How to Spend a Weekend in Hershey, Pa.

Though it’s rightfully known as the “Sweetest Place on Earth,” there’s more to do in Hershey than munching on chocolate.

Ready for a super sweet weekend? Hershey is the home of the Hershey Company, and therefore an ideal destination for dessert lovers everywhere. 

Visitors can tour the chocolate factory, visit a museum all about Hershey, and eat their weight in sweets. 

Though Hershey indeed smells like chocolate, there’s much to do beyond munching on treats. You’ll also experience quality dinner and drinks, some fresh air, and pretty fast rollercoasters. Still, we hope you like chocolate! 

This itinerary assumes you’ll arrive in Hershey on Friday afternoon and depart on Sunday after breakfast.

Friday 

Your introduction to Hershey is of course 100 percent about Hershey’s chocolate. Start at Hershey’s Chocolate World, which hosts a number of Hershey attractions. Your first stop, Hershey’s Chocolate Tour, is completely free. The tour is actually an entertaining ride that shows you how Hershey’s chocolate is made, which is the perfect introduction to “The Sweetest Place on Earth,” as Hershey is known.

If you have time after your tour, you can then take a tour by trolley to see the sights and landmarks of Hershey. Different trolley tours are offered depending on when you’re visiting. For instance, the fall season welcomes the Trick-Or-Treat Trolley!

Dinner will take you to Englewood Brewing which is set in an old barn. You don’t even need to be a beer enthusiast to enjoy Englewood. A new Hershey favorite that only opened in 2020, the space regularly has live music in a venue space in the barn or on the patio. The restaurant menu is vast and offers traditional bar food like pizza and burgers, as well as options for vegetarians and vegans. Plus, each item includes a beer pairing note—well, with the exception of the kid’s menu.

Saturday

Hershey Gardens, open year-round, is a popular collection of different botanical gardens and a perfect way to start your morning. Begin your visit at the conservatory and follow the winding path that encircles the gardens, stopping to smell the flowers at the Historic Hershey Rose Garden but also exploring other sites like the rock garden and butterfly atrium. You’ll admire flowers and shrubs, but also trees, ferns, and even some lovely grasses.

All that walking has likely helped you work up an appetite, so for lunch at a local favorite, grab a table at the locally owned Chocolate Avenue Grill in downtown Hershey. While chocolate is in the name of the restaurant, the sweet treat is relegated to the dessert menu. Instead, you can enjoy modern American food inside or on the restaurant’s spacious patio.

In the afternoon, you’re headed to one of the most popular attractions in Hershey, Hersheypark! This chocolate-themed amusement park has been open for more than a century, and during that time has expanded to ensure that there’s something for every family that visits. Thrill seekers will love the Hersheypark coasters, little kids will enjoy the rides made just for them, and those here for the chocolate will appreciate the sweet treats offered at Hershey’s Chocolatetown. (If you’re visiting in the winter when the park is closed, instead visit the attractions you didn’t hit up at Hershey’s Chocolate World as well as the Hershey Story museum, which tells the story of Milton Hershey.)

For your last meal of the day, you’ll want to visit The Chocolatier Restaurant inside Hersheypark, where you can get your dinner with a hint of chocolate. (The restaurant is open whether or not the park is open.) Eat barbecue made with Hershey’s chocolate barbecue sauce or peanut butter hummus made with Reese’s Pieces while you stare out over the rollercoasters you either just conquered or wish you had.

Once you can’t handle any more rollercoasters, it’s time to leave the park and simply relax. Visit the famous and historic Hotel Hershey and grab a drink at one of its many restaurants. One option is the Iberian Lounge, where you can see live music every Saturday night. Another restaurant at the hotel, Revelry, has a rooftop bar where you can unwind under the evening sky with a drink. Finally, Italian restaurant Trevi 5 also has a patio with stellar views of the whole town, most notably Hersheypark!

Sunday

Your last stop isn’t actually about chocolate at all—you did have a very sugary Saturday. Instead, pay a visit to Tröegs Independent Brewing. If you’re into beer and you live in Pennsylvania, we’re pretty sure you know Tröegs. The Pennsylvania craft brewer is based in Hershey and offers the best brewing tour in the US, according to USA Today in 2020.

The first tour leaves at 11:30 a.m. and takes about an hour, during which you’ll go behind the scenes of the brewery to learn all about how Tröegs makes its beer.

After your tour, visit the Tröegs kitchen to partake in their Sunday brunch. The restaurant uses local ingredients, although you may think the menu could use more Reese’s.If beer isn’t really your thing, you can instead head to the Hershey Pantry, widely considered one of the best breakfasts in all of Central Pa. You could go classic and order eggs, but you could also indulge your sweet tooth and choose a giant cinnamon roll to end your trip to the sweet town that is Hershey.