Property at a Glance: Bella Vista Bed and Breakfast

Centrally located in Lancaster County’s Dutch Country, Bella Vista Bed and Breakfast lives up to its name, an Italian phrase that translates to “beautiful view.” The quaint inn’s large lawn is bedecked with stately trees and a brick patio. Each morning, guests wake up to a full country-style breakfast.

• Space to stretch out: Large guest rooms are individually decorated with tasteful Victorian touches.
• Modern comforts: Though Bella Vista dates back to 1912, there’s WiFi.
• Breaking bread: The bed and breakfast can arrange for guests to share dinner with a local Amish family.
• Nearby activities: The area has many flea markets, and the Landis Valley Village & Farm Museum preserves the history of local German immigrants.

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

Lancaster County sits in 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.