Hotels Reservations

Erie, Pennsylvania offers vacation memories guaranteed to last a lifetime, because the best things in life are here. A truly diverse city, Erie boasts a wealth of natural beauty, fascinating history, active cultural and arts scenes, diverse ethnic heritage groups and first-rate sports teams. The cultural and entertainment options you'd expect from a big city, plus the friendliness and leisurely pace of a smaller town. Enjoy Broadway shows, classical ballet and lively comedies, or take a stroll along the beach and enjoy world class sunsets. Check out the Erie Webcam!


Woven throughout Erie's character is its status as Pennsylvania's only port on the Great Lakes. While here, discover the city's history as a shipbuilding center starting during the War of 1812, and explore the lore of the Battle of Lake Erie and the reconstructed U.S. Brig "Niagara" at the Erie Maritime Museum on the Lake Erie waterfront.

On a warm summer day, a trip to Presque Isle State Park can seem like a day at the ocean, with children jumping about in the waves as adults soak up some rays on the sandy beaches. The choices at Presque Isle are numerous - sail, fish or ski on the water; jog, bike or skate through the scenic park; take a scenic boat tour; have a family picnic, or do some bird watching.

Outside the city, take a drive through wooded hills, farms and vineyards. Cross the covered bridges of Erie County, or stop at quaint small towns with a sense of history.

Whether you're here for the beach, ballet or baseball, we're sure you'll find the region simply Eriesistible!

Bayfront District

The Bayfront Parkway off I-79 offers easy access to Erie's scenic Bayfront District where an abundance of unique shops, restaurants and points of interest are set against the stunning backdrop of Presque Isle Bay.

The Erie Maritime Museum is home port to the U.S. Brig Niagara, the Official Flagship of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. In commemoration of the 175th anniversary of the Battle of Lake Erie, the reconstructed Niagara was launched in 1989 to serve as a floating museum and ambassador for Pennsylvania. The ship maintains an active schedule year-round as an educational source for area students as well as a site of interpretive tours.

The Erie Maritime Museum, developed by the Pennsylvania Historic & Museum Commission, features exhibits that vividly illustrate the dramatic story of the Battle of Lake Erie and American's often forgotten War of 1812. Through interactive interpretation, hands-on learning, and a realistic mock-up of one of the battle's historic vessels, the bayfront museum details the events of September 10, 1813, when Oliver Hazard Perry commanded the U.S.Brig Niagara during the second and crucial phase of the historic naval victory over a British squadron. Historical artifacts, photographs, and striking video footage illustrate the larger stories of square-rigged wooden ships, the reconstruction and sailing of today's Niagara, Pennsylvania's Official Tall Ship.

Other exhibits include a dramatic full-scale reconstruction of the side of the Lawrence – Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry's original flagship – that offers the effects of cannon fire with video footage and the prow of the U.S.S. Wolverine, the first iron-hulled steamship ever built. Talks and tours about Erie's role in the Underground Railroad movement are an added attraction (from June-Sept). The Shipwright Shop in the museum's lobby offers unique gifts with a nautical theme.
For more information concerning the Museum or Niagara or our special events call 814-452-2744 or visit The Niagara Website.

The Bayview Commons complex, with the third-largest library in Pennsylvania – the Raymond M. Blasco, M.D., Memorial Library – as well as the Erie Maritime Museum, acts as a cornerstone to the Bayfront's renaissance.

A short walk west to State Street is Moorings at Wolverine Park. The ample transient boating facility, offering boater's dockage for up to two weeks, is the new hot spot for Great Lakes leisure boaters and fishermen.

Just north on State Street is Dobbins Landing, featuring Erie's Bicentennial Tower. Constructed in 1995 to commemorate Erie's 200th birthday, this 187-foot tower features two observation decks offering breath-taking views of downtown Erie and Presque Isle Bay. Souvenirs and snacks are available at the base.

A visit to Dobbins Landing would not be complete without stopping by the Bayfront Gallery. This Erie Artists' co-op features locally produced works of art, antiques and maritime artifacts.

Water-taxis connect the Bayfront District to Presque Isle State Park with scheduled stops at Dobbins Landing, Liberty Park and Waterworks on Presque Isle. The taxis are handicap- and bike-accessible. The majestic stern wheel paddleboat, Victorian Princess, offers sightseeing, dinner cruises and catered meals. Cruise the calm waters of the bay aboard the Momentum, a Friendship Sloop. Enjoy outdoor concerts, festivals and live performances at Liberty Park featuring the Pepsi Amphitheater with open air seating for 5,000. When it's time to relax, bayfront restaurants offer the perfect water's edge atmosphere.

