6 Amish Farms Where You Can Stay As A Guest (Lancaster County)
Aside from eating in an Amish home, people often want to know where they can find accommodation on actual Amish farms.
A TribLive article points us to the website amishfarmstay.com, which lists six such properties – all run by Amish families.
I’ve tried to answer this question over the years but never had a resource which gathered several such properties in one place. This site is the first I’ve seen to do that.
Below are the various properties and their locations in the Lancaster County settlement. The prices as of this post range from $90-100/night as a starting point.
- Pleasant View Farm Guesthouse (Intercourse)
- Beacon Hollow Amish Farm Bed and Breakfast
- Country Lane Amish Farm Stay (Leola)
- Sunset View Guesthouse
- Paradise Amish Bed and Breakfast (Paradise)
- Dutch Homestead Amish Guesthouse (Paradise)
Typically, the properties feature guest houses on the family’s land. So you’re not staying inside the home, but in a separate lodging.
They do not have public power, though they’ll use solar energy to power lights and in the standard Amish fashion, propane or natural gas-powered refrigerators.
Here’s a description from the listing of Beacon Hollow Farm:
Relax and refresh in our quiet cottage right here on our farm. This farm has been in our family for six generations. Meet our family while we are doing our daily chores in the barn.
The cottage has two bedrooms, a large kitchen and a full bath. A continental breakfast is served in the cottage every morning of your stay except Sundays. Stroll down the driveway. Have a picnic in our picnic area beside the creek. This is a rare opportunity to stay at one of the few Old Order Amish Bed and Breakfast farms in Lancaster PA. We offer an authentic taste of Amish life that most Lancaster County tourists never get to experience. Our rates are very reasonable. The cottage has electricity. We are open year round. We hope you will come and stay with us! – Ben and Anna Riehl and family.
So it’s not exactly the same as staying with an Amish family, but gets you fairly close to that. More details on each property can be found at the link.
The site is run by a man named Dave Hanson, who also has a site listing mainly Mennonite-owned properties. Here’s a promotional video for the guest houses, accompanied by Amish church singing:
The accompanying Trib Live article has some comments from one of the Amish proprietors:
Lena Stoltzfus said she loves providing her guests with a peaceful getaway, and she hopes they leave with a better understanding of her way of life.
“I like to sit and chat with everybody who comes, get to know them and let them get to know me,” she said. “I hope they see we have more in common than they might expect. The Amish choose to do things a certain way, but we share the same joy in sitting on a quiet porch and having a nice long talk.”
Especially in Lancaster County I can see this making a lot of sense. Amish here are entrepreneurially-minded and many tap into the tourist industry selling products like food, home decor and furniture.
There may have been a time when an Amish family might balk at advertising a property as “Amish”, but as you can see four of the six properties listed on the site use the word in their names. I think that principle in general has worn down a bit especially in the more business-minded areas.
Also key is that the site is run by a non-Amish person which typically is how Amish will advertise their goods and services as Amish without using the name themselves.
And that is the point after all – to have a lodging experience different from a standard bed and breakfast or guesthouse. I can’t vouch personally for the properties, but from descriptions these sound like nice options for those who want to get a bit closer experience of Amish life.
I can sleep in a tipical Amish house for 1 night?
I like to sleep in a tipical amish house for 1 night in august i planed a visit Lancaster
Thank you
Alfieri DR Giulaino
Parma Italy
Via venezia n 75 43122
Buongiorno, Dottore.
Questa mattina ho visto il suo lettera. Molto interessante, Dottore. Io sono una italiana ma abito dalla California e sono una “fan” del Amish. Buon viaggio a Pennsylvania. Ho visitato li’ e Lancaster e bellissima. Sono nata a California ma adesso sono una cittadina italiana. Mio padre era Bergamasco e madre Toscana.
Amish experience
We have visited many Amish settlements in Pennsylvania and Ohio over the years. The Lancaster area is heavily commercialized and to learn there are Amish guest homes available is a great opportunity to take advantage of the quiet rest that exists in their communities. Having subscribed to Amish America for a long time, this is the best and most exciting article I have read! Great news, great opportunity with a great people. Kudos to Amish America for this discovery.
Glad you enjoyed it Steve, I was happy to find this article. Let us know if you happen to stay at one of these places, I’d be curious to hear about the overall experience. Appreciate you reading!
