Most visitors to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, come hoping to see Amish life as it is actually lived: working farms, buggies on the road, and the families behind them. You won’t find much of that in the gift shops. You find it a few turns off the main roads.

This is the route through Lancaster Amish country that I give anyone visiting for the first time. It runs from Intercourse past Bird-in-Hand and Strasburg to Lititz, on the back roads where Amish families farm. Behind the wheel it takes about 90 minutes. With stops, it fills anywhere from two hours to a full day, and you decide when to leave the car: for a working dairy farm, an 1845 covered bridge, or a family-style dinner.

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Drive It With a Narrator in Your Car

Walk’n Tours, the author’s company, has turned this route into a self-guided audio driving tour. The app follows your GPS from Kitchen Kettle Village through Intercourse, Bird-in-Hand, Strasburg and the covered bridges to Lititz and tells the stories as you reach each stop.

Good to know
Price: US$14.99, checked November 2026
Time: About 90 minutes of driving; most people take 4 to 6 hours with stops
How it works: Download before you go, and it works offline, so weak cell signal on the back roads is no problem
Suits: Travelers who want to stop where they like instead of following a group
Keep in mind: you need a smartphone and your own car, and the price covers the audio only. Farm tours, the museum, the train, and the pretzel tour are paid separately.

This section contains partner links. If you book through them, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. We only feature partners whose services we believe add genuine value for travelers.

Starting at Kitchen Kettle Village in Intercourse

The day begins at Kitchen Kettle Village, a cluster of shops and food stalls at 3529 Old Philadelphia Pike in Intercourse. Give yourself time here. Browse, pick up something to eat, then settle into the car before the day’s driving starts.

This is also the busiest point on the route. Lancaster County drew about 10 million visitors in 2025, and many of them pass through Intercourse. On fall Saturdays, the parking lot fills by late morning, so arrive early or start on a weekday.

Before you pull out, it helps to know what you’re driving through. Amish families settled in Lancaster County in 1760. Today the Lancaster settlement counts about 45,500 people across more than 300 church districts, making it the largest Amish community in the United States.

Amish horse and buggy on a Lancaster County road next to a Share the Road sign
The Lancaster Amish Country Most Visitors Drive Past

The First Stretch: Farms, Buggies, and a Red Covered Bridge

As you drive, the touristy and fun Kettle Kitchen village falls away. Fields, barns, and small crossroads villages take over, and the stories play automatically as you reach each place. The narrator also calls out every turn, scripted to sound like a friend in the passenger seat, so you never need to watch a map or pull over to check a screen.

You’ll smell the countryside before you’ve thought about it. These are working farms, and many sit right up against the road. Depending on the season, you’ll hear hooves and buggy wheels on the asphalt, or the sound of a field being worked.

One of the first stops is the Leaman Place Covered Bridge on Belmont Road, a red wooden bridge over Pequea Creek near the village of Paradise. Most visitors to the county never find it. It sits minutes from the busiest tourist roads, yet the traffic here is mostly local cars and buggies. If quiet places like this are why you travel, our list of lesser-known destinations in the US has more.

Visitors bottle-feeding calves through a gate on an Amish farm in Lancaster County
The Lancaster Amish Country Most Visitors Drive Past

Stops Worth Getting Out For

The route doesn’t tell you where to stop for long. It suggests places, and you choose.

Old Windmill Farm

If you only leave the car once, make it here. Old Windmill Farm, on Paradise Lane north of Strasburg, is a working dairy farm run by an Amish family, and it’s where many of our guests meet Amish people for the first time. On the farm tour you feed the pigs, hold the chicks, and, if the timing is right, watch the piglets go down their slide. It’s their home and their livelihood, which makes the visit feel nothing like a shop.

Set aside at least an hour. The farm tour with a hayride runs about one hour, the farm and garden tour about 90 minutes, and tours start on the hour.

Bird-in-Hand

Bird-in-Hand has restaurants and shops, and our guests typically stop anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour. It’s the place for a sit-down meal. Family-style dinners here mean platters of fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and chicken potpie passed around the table, with shoofly pie to finish.

Strasburg’s Railroads

Strasburg is where families with kids tend to linger. The Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania displays more than 100 locomotives and railroad cars, and the Strasburg Rail Road sits directly across the road. If you plan to go inside, budget a longer stop here than anywhere else on the route.

Short Pauses Along the Way

Covered bridges, farm stands, and quick food stops work as pauses you can take anytime. The bridges are what our guests least expect. Many come hoping to see the Amish and find the bridges become part of the day.

The other thing visitors don’t expect is the history itself: how the Amish came to Pennsylvania, and how they’ve held together as a community for more than 250 years. If a story is still playing when you park, let it finish.

