lancaster (2 hrs, no stops)
- Play at Strasburg Jaycee Park for 30 minutes to let the girls get some energy our before lunch
- 11:30 lunch and ice cream at Strasburg Creamery (2 min. drive from Strasburg Jaycee Park)
- Arrive at Strasburg Railroad (4 min. drive) at 1:00 – check in at ticket booth, explore station, play on playground, etc. Tickets are for 2:00 ride and boarding begins at 1:45.
- Train ride from 2:00-2:45
- Arrive at Verdant View Farm at 3:00, check in and get settled at house. Explore farm for the rest of the evening
Thursday:
- Wake up at Verdant View Farm – go to farm chores at 7:30 am
- Breakfast at 8:30 am (done by (9:00 because #toddlers)
- Pack up the car
- Head to Cherry Crest Farm at 10:00 when they open. Stay until 3:00 pm and drive home
I hope you’ve found this post helpful! Let me know if you have any questions or if you decide to book a trip!
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