Authentic Amish
Looking forward to our first and only trip to PA. & Massachusetts, and points in between, first week in Oct. (from West Coast)
We are ‘Seniors” in mid seventies, so will probably never get there again!
My heritage goes way back to Amish/Mennonite, from PA & Missouri, generations ago, and I would love to visit/drive through areas that are authentic, and not so commercialized!
Erik/Amish America….(or anyone else)…Can you recommend any areas in “the loop”, between S.E.Mass.& south to Philadelphia, West over to Lancaster/Gettsburg, and then North to Niagara Falls and back over to Holden?Boston area???
THANK YOU!
Carol I would say you might visit some communities in PA and upstate NY. There are quite a lot of smaller communities in New York in particular (western NY has quite a few) and also central PA. You might consider the Big Valley area of Mifflin County, beautiful area and 3 distinct Amish groups living there, all with different-colored buggies.
There is also of course Lancaster County, though that would be the most “commercial”, there are certainly areas in that large community which are not tourist-oriented, in fact a lot of the community is like that (main tourist areas are Intercourse – Bird-in-Hand – Strasburg triangle of towns).
Here is a list and a map (2013) showing where you’ll find some of the small communities. Hope it helps:
https://kb.osu.edu/bitstream/handle/1811/57700/JAPAS_Donnermeyer_Luthy_vol1-issue2_pp107-129.pdf?sequence=1
Visit
I would like to plan a vacation, are there any places where they allow pets?
Not sure about that Julie, you might contact the site directly to see. I looked at several of the properties out of curiosity, one said no pets allowed, the others did not mention pets.
Fantastic
It sounds like a fantastic opportunity. I see on this site how so many people are looking for ways to become friends with Amish people, and I have to say that staying on their property is probably the best way. I have been lucky enough to become good friends with a few Amish families in Lancaster County and every visit I make there I add more and more Amish and/or Mennonite friends. I truly believe that if you make an Amish friend, it’s a friend for life. Most are truly beautiful people. I stayed in a carriage house on an Amish property in New Holland just last week and we have already been invited to say anytime and at whatever cost that we find affordable. The last words they stated as we were leaving was, “You are our friends now.” The property was one where they no longer rent out their carriage home – I just happened to try anyway and they let us stay there. I have no doubt that I will be visiting them for years to come.
Sounds like a nice unexpected arrangement there Cheri. Nice to hear you’ve made some great friends!
Peaceful!
I greatly enjoyed today’s post, and perhaps someday I’ll get to Lancaster. I sure hope you can continue this in other states as well. I’d like to know if there are similar opportunities to stay in Amish guesthouses in the Midwest, like IL, IN, WI, etc. (closer to my home, or course!). Peace is what would draw me there more than anything. Sure, with multip!e children in Amish families, things might get a bit raucous at times, but as a Grandma (Busia), I can take it. I’d love to chat with the womenfolk especially, and maybe learn a few words in “Pennsylvania Dutch” from the younger kinner. Just an observation: I was happy to see a window A.C. unit in a photo of one of the guest houses. For a Summer stay, that would be ideal for me!
Thanks for her another “virtual vacation,” Erik!
Alice Mary
Amish Bed and Breakfast in Indiana
Glad you liked it Alice Mary – I am not aware of other sites which would aggregate Amish guest houses (I’d suspect this type of business is most common in Lancaster County) but there is one I am aware of in northern Indiana, assuming it is still operating. A local left this comment about The Farmstead Bed and Breakfast near Shipshewana several years ago, describing it as “the only Amish owned and operated bed and breakfast in the area. It’s located on an Amish farm and the accommodations do not have electricity (A/c), but it is a true Amish experience.”
https://amishamerica.com/indiana-amish/comment-page-1/#comment-82965
Amish Experience.
Thanks for the link to the Indiana Bed and Breakfast. I would prefer a more Amish experience.
Food
I have visited Lancaster many times and will be making another trip in November. I really enjoyed the meals there, my husband loves the shoo fly pie. You can’t buy it here, so, I learned hoe to make it. My husband and I loved there pepper soup.
We also ate at an Amish farm in Ohio and we were treated like Kings and Queens. We always enjoyed our trips so much.
Thank you.
Joanie
Research Trip!
Thank you, thank you, thank you!! I am working on a mystery series for Guideposts set in Lancaster County, and this is a perfect solution to a few of my research woes. Can’t wait to schedule my trip!
