Lancaster County packs an unusual amount into 984 square miles. You can zipline through a forest canopy in the morning, watch a Percheron team work an Amish farm field on the drive out, and be eating shoofly pie at a market stall by mid-afternoon. It is one of the few places in Pennsylvania where an outdoor adventure day and a slow scenic drive are ten minutes apart.
This guide covers what is actually worth doing here, grouped the way people plan trips: outdoor adventure, family days with young kids, the free stuff, the Amish Country classics, and what changes with the seasons. Prices and drive times are from Refreshing Mountain in Stevens, which sits in the northern part of the county about 25 minutes from downtown Lancaster.
Outdoor Adventure in Lancaster County
This is the part of Lancaster that surprises people. The county is better known for farmland than for adrenaline, but the terrain along the northern ridges is steep and wooded enough to support a full aerial course.
At Refreshing Mountain, the zipline tours run in four tiers. Basecamp is the introduction at $45 per person and works well for first-timers and younger kids. Ascent adds a second line and climbing elements at $67. The Challenge Adventure Tour combines five ziplines with the high ropes course at $74. The Aerial Excursion is the full canopy tour: seven ziplines and three skybridges for $89. Minimum age is 5, the weight limit is 280 pounds, and children under 60 pounds ride tandem with a guide.
Beyond the ziplines, the park offers a ton of exciting indoor and outdoor activities, including high ropes challenge course, a giant swing, a climbing tower, an outdoor climbing wall, rappelling, archery, axe throwing, and an escape room. Most can be booked individually or bundled, and bundles run $99 to $109 per person.
If you would rather stay on the ground, the Lancaster County Central Park trail system and the Conestoga Trail both offer real hiking within a half hour, and the Enola Low Grade Trail runs flat and long for cycling.
Popular outdoor activities in Pennsylvania include:
- zip line tours
- hiking
- picnics
- swimming
- ropes courses
- climbing activities
These activities are popular for:
- family vacations
- weekend getaways
- youth groups
- company outings
- team-building events
Whether you enjoy staying active outdoors or relaxing in the summer sun, Pennsylvania offers experiences suited for many interests and activity levels.
Adventure Activities Near Lancaster, PA
For visitors looking for adventure and adrenaline-filled experiences, Pennsylvania has several outdoor attractions designed to challenge coordination, stamina, and courage.
Some popular adventure activities include:
Safety is important during outdoor adventure activities, so visitors should always participate under trained supervision and with proper safety equipment.
These types of experiences are often chosen by:
- adventurous families
- school groups
- church retreats
- sports teams
- corporate retreat organizers
Things to Do in Lancaster, PA With Kids
Lancaster is a genuinely easy place to travel with children, largely because so much of what there is to do happens outdoors and does not require anyone to be quiet.
Not far from Hershey, PA, Dutch Wonderland in Lancaster is the obvious anchor, built specifically for younger children rather than teenagers. The Strasburg Rail Road runs a real steam train through Amish farmland, which lands better with small children than almost anything else in the county.
At Refreshing Mountain, the wildlife center houses rescued native animals and runs birds-of-prey demonstrations, the community pool is open through the summer season, and pedal carts run on a dedicated track. The giant swing has a lower age floor than the ziplines, which matters when one sibling clears the height requirement, and another does not.
For rainy days, the escape room works for family groups. Many locations provide activities designed for different age groups, including:
- archery
- scavenger hunts
- orienteering
- nature studies
- physical challenges
- high ropes courses
- slingshot activities
- climbing towers
These experiences can help students:
- build self-confidence
- improve coordination
- strengthen teamwork skills
- explore the natural world
- develop problem-solving abilities
Outdoor educational experiences remain popular with schools because they combine recreation, leadership development, and hands-on learning.
Free Things to Do in Lancaster County
A surprising amount of the best of Lancaster costs nothing.
The county has just under thirty covered bridges, and driving a loop of six or seven of them is a genuinely good afternoon. Lancaster Central Market is one of the oldest continuously operating farmers' markets in the country and free to walk through. Kitchen Kettle Village in Intercourse charges nothing for admission or parking.
Long's Park in Lancaster runs a free summer concert series most Sunday evenings. And the back roads through Intercourse, Bird in Hand and Paradise are the actual attraction for a lot of visitors: working farms, roadside produce stands and horse-drawn buggies, none of which cost anything to look at.
A note on etiquette. Amish families do not want to be photographed. Take pictures of the landscape and the farms rather than the people.
Amish Country and the Lancaster Classics
These are the attractions people come to Lancaster specifically for, and they are clustered tightly enough in the Ronks, Bird in Hand and Intercourse corridor that you can do two or three in a day.
Sight & Sound Theatres in Ronks stages large-scale biblical productions with live animals, and it is the single biggest draw in the county. Book well ahead, particularly for weekends. The Amish Farm and House in Lancaster runs guided tours of a working farmstead. The Amish Village in Ronks offers a similar tour on a smaller and quieter site. Kitchen Kettle Village is 40 shops built around a jam and relish kitchen.
If you are staying at Refreshing Mountain, all of these are 25 to 40 minutes south, making for a comfortable half-day out with the afternoon back on property.
Making a Weekend of It
Lancaster works as a day trip from Hershey, Philadelphia, Baltimore or the Harrisburg area, but the county rewards two days more than one, mostly because the driving between clusters eats into a single day.
Cabin suites at Refreshing Mountain sleep up to eight and include a full kitchen. Staying on property means the pool, the wildlife center and the adventure course are outside the door, and the Amish Country attractions are a half hour south.
A workable two day plan: adventure course and pool on Saturday with dinner at Shady Maple, then Amish Country and Central Market on Sunday before heading home.
Discover More Lancaster Activities >>
Refreshing Mountain is at 455 Camp Road, Stevens, PA 17578, in the northern part of Lancaster County. It is roughly 25 minutes fro
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spend a day in Lancaster, PA?
Most first time visitors split the day between Amish Country and one anchor attraction. A common version is a morning zipline tour, lunch at Central Market or a Pennsylvania Dutch smorgasbord, and an afternoon driving the covered bridge loop. If you want an active day instead, the adventure course at Refreshing Mountain fills a morning and leaves the afternoon for the farm country.
What are fun things to do in Lancaster with kids?
At Refreshing Mountain the wildlife center, the pool, the pedal carts and the giant swing all suit children who are too young for the full zipline tours.
What is there to do in Lancaster for adults?
The escape room and axe throwing at Refreshing Mountain, and the full Aerial Excursion zipline tour, which is the most demanding of the four.