Hotel at a Glance: Bella Vista Bed and Breakfast

Centrally located in Lancaster County’s Dutch Country, the Bella Vista Bed and Breakfast lives up to its name, which translates to “beautiful view.” The quaint inn’s large lawn is bedecked with stately trees and a brick patio, all set along a quiet street. Wake up each morning to a full country-style breakfast, or take in the view from the porch swing. If it’s too chilly to sit outside, curl up by the fireplace in one of the common areas.

• Stretch out in your spacious room. Each individually decorated room has tasteful Victorian touches.
• Break bread with the Amish: The bed and breakfast can arrange for guests to share dinner with a local Amish family.
• Nearby activities: Visit the area’s many flea markets, or head to Landis Valley Village & Farm Museum. It preserves the history of local and rural German groups, who first settled in the area in 1700s.
• Grab dinner at a handful of restaurants located less than a mile away, including Piero’s Italian Restaurant.
• Go for a walk on the lengthy path at the nearby, 50-acre Loyd H. Roland Memorial Park.

Lancaster County, Pennsylvania: Crossroads of Amish Culture and German Heritage

Lancaster County sits in the heart of Pennsylvania Dutch Country. A number of Amish families—many of them descendants of the German immigrants who settled in the region in the 18th and 19th centuries—still farm the land here, living and working by the same timeless principles and unadorned methods they’ve been using for generations. On a drive through the area, you’ll see covered bridges spanning the Conestoga River and probably share the road with a horse-drawn buggy or two. At stops such as Kitchen Kettle Village, you can watch experts canning jellies, jams, and relishes and sample homemade baked goods.

To tour the countryside in style, take a ride aboard a coal-burning steam locomotive on the Strasburg Rail Road. As the train chugs past farmers tending fields and cattle grazing on hay and strudel, parlor-car attendants serve cocktails and snacks to passengers in the dining car or in first class. Across the street from the station in Strasburg, the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania chronicles the history of the track via rotating exhibits and more than 100 locomotives and railcars.

Love to travel? Follow us on Facebook and Twitter for travel tips, inspiration, and photos from around the world.