Hershey at Christmas

The last time I went to Hershey, Pennsylvania I was probably around 10 or 11. Needless to say it’s been a long time and it’s only about 2.5 hours away from me. My hopes of going somewhere tropical this winter vacation were dashed by semi last minute planning and the very high prices of warm weather destinations during the winter. So when thinking of places nearby for a quick getaway, my family and I decided to go to Hershey since I’d heard it’s supposed to be nice for the holidays.

We went for 2 days and it was a nice time and not too jam packed, which offered time to walk around the grounds of The Hotel Hershey and surrounding sights like Hershey Gardens (across the street from our hotel), Chocolate World, and Hersheypark which were both down the road and across the main road/highway. The Sweet Lights display, which is one of those Christmas light shows you drive through was also just a few minutes drive away.

As this is going to be a very picture heavy post, I’m going to try to keep the recaps of each day brief and let the pictures do the talking!

Day 1

We arrived at The Hotel Hershey in the late afternoon. After checking in and relaxing for a little, we walked around the hotel to explore a bit. Then, we headed out to the light show. It opened at 5 and we wanted to get there around opening time in case there was a lot of cars so we’d make it to our dinner reservation. When I went to the one in NJ there were so many people that it took us 2 hours! Since we got there early, it only took us 45 minutes. After the lights, since we still had time before dinner we went to Chocolate World to go on the chocolate tour which is a little ride that takes you around and shows you how chocolate is made. Lastly, we went back to the hotel to relax a little before dinner at Harvest – a restaurant at The Hotel Hershey. The restaurant is not in the main building, but around back and a short walk through the courtyard away. I ordered the Loaded Sweet Potato Wedges and Baby Back Ribs that are smoked with a cocoa rub (oh yeah, everything involves chocolate in Hershey – even the shampoo and body lotion!)

Oh yeah, upon checking in we each received a Hershey’s bar and when we got back to our room after dinner we had milk and cookies waiting for us!

Day 2

For our full day at Hershey, we had breakfast at The Circular – a restaurant at the hotel – and then headed out on our day. I got the Quiche for breakfast which had leeks, pancetta, and goat cheese with an herb green salad on top with cherry vinaigrette. This was so good, I ate it all! We, then, walked to Hershey Gardens and saw the Christmas tree display and butterfly atrium. Next, we took the shuttle from our hotel to Hersheypark which is just a few minutes away. The park doesn’t open until noon during the holiday season. It was pretty quiet there most of the afternoon and then got more crowded as it got darker. I guess people come later so they can just see all the lights. It was nice that the lines for the rides weren’t long though! There were a few really good rides, but unfortunately a lot of the big rides weren’t open.

We left the park around 6 and went back to the hotel to relax after a long day of lots of walking before heading downtown for dinner at Devon. At the restaurant I had shrimp cocktail as an appetizer and the Wagyu Flank Steak for my main.

Day 3

On our last day (yesterday), we ate breakfast again at The Circular. This time I got the Italian Eggs Benedict, which had poached eggs with tuscan kale on polenta instead of an english muffin. After checking out, we drove the 30ish minutes to Lancaster to go to the Lancaster Central Market. At the market are dozens of vendors, small businesses, farmers, bakers, etc. selling their goods. Some are Amish selling handcrafted goods and items from their farms. I got an apple cider and jam from one of the Amish farm shops and we also got a loaf of cranberry pecan bread.

Sorry for the picture overload! There were a lot I didn’t include if you can believe it! I didn’t want to have to split this post up in to multiple posts, so lots of photos. Anyway, the trip to Hershey was a nice short getaway! By the end of the 2 days I started to feel like everything smelled like chocolate, so I think 2 days is the perfect length of time.

Similar (and exact boots) outerwear items that I’m wearing at Hersheypark linked below.