Things To Do

The Hershey Harrisburg Region is one of Pennsylvania’s great family destinations — a place where the things kids beg to do and the things parents actually enjoy turn out to be the same things. Hersheypark® anchors the experience with 70+ rides, one of the best water parks in the region, and a zoo, while Hershey’s Chocolate World delivers sweet all-ages entertainment just next door. Across the region in Harrisburg, City Island serves up a different flavor of family fun: minor league baseball, Water Golf (voted Pennsylvania’s #1 mini golf course), a restored antique carousel, and wide-open riverfront views of the Susquehanna. Families who look a little further discover that there’s more — wildlife parks, butterfly atriums, and interactive museums that turn an afternoon into a memory.

The Hershey Harrisburg Region has a well-earned reputation for family fun — but adults traveling (without kids) discover a destination that fits them just as well. More than 20 craft breweries and tasting rooms populate the Brew Barons Beer Trail, vineyard patios open to stunning views and live music, and a walkable arts district in downtown Harrisburg delivers galleries, murals, live performances, and dining all within easy reach of each other. For those who prefer a spa day to a hike, The Spa at The Hotel Hershey® offers world-class chocolate-themed treatments that have become a destination in their own right. Date nights, friend group getaways, solo adventures, and romantic weekends all find their footing here — and the region’s combination of small-town warmth and genuine sophistication makes it easy to settle in and stay longer than planned.

The Hershey Harrisburg Region sits where Appalachian ridgelines, wide river corridors, and forested state lands converge — creating a genuinely diverse outdoor playground within easy reach of major mid-Atlantic cities. Hikers can follow forested trails to sweeping ridge-top views, kayakers can paddle the wide Susquehanna River or the gentle Swatara Creek, and mountain bikers can ride the Rattling Creek Trail System, one of only two EPIC-rated mountain bike systems in Pennsylvania. We've got the region's guide to all of it, connecting hiking, biking, kayaking, fishing, and disc golf experiences across the area. Whether you're chasing an adrenaline rush or looking for a quiet afternoon in nature, the region gives you both.

Yes, there are HERSHEY’S KISSES®-shaped streetlights lining Chocolate Avenue, and yes, the aroma near the chocolate plant is exactly what you’d hope it would be. But Hershey is also a 121-acre theme park with 15 coasters, a world-class resort spa, 23 acres of botanical gardens with a one-of-a-kind tropical butterfly atrium, a historic theatre renowned for its Broadway touring shows, and a walkable stretch of downtown filled with craft breweries, restaurants, boutique shops, and the museum that tells Milton Hershey’s remarkable story. It can have everything to do with chocolate — or nothing at all. Either way, it delivers.

Harrisburg is the kind of city that earns a second look — and usually a second visit. Pennsylvania’s capital city is anchored by the majestic dome of the PA State Capitol Building, one of the most architecturally stunning public buildings in the country, and framed by the wide, scenic waters of the Susquehanna River. A walkable downtown connects the Arts District’s galleries, murals, and live performance venues with a dining scene that ranges from riverside casual to farm-to-table creative. City Island, reached by pedestrian bridge, delivers a full day of its own: minor league baseball with the Harrisburg Senators, Water Golf (Pennsylvania’s #1 mini golf), a restored antique carousel, and waterfront sunset views from the Harrisburg Beach Club. It’s a city that entertains, educates, and tends to make visitors wonder why they didn’t come sooner.