Winter in Pennsylvania

Love playing with the kids in the snow but don’t necessarily need a massive alpine ski resort to challenge your skills and cramp your budget? How about a vacation of winter fun in Pennsylvania, where the activities are accessible and varied enough to suit everyone in your family? Here are seven of our favorite winter activities in the Keystone State — and where to find them:

• Nemacolin Woodlands Resort in Farmington: Got Iditarod fever? Learn the ropes with a professional musher and a team of Alaskan huskies, who will whisk you over the snowy landscape of the scenic Laurel Highlands. There’s also a Kidz Klub with supervised activities for children aged 4 to 15 and a Little Tykes program for babies as young as 6 weeks old.
• Presque Isle State Park in Erie: Think water sports are just for summer? In Presque Isle, you can try ice boating or ice fishing on frozen Lake Erie, surrounded by Instagram-worthy scenery.

Ice Boating, Visit Erie © Tierney/PA Tourism Office

• Skirmish Paintball in Albrightsville: Don your protective gear and head out to the more than 50 paintball maps spanning more than 700 acres of prime Pocono Mountain real estate. Skirmish Paintball is open year-round for paintball enthusiasts looking to roll, run and tumble through castles, forests and cargo containers.
• Galactic Snow Tubing at Camelback Mountain Resort in Tannersville: Already known as the biggest snow tubing park in the United States, Camelback’s Galactic Snow Tubing features an LED light show as you speed down to race your friends. Camelback is also home to the 4,500-foot steel track, Appalachian Express Coaster, which zooms through the trees and slopes of the resort.

Dog Sledding at Nemacolin © Tierney/PA Tourism Office

• Snowmobiling in the Allegheny National Forest in Forest, Elk, Warren and McKean counties: With 365 miles of trails, your hardest task will be to choose where to go in the Keystone State’s only national forest.
• Ice Skating at Skytop Lodge in Skytop: Skate like they used to do in days of yore on Skytop Lodge’s skating rink on the frozen lake. Save some time for other winter sports, like cross-country skiing, snow tubing, snowshoeing and tobogganing.
• Snowcat Rides at Seven Springs Mountain Resort in Seven Springs: Hop aboard one of the resort’s snowcat groomers for a night or early morning ride in the snowy mountains. Visitors can also take guided snowshoe and snowmobile tours through the resort’s winter landscape.

Snowmobiling, Visit ANF © Tierney/PA Tourism Office