Updated 8/2/01
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I lived in Lancaster from 1992-1996 while attending Franklin and Marshall College. This page is based on my memories from that time period, so no guarentees that the places mentioned still exist! Unfortunately, Lancaster has rapidly become the victim of urbal sprawl since I left (due to it's close proximity to Philadelphia), so a lot has changed. Click here for two pictures.
First things first: Lancaster is pronounced Lanc-aster, not Lan-caster.
Lancaster County is home to a large Amish community, and a lot of cheesy tourism based on exposing city-slickers to "a piece of the simple life." Most of the tourist attractions are concentrated along Route 30, just east of Lancaster City proper. That's a good place to go if you like little plastic trinkets, fake dutch windmills, and Amish-themed amusement park rides at Dutch Wonderland. There's also a large complex of outlet stores, and apparently people come from all over Pennsylvania just to spend a weeked shopping the outlets. Personally, I would recommend avoiding this area.
If you really want to experience the "charm" of central Pennsylvania, you need to get out to some of the smaller towns surrounding Lancaster. Here's a suggestion for a good day trip from Lancaster:
Lititz, PA: From Lancaster, travel north on Rt. 501 (also known as Lititz Pike). Lititz is a cute little town, but there are two things that really make it worth visiting. First is the Wilbur Chocolate factory, best known for their chocolate "buds" which look like Hershey's kisses but are a much better quality chocolate. For what it's worth, Wilbur's buds pre-date Hershey's kisses by about 10 years. They might have free samples at the factory, but I can't remember for sure if they do. The other place definitely worth a visit in Lititz is the Sturgis Pretzel Bakery, the first pretzel bakery in the USA - they have awesome chocolate covered pretzels. If you take a tour, your ticket is a free pretzel, and you'll get a chance to twist some dough. There are other small museums and historical buildings in Litiz, and the town is small enough that it's an easy stroll to take a look around. Before leaving Lititz, be sure to pick up a regional map from the Visitor's Center.
From Lititz, continue up Rt. 501 to Rt. 322 and head east. This will take you through some beautiful farmland (and maybe you'll see some Amish folk) to the town of Ephrata. Ephrata is home to the original Ten Thousand Villages store. Ten Thousand Villages is a chain of fair trade stores created by the mennonite church to provide a direct income to artisans from developing countries. The stores are run by volunteers (mostly non-mennonites), who often travel overseas to meet the artisans in person. They have stores all over the USA and Canada - including one in Fell's Point, Baltimore (where I currently live). The Ephrata store is the only one I know of that also has a cafe that serves international foods.
I've forgotten the best way to get from Ephrata to the next stop, which is Intercourse. But if you picked up a map in Lititz like I told you to, then you can figure it out. You should pass by a good number of Amish farms on the way. As you can probably imagine, Intercourse was the punch line to many childish jokes in college (which also usually mentioned the nearby towns of Blue Ball and Paradise). Intercourse is a tiny town with a strip of craft stores that sell useful things (like quilts, chairs, cushions, etc..) rather than the useless trinkets (like amish magnets or keychains) you'll find on Rt. 30. However, Intercourse is close enough to Rt. 30 that they're may be a bus of tourists around.
By the way, please show some respect for the Amish people who live in this area. It really bothers me when people yell at them or take pictures of them (which is against their religion). I am sure they are used to it because of the hords of tourists around, but it's rude, obnoxious, and disrespectful of their culture.
Head back to Lancaster by travelling west on Old Philadelphia Pike. Along the way you'll pass through the town of Bird-in-Hand. Just before going under the railroad tracks, on the north side of the road, there is a craft store in a large barn-like building (I don't remember the name of the store). They used to sell used quilts here for around $100, which is a real deal because new quilts go for $600 and up.
Other interesting places in Lancaster County:
I loved living in Lancaster because it's a very walkable city, and there were enough cool places around to keep me occupied when I wasn't in class.
North Queen Street used to be a treasure trove of book, record, vintage clothing, and art stores that could have rivaled Philly's South Street or Baltimore's Fell's Point. Unfortunately, a lot of those places have gone out of business over the past few years. I'm not sure what's taken their place, but it might be worth a look.
The Chameleon Club on Water St. hosts some great local and national bands. In fact, Live got their start playing at the Chameleon. Every May the club has an excellent indie-rock festival that lasts several days. More on Lancaster bands on my music page.
There are plenty of great places to eat in the Lancaster area. Good breakfast locations are: Wish You Were Here on W. Orange Street, and Neptune Diner on N. Prince Street. Famous Pizza at the corner of Nevin St. and Lemon St. has the best pizza I've ever eaten - very greasy, though! There are some great Indian restaruants in the area too - my favorite was the Taj Mahal on Bennett Ave near Hechinger's.
If you are in Lancaster on a weekend, you have to go to the central farmer's market at Penn Square. Go early - they close at like 2pm or something.
The Fulton Opera House is home to local theater productions. A few of my college friends worked there.