Every few months I find myself writing about the popular Pennsylvania amusement park—-Hersheypark. Can you really blame me? (I’m talking specifically to all you chocoholics out there.) The sweet smelling town is home to the world’s largest chocolate factory and features streets named “Chocolate” and “Cocoa,” even the street lamps are shaped like Hershey’s Kisses.
The park is one of my family’s favorite vacation destinations. But, we aren’t alone. This year the park is expecting a record 6 million-plus visitors as it celebrates the 100th anniversary of both Hersheypark and one of its signature products, the Hershey’s Kiss.
For those of you who have never visited Hershey, Pennsylvania (a.k.a. “The Sweetest Place on Earth”) the chocolate factory still dominates the town and continues to churn out millions of chocolate bars a week. However, don’t get your hopes up to see the process unfold in person. Officials no longer allow visitors to see the factory’s massive chocolate vats up close. The tours of the factory ceased in 1973 when visitors topped the million mark and things just started getting out of hand. To satisfy tourists, the chocolate company built Hershey’s Chocolate World.
Chocolate World is home to a fabulous tour of a faux Hershey factory (yes, free chocolate is involved) complete with a 3-D show, a Kit Kat-themed cafe and a huge candy and confections store that sells the most unique chocolate creations you’ve ever laid your eyes on. This year Chocolate World got a sophisticated addition for true chocoholics—an hour-long chocolate tasting tour. Visitors get a chance to learn the difference between cacao beans from Santo Domingo and from Java.
The tantalizing treat also comes with the option of boarding the Hershey Trolley Works tour, a 75-minute voyage back in time that gives a retrospective of everything from Milton Hershey’s boyhood home to the mansion he built across from his factory. New to the trolley tour is a stop at the Milton Hershey School, a haven for orphans and other children in social and financial need that Hershey and his wife founded in 1909.
After a full day of touring (and throwing back a few chocolate shakes) head to The Hotel Hershey, which offers luxurious accommodations, including its world-renown Chocolate Spa. It opened in 2001 and is famed for a line of chocolate wraps, chocolate sugar scrubs, cocoa massages, and other chocolate-based treatments, including a new chocolate facial, and a chocolate manicure using Hershey-themed nail polish.
If you are looking for a sweet place to spend your summer vacation Hershey, Pennsylvania is a good place to start.
For more information on Hershey travel packages click here.
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