Day and Weekend Travel Ideas near Philadelphia

June 20, 2023 2:40 PM

My partner and I are on the hunt for new, semi-local adventures. With our work schedules, we have the flexibility for day trips during the week, or overnight stays. We are seeking recommendations for day trips within about an hour drive (can include interesing local attractions), and interesting locations (1-3 hour drive) to visit for overnight stays.

While coming up with an initial list on our own, the majority of our thoughts are to revisit places we've already experienced together-- which is okay, but variety is the spice of life, no?

Some of our traits:
He: IT worker, geeky, techno-nerd. Happy with a local, greasy spoon.
She: Artist. Enjoys a nice dinner out (Mediterranean!).
Us: Don't get outdoors enough and resolve to do it more often everytime we go. Hikes, tubing, beaches. Crafty. Enjoy a local market, flea, or thrift. Barcades and geekery, usually as a component of a trip and not the sole purpose.

Some examples of experiences we've enjoyed together:

Within Philadelphia: pottery classes at Blackhound Clay Studio, First Friday gallery openings. Philadelphia Art Museum exhibitions. Union Transfer shows. Brewery and winery tours. Camping. Spa days. Places with a hot tub. Quiet beaches. Barcades. Museums of all kinds, the more niche, the better.

Nearby: Grounds for Sculpture, Golden Nugget flea market, Delaware River tubing, New Hope / Lambertville, Downtown Media, Atlantic City

Overnight: Lancaster, Lititz, Ricketts Glenn, Poconos, Asbury Park, Pine Plains (Upstate NY), Pittsburgh (we love it there!)

posted by nayten to Travel & Transportation around Philadelphia, PA (13 answers total)

Best answer: Chanticleer gardens in Wayne, PA.

Really gorgeous, creative gardens with lots of chairs for sitting, relaxing and reading a book.
posted by sciencegeek at 4:02 PM on June 20, 2023 [3 favorites]

Best answer: Have you visited the Wharton Esherick Museum in Malvern? He was a quirky woodworker and the museum in inside his residence/studio. His furniture is incredible and is sometimes available on the resale market (increasingly very expensive) but what I most remember is that he wanted to be respected a sculptor, and made furniture to make pay the bills. He is known for his sinuous wooden furniture.

Reservations are required. He had Louis Kahn, a friend, add a couple of rooms in a small addition where I believe the offices are now, but they are not open to the public. The buildings are on a dramatic hill, and are oriented toward the valley and view, so the structure is very underwhelming when approached from the road.

Worth a trip, not just a detour.
posted by citygirl at 4:26 PM on June 20, 2023 [2 favorites]

Best answer: Cape May in the off season. The Cape May Zoo (exit 11 on the NJ parkway is a fabulous place with lots of animals in very nice settings. Cape May has historic homes, bed and breakfasts to stay in as well as hotels (The Grand is a very nice place). You can tour the Victorian Emlyn Physick House. You have the Cape May Lighthouse; hiking trails; a rail trail you can pedal a rail car on; Elaine's Haunted Dinner Theatre. You can catch a ferry to Lewes Delaware too. A few miles up the Parkway and you have Wildwood with it's boardwalks and attractions too.
posted by annieb at 4:48 PM on June 20, 2023 [3 favorites]

Best answer: Most picturesque miniature golf: Heislers in Tamaqua
posted by mahorn at 7:13 PM on June 20, 2023

Best answer: Can highly recommend the Storm King sculpture park
posted by jebs at 12:21 AM on June 21, 2023 [2 favorites]

Have you considered Amtrak? There are a bunch of destinations within a few hours from Philadelphia. Further in advance you buy tickets and flexible times can get cheap, i have been able to do $29 round trip Philadelphia to DC.

DC is 2 hours away, i have done day trips which tickets can be inexpensive if purchased far enough in advance. Visited the spy museum which was paid but interesting, artechouse(also one in nyc) has rotating techy art installations, in addition to all the normal Smithsonian stuff.

Baltimore is closer, theres the aquarium i have personally been wanting to visit.

New york city has a few things to do.

Harrisburg, pa is about 2.5 hours by amtrak.