The Chestnut Street Pump Station on the Bayfront Parkway, renovated in 2002, showcases the illuminated Big Bertha, a 4-story steam engine that pumped 20,000,000 gallons of water per day from 1912 to 1951. Big Bertha was cited a Pennsylvania Historical Mechanical Engineering Landmark in 1981.

Two new bike paths will connect the entire Bayfront Parkway from Lake Erie Arboretum at Frontier Park (LEAF) on Erie's west side to Holland Street, the Port Access Road and the new South Pier recreation area by the Presque Isle Channel on the east side.

The Intermodal Transportation Hub and Cruise Ship and Ferry Boat Terminal on the Holland Street Pier are the latest Bayfront additions that keep things hopping on the bayfront. A new bayfront hotel and convention center with additional retail space is planned in the future.

Presque Isle State Park - Hotels near Presque Isle

Four million visitors are drawn every year to Presque Isle State Park's beaches, natural beauty and bountiful recreational opportunities. Most of these visitors come to the park for swimming and sunbathing at its seven miles of guarded, sandy beaches, which have earned the park a place in the nation's "Top 100 Swimming Holes" listed by Condé Nast Traveler magazine. But almost a million visitors per year come to Presque Isle to do other things at all times of the year, and you'll be surprised at how much solitary, open space can be found in the park's extensive wilderness areas and on its 21 miles of recreational and hiking trails.

Since about three-quarters of the people who come to Presque Isle do so to swim and sunbathe, however, the best first stop is naturally the beach. All of the park's beaches are ideally suited to families with small children, but family facilities are perhaps best at Beaches 1, 6, 7 and 11, where the water is fairly shallow and visitors will find plenty of parking, picnic tables, grills and sanitary/changing facilities. Those wanting a more rugged experience may wish to visit Beach 9 or Budny Beach on the park's north shore, where the beaches are wider and the surf is deeper, and where visitors have plenty of room to play volleyball, fly kites, launch windsurfers, scuba dive, have a picnic, take a long walk on the beach and, of course, swim. Presque Isle's beaches are open from Memorial Day through Labor Day, and see their heaviest use from late June through August.

If you like water sports and fishing you've come to the right place. Presque Isle Bay and the park's many ponds, bays and piers attract anglers for bass, walleye, northern pike and crappie. The more adventurous can set sail for Lake Erie, where they'll find some of the best game fishing on the lower Great Lakes. Four launching areas are available in the park for both non-powered and registered powered craft. If you don't have a boat but still wish to take to the water, a variety of powered and non-powered craft are available from a rental concession on the park's southeast shore. Powered craft are not permitted in the park's numerous ponds and internal lagoons, but you'll find that those delicate ecosystems are best experienced from the ease and quiet of a canoe anyway.

Anglers and tourists alike are drawn to Misery Bay on the park's south shore, where the Perry Monument serves as an important scenic and historic backdrop. Misery Bay is named after the hardships endured by the men of Perry's naval squadron, who wintered here 1813-1814 after the crucial Battle of Lake Erie in September 1813. Crew who died during that severe winter were interred through holes in the ice of adjacent Graveyard Pond, which visible to the north from the Misery Bay Bridge.

Misery bay is a great place to drop off any hikers in your party. Look for the head of the Sidewalk Trail and arrange to meet them in 40–50 minutes at Lighthouse Beach. This trail treats hikers to an easy 1.25-mile walk through an environmentally sensitive wetland on a concrete-surfaced trail that skirts Ridge Pond, a beach or sandpit pond created by a former shoreline and which once lay very close to the lake. Visitors to this area will experience one of the best-preserved and most extensive wetlands in Pennsylvania. Rendezvous at the Presque Isle Lighthouse, built in 1872, where you can also get a good close look at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers breakwater project, designed to protect Presque Isle's sensitive environment from erosion.

The more energetic visitor to Presque Isle should consider trekking the paved Multipurpose National Recreational Trail, a 10-mile long paved surface that is popular with bicyclists, in-line skaters, joggers and walkers of all speeds and styles. This trail, which conforms to Americans with Disabilities Act accessibility standards, encompasses the entire park and affords splendid views of Presque Isle Bay, Lake Erie and the park's dazzingly diverse ecological zones.

