Day Trips From Philadelphia

Am spending 14 days here in September and will not have a car.

Have foud one organised trip to the Amish Experience and was wondering if there are any companies who specialise in one day trips to Valley Forge and the like

Day Trips From Philadelphia

Starr Tours is a bus company with some one-day trips to area attractions.

http://www.starrtours.com/

Day Trips From Philadelphia

Hi!

Are you taking the Amish Tour sponsored by Philadelphia Trolley Works (http://www.phillytour.com/serviceamish.asp)? If so, I definitely recommend it as I took their tour back in June. It was a wonderful and educational experience. The only hiccup was that our shuttle pick-up in Lancaster was late and the group missed the morning tour of the farmlands. The staff at the Amish Experience were very accomodating and booked us for the afternoon tour instead. We saw the movie ';Jacob%26#39;s Choice'; and toured an Amish homestead in the morning and had lunch before our farmland tour. I actually preferred the revised arrangement as we had obtained background info about the Amish before boarding the tour bus. Apparently, Philadelphia Trolley Works failed to notify the staff at the Amish Experience to expect our group. There was also some confusion with the pick-up from the Lancaster train station as the original shuttle provider contracted out the pick-up to another shuttle company. The Trolley Works company was not aware of this. Despite the flaws, we had a great time.

When I was planning a 7 day visit to Philadelphia, I too was looking for day trip providers like Grayline. Unfortunately, Philly does not have much of this.

You can easily get to Valley Forge via Bus #125 (nps.gov/vafo/planyourvisit/guidedtours.htm) which leaves from 13th %26amp; Market Streets. One way fare is $3.50 and it takes about an hour. The bus drops off right at the Welcome Center. Information on tours within the park are available at: nps.gov/vafo/planyourvisit/guidedtours.htm. There%26#39;s a wonderful trolley tour that departs from the Welcome Center. Unfortunately, it only runs through Labor Day. I%26#39;m not sure if your visit will coincide with the trolley offering. Do try to make it if you can. You can also call ahead an make a reservation to ensure a seat. Try to avoid catching the last bus from Valley Forge as service is a bit uneven. Just know that if you find yourself in a jam, you can call for a taxi to take you to the King of Prussia Mall and catch either the 124 or 125 bus from their Transit Station back to Philly.

I also recommend renting a car and driving 40 minutes south of Philly to Longwood Gardens (http://www.longwoodgardens.com/). You can easily spend a day there. You can easily pick up a rental car from the airport to drive to Longwood. Once you return the car, you can catch the R1 commuter train from the airport back to Philly.

You may also want to consider taking a Mural Arts Tour (http://www.muralarts.org/tours/). They offer two hour trolley tours of sections of the city to see the beautiful murals. It was one of my most memorable parts of my visit.

You may want to see my trip report for additional ideas. Just click on my screen name to the left of this message and select my comment entitled ';7 Day Trip Report, June 2007.';

Have a WONDERFUL visit!

Prior to Sept 30th, you can grab the Ferry at Penn%26#39;s Landing for a quick trip across the river to the Aquarium, Battleship and Campbell field (if there are any games still playing).

Phillytour.com (Phila Trolley Works) offers a number of decent tours, such as Amish country (mentioned above) Valley Forge and Hershey Park. I think some of them are group only in the off-season (after labor day) however.

Many thanks BroadwayBound for the info about Valley Forge. You are correct in respect of the Amish Trip. We have booked with trolley Works and are now hoping that we can experience the tour in the same format as you. Either way it is sure to be an enjoyable experience.

Have purchased City Pass and have several trips ready in the historic Centre and Zoo.

Were hoping to make it to Washington and/or New York. Have you any ideas on this.Probably a Day Tripas we also want to go to Atlantic City, king of Prussia. There appears to be so much in so little time.

Washington is WAY more than a day trip. 2-3 days minimum.

NY can be done as a day trip. It%26#39;s about a 2 hour drive from Philly, or same in train. Amtrak is the best train choice, but expensive. My preferred option is a hybrid run, drive from Philly to the Hamilton ytrain station and catch NJ Transit from there.

I agree with Loonbeam re Washington. A single day there would just have your head spinning and leave you disappointed that you didn%26#39;t spend more time. I would suggest skipping the Amish trip and doing an overnight (or two) in Washington. The Amish trip is really not worth it, IMO. I am only exaggerating slightly when I say the Amish country is just a bunch of farms. Take a ride in the English countryside- same thing minus the hex symbols on the barns and the names Soltzfus and Miller on the mailboxes.

NYC is like London with taller buildings, straighter streets and the traffic going the wrong way. Really. Oh, London is prettier.

I%26#39;ll append my own post - Washington is a 2-3 minimum if you run like heck.

Back in my camping days, I used to take the overseas staff to trips in Washington for 2 days. JUST to cover the smithsonian and monuments in that time had us going at a pace euphemistically called the DC Death March (never helped it always seemed to be during a summer heat wave).

That agenda did not include the National Zoo, the Air and Space Extension, getting inside the Capitol....

Amish Country is worth a drive through if on the way somewhere or if you have time, if nothing else for a good dinner at the Good and Plenty (family style food - overseas guests are always the hit of the table). But other than a quick visit to the Amish Farmhouse museum, there really is not much there.

I have to concur, DC is definitely worth your time. While I like Amish country, if I had to choose, I would pick DC first without question. There is so much to do there, but if you research well and narrow down what you really want to see, you can get a good bit done in a 3 day time frame. I used to live there and visit somewhat frequently (at least once a year) if you want further suggestions...or you can post on the DC board, the Local Experts there (SueFee, drwong and mopsydog) are great resources who aremore than willing to assist with questions.

Suzanne

Davidsdog,

You can also daytrip to NYC via Greyound for as low as $20 round trip per person. It typically takes 2 hours and 10 minutes to get to NYC. Check out the Greyhound website at:

greyhound.com/scripts/鈥savers.asp.

The Greyhound station is a short walk from Reading Terminal Market and drops you off at the NYC Port Authority which is right in Midtown within easy walking distance of the Broadway theatres and TImes Square. I frequently daytrip to NYC from Boston which takes twice as much time so a daytrip from Philly is totally doable. You may even want to spend an overnight in NYC. You can get great hotel rooms via Priceline. I recently stayed at the Times Square Hilton for under $120.

You can also take Greyhound from Philly to Atlantic City. It takes about 1.5 hours.

You can reach the King of Prussia mall via the same bus (#125) that goes to Valley Forge. You can do both in the same day if you budget your time.

The Amish tour is a bit expensive but it was worth it to me as I did not have to worry about driving. It was a memorable experience.

Many thanks to all of you. The Amish trip is a must do for my partner and that has been booked via trolleyWorks. King of Prussia is also another for her so that will be a day trip leaving a couple of days free.

Am seriously thinking of the New York Trip which I understand can also be done with another coach operator for about the same price as Greyhound. As we are staying in the Historic District getting to the coach/train wont be difficult. Personally I would like to travel by train one way and coach the other and probably stay overnight.

Thinking about it as our Daughter has to fitted in and she is currently working at tha University on a secondment from Sydney, Australia so she will be wanting to fit things around her work \schedule.

Whatever we decide I am sure we will have a great time.

Many thanks once again.