Richmond, va is a 5 hour Amtrak ride. You would need to uber/lyft around though, its not public transit friendly. I go for the breweries, but the museums and historical stuff are interesting.
posted by TheAdamist at 2:54 AM on June 21, 2023 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Have you been to Longwood Gardens and the Brandywine Museum of Art? Baltimore also has the American Visionary Art Museum. Harper's Ferry, WV might also be a good weekend trip.
posted by amarynth at 5:10 AM on June 21, 2023 [1 favorite]

Best answer: If you have any interest in kayaking, I highly recommend kayaking on the Batsto or Mullica Rivers in the New Jersey Pinelands. Pineland Adventures offers rentals, drop-off, and pick-up, in Atsion, about an hour from Philly. A friend and I do the 8 hour Mullica trip (it generally takes us about 6 hours) once a year, and it's a highlight of my year. It's astonishingly peaceful and beautiful.

If you're interested in flea markets, the flea market at Columbus Farmers Market in Columbus, NJ, is much, much larger than Golden Nugget.
posted by mollweide at 8:59 AM on June 21, 2023

Best answer: Doylestown is a nice day trip! Michener Art Museum, Mercer Museum, Fonthill Castle, cute downtown area with good food and shops.
posted by rabbitrabbit at 9:10 AM on June 21, 2023

Response by poster: Lots of excellent suggestions so far, and mostly ones that are new to us!

Thank you! If you're scrolling through and have additional suggestions please send them!
posted by nayten at 5:02 PM on June 21, 2023

Hagley Museum and Library in Wilmington is fantastic if you're into American history. It's one of many DuPont properties (like Longwood Gardens mentioned above - another fantastic place to visit!) in northern Delaware and southern Pennsylvania. The lower part of the property has buildings from what was the largest gunpowder manufacturing facility in the world, including a workshop that still operates using water power (the estate is right next to the Brandywine River) like the entire facility used to operate. The upper part has the old office and home with a really nice garden. The property also has some exhibits, including a relatively new one of old patent models in the museum's collection. The museum also has an extensive collection of corporate archives from American companies and commercial organizations but those are primarily for scholars and not the general public. The entire estate is beautiful and it's really close to the Delaware Art Museum if you're looking to make a day of it. It's also not far from the Brandywine River Museum of Art which is also really nice. And if you're coming down from Philly then it's also not too far and in the same general direction as Longwood Gardens.

Winterthur is also just down the road from these places. It's another beautiful old DuPont property that has been turned into a large garden with some museum buildings.

I don't think you could do all of this in one day but selecting 2-3 of them that most interest you would make for a really great day. Longwood can get pretty busy on weekends beginning in the middle of the day so you might want to account for that. If there's an event there, it can get really crowded - during the winter holidays, they sell timed tickets to help with this.
posted by ElKevbo at 9:37 PM on June 21, 2023

Best answer: 30+ gardens around Philly
Longwood Gardens (45min drive) as noted above - see a nighttime fountain show, attend an organ performance
Hopewell Furnace (1h drive)
Quakertown (1h drive) - farmers and flea market
Allentown + Bethlehem + Easton (1-1.5h drive)
Palisades Park, NJ (1.5h drive)
Liberty Science Center (1.5h drive) - planetarium
Morris Museum (1.5h drive)
Untermyer Gardens (2h drive)
Hotel Hershey (2h drive) - falconry experience
Tuxedo Park / Harriman State Park (2h drive) - New York Ren Faire
Baltimore, MD (2h drive) as noted above
Rehoboth Beach (2h drive)
Harrisburg (2h drive)
Steamtown National Historic Site (2-2.5h)
Hudson Valley - Beacon / Cold Spring, NY (2.5h drive) - Dia Beacon, Bannerman Castle, Storm King as noted above, hike/scramble Breakneck Ridge to Mt Beacon Fire Tower, Boscobel House and Gardens, Stonecrop Gardens, Kykuit Rockefeller Estate
Gunks in the Catskills / New Paltz (3h drive)
Pine Creek Gorge / Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania (3.5h drive) - bike the rail trail
Cherry Springs State Park (4.5-5h drive) - dark skies for stargazing
Kinzua Bridge State Park (5.5h drive)
Festivals
Fruit picking in the area - orchards with additional activities like apple slingshot
posted by eyeball at 1:12 AM on June 22, 2023 [2 favorites]

Most of my recommendations have been made so will just +1 to Longwood Gardens, the Brandywine River Museum (especially if you at all enjoy the art of NC, Andrew or Jamie Wyeth), Mercer Museum and Fonthill castle.

I know you have mentioned museums in Philly itself, but just in case you have somehow missed the Mütter Musuem it definitely qualifies as niche!

If you are in the mood for hiking or wandering around parks, Ridley Creek State Park and Valley Forge National Park are gorgeous areas - you don't have to do all the revolutionary war stuff at Valley Forge, the park itself is beautiful.
posted by Athanassiel at 1:13 AM on June 22, 2023 [1 favorite]