The Best Hotels to Book in and Around Bedford, Pennsylvania

What was once a humble inn close to curative springs used by Native Americans is now a National Historic Landmark featuring an enormous spa, golf course and pool-dappled resort in southern Pennsylvania’s Allegheny Mountains. You’ll begin each day well-fed on waffles, bacon and fresh fruit, before moving on to the main course: the Great Outdoors (hikers run rampant around these parts) and, when the sun sets over the hills, retire to your homey room that’s dressed in soft greens and whites.

History nerds will love this hotel: not only is it just five minutes from the shops and restaurants of downtown Bedford, but it’s on the doorstep of the 18th-century Old Bedford Village open-air museum, where Civil War reenactments take place. More interested in the surrounding nature? Opt for a mountain view room, which comes with thick forest views through floor-to-ceiling windows. No matter your slant, you’ll look forward to getting the day started on the fresh coffee, pastries and fruit served at breakfast.

The rooms at this simply decorated, beige-fronted motel five minutes’ drive from downtown Bedford surprise traveling guests with matching silky chocolate and lime-green fabrics and oversized black-and-white photographs of US cityscapes. It’s a grab-and-go breakfast with cereal, toast and coffee in the wooden-floored dining space. Make sure you take time out for some sights, with Old Bedford Village a five-minute drive away.

Whether you’re here on business or on vacation, this well-placed stop-off on Bedford’s Business Route 220 means you won’t miss the annual Bedford Fall Foliage Festival each October. Stock up on early Christmas presents among the handmade arts, crafts and seasonal fare accompanied by toe-tapping tunes from the live bands. Nature may have inspired the rooms, decked out with green striped sofas and coordinating bed throws and carpets. Enjoy a dip in the outdoor pool before an invigorating cup of coffee and sticky pastry.

If you prefer period features and history, this Italianate Victorian Bedford B&B built in 1875 charms with its red-brick front, sweet green shutters and wrap-around verandas. Families will love the Dogwood room with a mahogany four-poster queen bed and extra bed, while the Victoriana-clad dining room table is set with fresh fruit salad, breads and cakes each morning. For more period interiors, it’s a one-block walk to admire the beautifully woven bed covers at the National Museum of the American Coverlet.

Traditionally, this restored 18th-century inn has served as a backcountry bolthole for loved-up couples. Today, though, expect whiskey fans to crash your canoodling, as it appears on the Pennsylvania Whiskey Rebellion Trail (there’s a whiskey bar upstairs). More of a wine lover? You’re less than a minute’s walk from Briar Valley Vineyard & Winery. Polished wooden floors, cutesy antiques, prettily papered walls and fireplaces retain bags of charm, while a breakfast of fresh juices, seasonal fruits and savory and sweet dishes beneath sparkling chandeliers keeps the romance stoked.

Country-style comfort and hearty breakfasts in hickory slat-back chairs by the fire keep guests coming to this rustic stone inn on the Lincoln Highway. Lace-fringed four-poster beds, pretty quilts and flowers in rooms charm as much as the well-tended herb garden and goat paddock, a winner with families with young children. Soak up the peace on the upper balconies where you can cosy up with a book, socialize in the tavern – which dates back to 1762 – with a cider in hand or make easy journeys to Bedford’s historic sights.

If period charm in the form of floral bedspreads, velvet headboards and dark wood detail are your thing, you’ll love this turn-of-the-century residence. Deep red tablecloths top circular breakfast tables that are in turn topped with syrup-drenched waffles and pancakes. Just one block back from the ribbon of river that snakes through Bedford, it’s an easy five-block walk to the Fort Bedford Museum detailing the history of the British-built fort during the mid-18th-century French and Indian War.