Many different species of plants and wildlife inhabit these ecological zones, which range from shoreline to sub-climax forest systems. Presque Isle's location along the Atlantic Flyway and its ecological diversity support over 320 recorded species of migrating and indigenous birds, many of which are listed as species of special concern, making the park a bird watcher's paradise. Informative displays and programs detailing these and other natural wonders can be seen at the Stull Interpretive Center, a facility operated by the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (call 814-833-0351 for more information). Also located in this facility is The Nature Shop, which offers books, artwork, field guides and other nature-related items for sale and whose proceeds benefit Presque Isle State Park.

The fun activities at Presque Isle don't stop at summer's end. The park is very popular with winter visitors, who frequent the park for ice fishing, ice boating and ice skating. Part of the Multipurpose Trail is plowed throughout the winter for hikers, and another part is left unplowed for cross-country skiers. The winter months also provide an opportunity to see the lakeshore's impressive ice dunes, formed by lake ice, wave surge and freezing spray.

If you're just passing through or otherwise making a short visit to Erie, Presque Isle is also nicely viewed from your car window. For locals and other frequent visitors, car jaunts to Presque Isle are a way of life, starting in childhood with fishing trips and family picnics on the beach and continuing through life to trips with the grandchildren. Presque Isle enthusiasts have been doing it this way since the first paved road was laid through the park back in 1924.

Arts & Entertainment

An exciting new plan for enhancing Erie's mid-town entertainment district was proposed in 2002. The ambitious proposal will build upon the area's thriving performing arts offerings, cultural venues, its vibrant nightlife, and several trendy restaurants.

The Performing Arts

Theater lovers can take advantage of Erie's first-rate arts scene. The elegant Warner Theater, originally commissioned by the Warner Brothers of Hollywood fame, is a majestic example of art decco architecture. This striking theater is home to the celebrated Erie Philharmonic -- the third-oldest symphony orchestra in the United Stated -- and the Erie Civic Music Association. The Philharmonic hosts a Pops series and classical productions that regularly draw major guest artists from around the world.

The Erie Broadway Series consistently attracts exciting New York shows and musicals. The Lake Erie Ballet Company also appears at the Warner, staging both classical and world premiere offerings.

The Erie Playhouse, recognized as one of the ten best community theaters in the country, offers a delightful mix of comedies, musicals, and dramas as well as several Youtheatre productions performed whith the younger set in mind. If off-Broadway is more your style, the Roadhouse Theater for Contemporary Art and the Director's Circle Theater have drown loyal local audiences by presenting intense, offbeat dramas and raucous comedies.

Dance, theater, music, and the visual arts also thrive at Erie's four area colleges and universities. The Mercyhurst College arts complex includes the 825-seat state-of-the-art Mary D'Angelo Performing Arts Center as well as the Cummings Art Gallery. Gannon University is home to both the Schuster Theater and the Erie Chamber Orchestra, which presents free monthly concerts. Lecture, music, and performance programs, often featuring mationally known celebrities, are also offered at Penn State Erie's Reed Hall and at Edinboro University's Memorial Auditorium.

Cultural Attractions

Erie has many well-supported cultural attractions of interest to visitors. A good place to start is State Street, where the Erie Art Museum, the Erie County History Center, and expERIEnce Children's Museum can all be found within the same historic block.

The Erie Art Museum, housed in the Old Customs House, an 1839 Greek Revival building listed on the National Register of Historic Places, offers year-round programming including exhibits by national and regional artists, tours, classes, workshops, concerts, and children's programs. Museum collections encompass more than 4000 objects including American ceramics, Japanese prints, and Chinese porcelains.

Right next door, the Erie County History Center occupies an 1840 commercial building and the 1839 Cashiers House, and is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places. As managed by the Erie County Historical Society & Museums, the center's "Voices from Erie County History" exhibit takes a look at Erie County's rich heritage from the days of pre-settlement to the turn of the 21st century.

Just around the corner sits the expERIEnce Children's Museum chocked full of hands-on "please touch" exhibits revealing the wonders of science, art, health, environment and nature. The stunning Watson-Curtze Mansion, located in the West Sixth Street Historical District and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is a wonderful example of craftmanship seen in the stained glass windows, friezes, stone/marble work and woodwork of West Sixth Street Millionaire's Row homes. The Erie Planetarium, located in the mansion's carriage house, offers a variety of science experiments and astronomy programs throughout the year.

Visitors to the region should also include a stop at the Erie Firefighters, found at 428 Chesnut Street. Open weekends, the museum is housed in the old #4 Erie Firehouse built in 1903. Its two floors contains more than 1300 items of fire department memorabilia. Call 814-456-5969 for hours or more information.

