Pennsylvania Destination Guide

This Pennsylvania destination guide is where you can find available luxury five star Pennsylvania resorts, comfortable four star Pennsylvania hotels, clean three star Pennsylvania lodges, convenient two star Pennsylvania inns, budget one star Pennsylvania motels and the best vacations rentals in Pennsylvania. This where you book a room and make hotel reservations at a place to stay and find information and tips on travel to Pennsylvania. This getaway guide will help our readers find the perfect lodging accommodations in Pennsylvania. Whether you are traveling with your family on a leisure holiday vacation or visiting for corporate business, our Pennsylvania lodging guide will help you find a hotel room that suits your specific needs. Find travel books, travel gear, and event tickets, in PA.

Pennsylvania (the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania) is one of four states of the United States of America that is called a commonwealth. It has given its name to the Pennsylvanian time period in geology. Pennsylvania is called the Keystone State. The capital is Harrisburg. Pennsylvania's nickname The Keystone State is quite apt, as the state forms a geographic bridge both between the Northeastern states and the Southern states, and between the Atlantic seaboard and the Midwest. It is bordered on the north and northeast by New York, on the east, across the Delaware River by New Jersey, on the south by Delaware, Maryland, and West Virginia, on the west by Ohio, and on the northwest by Lake Erie. The Delaware, Susquehanna, Monongahela, Allegheny, and Ohio Rivers are the major rivers of the state.

Pennsylvania is bisected diagonally by ridges of the Appalachian Mountain chain from southwest to northeast. To the northwest of the folded mountains is the Allegheny Plateau, which continues into southwestern and south central New York. This plateau is so dissected by valleys that it also seems mountainous. The Plateau is underlain by sedimentary rocks of Mississippian and Pennsylvanian age, which bear abundant fossils, as well as natural gas and petroleum. Similar rock layers also contain coal to the south and east of the oil and gas deposits. In the metamorphic (folded) belt, anthracite (hard coal) is mined near Wilkes-Barre and Hazleton.

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Pennsylvania's most prominent natural feature is the Appalachian Mountain Range that rises in the center of the state. Several major rivers flow through the state including the Delaware and Schuylkill Rivers, in the east; the Susquehanna, centrally located; and the Ohio, Allegheny, Monongahela and Youghiogheny Rivers in the west. The major cities of Pennsylvania, including the capitol city of Harrisburg, lie along these waterways. The southeastern corner of Pennsylvania supports much of the population and some of the oldest communities in the state. The largest city within this region is Philadelphia. This city harbors Independence National Park and a plethora of historical and cultural institutions. Southwestern Pennsylvania harbors the other large city within the state, Pittsburgh. This city is known for its significant role in the steel making industry of the early twentieth century.

Cities with Lodging Hotels in Pennsylvania
Allentown Altoona Barkeyville Bartonsville Beaver Falls Bedford Bensalem Berwyn Bethlehem Blairsville Bloomsburg Bradford Breezewood Breinigsville Bridgeville Bristol Brookville Bushkill Butler Camp Hill Canonsburg Carlisle Chambersburg Chester Clarion Clarks Summit Clearfield Conshohocken Coopersburg Coraopolis Cranberry Danville Delmont	Denver Donegal Douglassville Drums Dubois Dunmore East Norriton Easton East Stroudsburg Ebensburg Edinboro Elizabethtown Erie Essington Etters Exton Fort Washington Franklin Frazer Gettysburg Gibsonia Grantville Greencastle Greensburg Grove City Hamlin Hanover Harmarville Harrisburg Harrisville Hazleton Hermitage	Hershey Horsham Hummelstown Huntingdon Indiana Intercourse Johnstown King of Prussia Kittanning Kutztown Lake Harmony Lakeville Lamar Lancaster Langhorne Latrobe Lebanon Lehighton Lester Levittown Lewisburg Ligonier Malvern Manheim Mars Marshalls Creek Matamoras Meadville Mechanicsburg Mendenhall Mercer Middletown Mifflinville	Milesburg Millersville Monroeville Montgomeryville Montoursville Moon Township Moosic Morgantown Morrisville Mount Pocono Mountville New Castle New Columbia New Cumberland New Holland New Stanton North East North Wales Oakdale Paradise Philadelphia Pine Grove Pittsburg Pittsburgh Pittston Plymouth Meeting Pottstown Pottsville Punxsutawney Quakertown Reading Ronks	Sayre Scotrun Scranton Selinsgrove Shamokin Dam Shawnee on Delaware Somerset State College Stroudsburg Tannersville Trevose Uniontown Warfordsburg Warren Washington Wayne Waynesburg West Chester West Conshohocken West Hazleton West Homestead West Middlesex West Mifflin Wexford Whitehall White Haven Wilkes-Barre Williamsport Willow Grove Wormleysburg Wyomissing York

Pennsylvania is a region steeped in colourful history. It started out as the ‘Holy Experiment’ of Quaker activist William Penn, Jr. Granted a charter by King Charles II to develop a colony in the New World, Penn selected a lush wooded portion of the countryside, where he vowed to welcome anyone who believed in God. Less than a century later, the country’s Founding Fathers signed the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution at Independence Hall in Philadelphia – now one of the largest cities in the USA – and the American nation was born. A revolution of a very different nature soon followed – the Industrial Revolution.

Rich in iron ore, coal and crude oil, Pennsylvania had all the necessary ingredients for a booming steel and iron industry. ‘Hell with the lid off’ was Charles Dickens’ description of Pittsburgh when he visited a city so polluted that street lamps had to be kept on during the day to improve visibility. Today, Pittsburgh is known as a ‘Renaissance city’; what remains of that area is a wealth of cultural and historical landmarks, and the visitor can breathe freely in bright urban landscapes, bustling city sophistication and a great outdoors. Pennsylvania boasts 20 State and 1 National Forest, 116 State Parks, 1 Great Lake (Lake Erie), 50 other natural lakes, 2500 man-made lakes, along with thousands of miles of rivers and streams. The state is also something of a cultural mecca, with many world-class museums, while its citizens represent a rich mix of cultural and ethnic backgrounds.

Recreation in Pennsylvania is centered around state administered parks, forests and game lands. Small natural areas dot the landscape and provide facilities for hiking, camping, biking, fishing and picnicking. Within the last few years, a major initiative to turn abandoned railways into trails have resulted in 84 multi-use trails.