Amish woman showing children something in her hands during a farm tour in Lancaster County
The Lancaster Amish Country Most Visitors Drive Past

How Long Is the Drive?

It depends on you. Some guests follow the drive with only a few short breaks. Others turn it into a full day. I haven’t set an exact number of hours, because the point is that the day bends around your curiosity.

Sharing the Road With Buggies and Farm Traffic

Buggies are a big part of why people come, and they’re also the main reason to drive slowly. A horse-drawn buggy moves at a fraction of car speed, the roads are narrow, and buggies use the full lane. Cars do hit them.

Give every buggy plenty of room, and pass only when you can see well ahead. Let the narrator handle directions so your eyes stay on the road. These are working roads for the people who live along them, and you’re a guest on them.

Being a Good Guest

The people you meet at the stops live and work there. Take time to see them as neighbors with a story, not as scenery. Many Amish prefer not to be photographed, so keep the camera on fields and buggies, and ask before pointing it at anyone. I’d rather you leave understanding the community than with a camera roll of farmland.

Finishing in Lititz

The drive ends in Lititz, where you park and continue on foot. Walk the main street’s shops, then head to the Julius Sturgis Pretzel Bakery on East Main Street. It opened in 1861 as the first commercial pretzel bakery in the United States, and on the 25-minute tour you twist your own pretzel next to the original ovens. You’ll smell the bakery before you see the door.

By this point, most of our guests tell me they see Lancaster County differently, including people who grew up nearby. I’m from the area myself, and the route showed me the county in a way I hadn’t seen it before. The landscape stops being a view and starts reading as a living community, shaped by faith, family, and the everyday choices of the people who farm it.

Practical Information for Lancaster Amish Country

Timing and Pace

  • Driving time: about 90 minutes behind the wheel from Intercourse to Lititz.
  • With stops: two hours to a full day. Most first-timers take four to six hours.
  • Old Windmill Farm: 60 to 90 minutes, mostly on foot around the barns and fields.
  • Strasburg: two to three hours if you visit the museum and ride the train.
  • Lititz: 25 minutes for the pretzel tour, plus an hour to walk Main Street.

Summers are warm, often in the upper 80s or 90s °F, and winters often sit near freezing. Dress for the season, since you’ll be getting in and out of the car.

Getting Started

Start at the Kitchen Kettle Village parking lot in Intercourse. You need your own car; the back roads have no public transport. Download offline maps before you go, since cell signal drops on some stretches. In Lititz you park and walk.

Costs

Prices checked November 2026:

  • Driving the route: free
  • Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania: $10 per adult
  • Julius Sturgis Pretzel Bakery tour: $6 ages 13 and up, $5 ages 4 to 12 and seniors 65+, free under 4
  • Old Windmill Farm and Strasburg Rail Road: check current prices on their websites before you go

What to Bring

A phone with the audio tour downloaded and a way to hear it in the car, cash or a card for food and farm stands, and comfortable shoes for the farm and for walking Lititz. For more planning help, see our USA travel tips.

Red covered bridge on a country road in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania
The Lancaster Amish Country Most Visitors Drive Past

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I do the Amish country drive on a Sunday?

You can drive the route, but expect fewer stops. Sunday is a day of worship and rest for Amish families, so Old Windmill Farm runs no tours and many Amish-run shops and farm stands close. The Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania and the Julius Sturgis Pretzel Bakery both open at noon on Sundays.

When is the best time of year to visit Lancaster County Amish country?

Spring planting and the fall harvest put the most farm work on view from the road. In fall, Old Windmill Farm adds a farmhouse experience through November 30, where you bake bread, churn butter, and press apple cider in the farm kitchen. Winter drives are quieter, but check opening days before you go.

How far is Lancaster County from Philadelphia?

About two hours by car. Amtrak’s Keystone Service stops in Lancaster, Lancaster Airport has domestic flights, and Harrisburg International is the nearest larger airport. This route needs a car, so plan to rent one if you arrive by train or plane.

How many Amish people live in Lancaster County?

Around 44,000 Amish adults and children live in the Lancaster settlement, the largest Amish community in the United States. It began in 1760 and has grown so much that about 12 percent of it now reaches into neighboring Chester, Dauphin, and Berks counties, and into Cecil County, Maryland.

Do I need to book the pretzel bakery tour in Lititz?

Reservations are recommended, especially on weekends. The last tour starts half an hour before closing, and the pretzel you twist is practice dough, so buy a fresh soft pretzel in the shop afterward.

Can I drive the route without the audio tour?

Yes, the roads are public and you could link the same towns with a map. What you’d lose is the turn-by-turn narration and the stories timed to each place, which is what makes the farmland make sense. Without it, plan your stops in advance.

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