The Marx Toy Museum, 50 Bloomfield Parkway, is home to Marx Toy Exhibits spanning the company's 50 years of manufacturing. Exhibits include collections, original photos, prototype drawings, a train exhibit and a gift shop. Call 814-825-6500 for hours and admission. Several art galleries sprinkle troughout the county display and sell the works of regional artists in all media. The galleries periodically coordinate tours among themselves, inviting the public to these special events.

Nightlife

When it comes to nightlife, no matter what your pleasure, Erie has a venue you can enjoy. More and more restaurants are giving customers the option of diniing "al fresco" during the summer months, from Rum Runners, located on East Dobbins Landing, to the patio at the Plymouth Tavern on State Street. Matthew's Trattoria & Martini Lounge, tucked in among the newly refurbished loft apartments of Lovelle Place, has a lovely brick courtyard for summer diners, and the recent multi-million dollar renovation of the Waterfront Seafood and Steak House means patrons can enjoy casual dining under the stars. Smuggler's Wharf, laden with baskets of flowers and bedecked in twinkle lights, makes for another ideal outdoor waterfront dining experience. All of these restaurants are open year round, and know how to create intimate dining experiences through the seasons.

If you're looking for live entertainment during dinner, one of the best places to consider is Paper Moon at 14th and State Streets. Billing itself as "an illuminating experience in the arts and international cuisine," the restaurant features a new display of the work of local artists every two months. Entertainment during your meal can bring anything from a dance trio to a classical pianist to Latin jazz acoustical guitars.

After dinner walk accross the street to JR's Last Laugh Comedy Club and Restaurant where you're just as likely to catch a national as well as an up and coming comedian from the region. If you're still up for more fun, cross the square after the show and go to the Metropolitan Dance Club. With its modern-style bar, raised stage areas and elaborate light shows, the club plays everything from hip-hop to techno. Those in the mood for live bands will find no shortage in Erie. Among the highlights to consider: Sherlock's, 508 State Street, had long prided itself on showcasing local talent, and the State Street Tavern and the Docksider, both located on State Street, rotate its nightly entertainment between live bands and karaoke.

Family Entertainment

Sports fans will find plenty to cheer about in Erie, home to both the Erie Otters Hockey and the Erie Seawolves Baseball Teams. The Otters hit the ice in front of large crowds at the Louis J. Tullio Arena, demonstrating why the Ontario Hockey League is just one step away from the NHL. The Erie SeaWolves are a minor league baseball team with a major-league following. The impressive Jerry Uht Ballpark in the heart of downtown Erie hosts the team's Aril through September season, which has consistently broken attendance records. Erie graduated from single A to AA baseball in 1999 with the expansion of the Eastern League. Erie is now a farm team of the Detroit Tigers.

Take a walk on the wild side at the Erie Zoo & Botanical Gardens. This 15-acre park features more than 500 animals, including Bengal Tigers, African rhinoceros, polar bears, an African wild bird exhibit and river otters. The zoo recently opened the Wild Asia exhibit, which featured orangutangs, Asian deer, siamangs, and a collection of asian reptiles. Visitor's can also leisurely take a ride around the zoo on the Safariland train or go for a spin on the carousel. Special events are held throughout the year, including ZooBoo, the area's largest family Halloween event.

On your way into Presque Isle State Park, you can't miss Waldameer Park & Water World, one of the country's best waterparks. The kids are sure to love a day at this family amusement park right on the shores of Lake Erie.Free entry to the midway and free parking makes the century old park even more enticing. The park also offers free fireworks on major holidays.

Dive into excitement of Splash Lagoon Indoor Water Park Resort. The South Sea Island atmospheare offers seven twisting and turning slides, a 1000-gallon Tiki tipping bucket. Million Dollar Tree House with 12 activity levels and more! Reservations are required for resort packages.

Experience "Heart Pounding Excitement" at Lake Erie Speedway, PA's newest NASCAR sanctioned track. Opened in 2002, this state-of-the-art 3/8 mile paved oval joins nearly 80 tracks nationwide in NASCAR's weekly program. In addition to its regular racing events, LES will host two NASCAR Touring Events, and an ARCA ReMax and ASA event.

There's a little something for everyone at Family First Fun Center and Gold Dome. Play a round of miniature golf, splash around on the bumper boats, try your hand at rock climbing, rev up on the go-cart track, test your skill in the batting cages or perfect your golf swing in the new indoor driving range.