Country Lane Leola
I think we may have seen this place; Country Lane Amish Farm Stay (Leola), last summer when we were in Lancaster County for HPD. I remember seeing a sign for a place that was an on farm B&B, and wondered if it was actually Amish owned. I just can’t recall what road we were on at the time.
We stayed at a B&B in New Holland, and while it was a nice set up, we would have jumped at a chance to stay at an Amish owned B & B. Especially since HPD was in Leola.
Life in Lancaster Co. Amish Country
I enjoyed reading this and seeing the references to New Holland, here in Lancaster County. You might remember me asking a few years ago about property for sale in this area, since we wanted to retire to Amish Country. We were blessed, almost exactly a year ago, in finding a perfect town home in New Holland, and further blessed with the three Amish family neighbors whose farmland and homes are at the cul de sac where we now live. They truly are our friends for life. The matriarch of the family and I have fun days of lunch and shopping together and on one side lives her daughter and family and on the other, her son and his family. They are delightful, warm, welcoming and with a terrific sense of humor. Their gentle kindness touches our hearts and we thank the Lord that our dream did come true. Lancaster County is such an incredibly beautiful place to live and visit too! If you can come and spend a weekend, I know you would enjoy yourself immensely.
Where at in New Holland, and how far is that from the city of Lancaster?
Do you know anywhere where the Amish sell their goods…such as a market, auctions in first week of October, or roadside stands?
Any truly Amish families who host overnight guests, or at least for 1 meal? SO much publicity and use of fake “Amish made” … but looking for more “off the beaten paths” authentic communities, than around the touristy areas.
Could anyone help me?
Carol in answer to one of your questions, this article lists 6 “truly Amish” families who do just that, host overnight guests. Not necessarily in their homes but on the property. In Lancaster area, there are various roadside stands, you just need to drive around backroads in the Amish areas. Finding them is part of the fun. There are some auctions that go on regularly, some are the mud sales, there are also produce auctions (Leola is one example). https://www.leolaproduceauction.com/
Hope that helps!
We stayed at the Beacon Hollw in 2017. It was an awesome experience and it allowed us to see many different aspects of the Amish lifestyle. Ben and Anna were very friendly and informative. Will definitely stay there again on our next trip. We’ve stayed at multiple Amish B&B’s, across several states, and the Beacon Hollow was by far the best overall experience. Thanks so much Ben and Anna
Jeff &Nyle Edwards (Kentucky)
Vacation
I want to experience the most that I can of Amish living
Where is the best place and what time of year is the best time. It would be myself and 17 year old son.
Looking to rent a home in Amish area
I’m looking to find a place to rent for a while in an Amish community for myself and children. Preferably in south. We have a horse and some small livestock.
Any suggestions on where to look?
I would take a look at the “Amish State Guide” section in the top menu to get a sense of where the larger communities are in the South. Are you planning to move there to experience living with the Amish with your family, or another reason?
Staying with Amish family
I stayed with an Amish family inside their home recently. It was an older couple and their adult son (I didn’t see him much). It was the only place I could find where I wasn’t separate from the family. I ate dinner and breakfast with them and the husband was especially talkative and answered any question I had. It was a really unique experience. I even left there with a little kitten that had been born in their barn and was apparently abandoned by its mother (we couldn’t find a mom anywhere). Oh, and the husband (Ben) brought me in his buggy for a ride. I really don’t know of any other place that does all this. It’s in Ephrata, PA. This is the link: https://www.amishbnb.com/room/amish-homestay-bed-breakfast/
Seniors Indian couple
Kensi, your experience prompts us to experience amish home stay. We are visiting our kids in USA and want to compare Gandhian living with them.
Winter Getaway
We plan to visit the Dutch Country Roads from December 9-13, 2023.
We want to experience the Amish Accommodations Bed & Breakfast.
I understand they provided the breakfast but how about the lunch, dinner & snack in between if we crave for. Are there general stores or restaurants nearby?
How about the road conditions? We are two seniors travelling this time of the year.
Senior Citizen Indian couple
We are 80 and 76 years old, visiting our kids in USA, inquisitive about Gandhian way of life, practiced by Amish people. We have lived in Germany for a couple of years 50 years back. We , like to spend couple of days with an elderly family and exchange views.