As a wise woman once said, “Vacation, all I’ve ever wanted. Vacation, had to get away” — travel is one of the things that makes life worth living. But what if you’re on a tight budget, have pressing childcare needs or work obligations, or simply don’t want to bother with long drives or airport security?
For longtime city residents or new transplants, it can be easy to forget that Southwestern Pennsylvania isn’t just Pittsburgh and trees. There’s a whole world out there — beyond Ohiopyle and the admittedly spectacular Fallingwater.
Our leafy region is dotted with vibrant towns, remarkable cultural institutions, and comeback stories for regions once depleted by the slow death of old industry. These rugged hills hide breweries, museums, sports teams, parks, restaurants, and much more if you know where to look. And, despite the red politics of rural Pa., there are also friendly locals and funky hideaways throughout our fair commonwealth where Pittsburghers can expect a warm welcome.
Pittsburgh City Paper compiled a list of often overlooked places within a two-hour drive where locals can spend a weekend relaxing, exploring, and maybe learning about our region’s long and complex history.
The Butler did it
Just up Pa. Route 8 from Pittsburgh is the picturesque town of Butler, birthplace of the Jeep. While the city made headlines last year for less-than-pleasant reasons, Butler has more going for it. For starters, Butler is yet another Pennsylvania city that’s benefited from the construction of rail trails. The Butler Freeport Community Trail, at around 20 miles long, heads gently uphill into the city, making Butler a good anchor point for an out-and-back bike ride.
There’s also the cute and largely intact downtown, with several food and drink options including the quirky Chop Shop and charming Vintage Coffeehouse. Perhaps the biggest highlight, especially for tabletop gamers, is Your Parent’s Basement, a gaming club housed in an old bank building that makes clever use of the site’s former vault and boardroom.
Rounding out a good Butler overnight is a stop at the Maridon Museum, a collection of East Asian art that combines fascinating historical pieces with the maximalism of 19th-century jade carvings and Meissen porcelain in a stately, well-maintained building. If you biked into town, you can then reward yourself with an easy downhill ride back along Buffalo Creek toward Freeport.
Greensburg getaway
Greensburg is another self-contained city centered on a beautiful courthouse — its downtown is full of lovely 19th-century architecture, and, in recent years, has seen something of a gastronomical boom.
Anchoring downtown Greensburg are the Palace Theater, an ornate building that frequently hosts legacy national acts (the Wallflowers are coming in July) and regional cover bands. The Westmoreland Museum of American Art is a regional gem, combining forward-thinking programming, rotating contemporary exhibitions, and salon-style displays of 19th-century artwork.
Downtown Greensburg features three brewery taprooms (Stonebridge, Yellow Bridge, and Invisible Man) and a distillery (Tall Pines) within several blocks, plus global cuisine, coffee, and the Trendy Bunny, a “play café” designed for kids. Farther out is more food and drink, plus the splendid Laurel Highlands and other communities including Latrobe and Ligonier. Greensburg is a testament to the ways arts and culture have helped regional centers evolve while continuing to serve the local population.
Flooded with memories
Johnstown’s biggest claim to fame is undoubtedly the 1889 flood that ravaged the then-booming city. Much like Pittsburgh, it sits at the confluence of multiple waterways — in this case, the Little Conemaugh and Stonycreek rivers — and has a park at the point. It even boasts an incline scheduled to reopen this year after extensive repairs. (Fun fact: Johnstown was originally called “Schanzstadt” and was an early hub of German immigration.)
While the city’s flood museum is, ironically, temporarily closed “due to damage sustained during a water leak,” a short drive east takes you to a National Memorial.
Seen through the lens of the flood and the city’s precipitous population decline, Johnstown could be perceived as a place exploited and then abandoned by the region’s titans of industry. However, Johnstown is also a regional center of education, culture, and the arts. Consider the presence of the University of Pittsburgh’s Johnstown satellite campus, and the Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art, which boasts four locations in the area and, like the Westmoreland in Greensburg, free admission. Johnstown is also home to tasty food and the country’s oldest record store. Taken together, this mini-’Burgh will be especially worth a day trip or more once the Johnstown Flood Museum and incline reopen.
Morning in Morgantown
There are plenty of West Virginia University Mountaineers in Pittsburgh already familiar with the northern West Virginia city as a regional hub of food, culture, and sports — even outside of WVU’s robust athletic programming, Morgantown is home to a collegiate summer baseball team, the West Virginia Black Bears, who play in nearby Granville.
Morgantown may also have America’s goofiest transit system, Morgantown Personal Rapid Transit. This people mover-style train uses small cars to ferry students and staff through the city and among WVU facilities (although PRT hours are limited, and non-WVU people must pay $.50 to ride).
Morgantown has all the trappings of a university city, with bars, coffeehouses, and a wide range of food options. Beyond the city, West Virginia is also brimming with natural riches. Morgantown lends itself well to a trip heavy on hiking, biking, and rock climbing, but can also stand on its own as a day trip or overnight, especially if you’re keen on NCAA action.
Oil Region recharge
Less than two hours north of Pittsburgh lies the Oil Region National Heritage Area, the birthplace of the modern oil industry. Centered on the small cities of Franklin, Oil City, and Titusville, the region was once a denuded landscape of mud, derricks, and hastily constructed boom towns, but it has since quieted into a peaceful destination for outdoor recreation and antiquing.
The Drake Well Museum and Park near Titusville offers a glimpse at the Oil Region of a bygone age, and the spectacularly repurposed Titusville Iron Works is a look at the region’s future. Oil City offers the Venango Museum of Art, Science, and Industry, as well as multiple cozy commercial districts. In delightful Franklin, easily one of Western Pa.’s cutest smaller cities, there’s Trails to Ales Brewery and lots of shops to explore, plus the DeBence Antique Music World’s collection of music boxes and automata.
Surrounding all of this is lush forest that has mostly rebounded from centuries of logging and drilling. Parks dot the region, and trails crisscross areas where towns like Pithole City once stood. Like other destinations on this list, the Oil Region is a place where you feel like you’re standing with one foot in Pennsylvania’s past and the other in its future — a future hopefully less defined by abuse of nature.
The other Washington
It’s only 40 minutes from Pittsburgh to Washington — Washington, Pa., that is. This college town of 13,000 offers plenty for day-trippers and overnighters, including a decent selection of food and drink, and close proximity to other quaint locales, including Canonsburg.
Washington offers two standout amenities — the first is the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum, which not only showcases our late, great transit systems (R.I.P., Pittsburgh Railways) but gives visitors the chance to ride old streetcars in a loop around the grounds. That’s about as Mister Rogers as it gets, folks.
The second is Washington’s independent baseball team, the Wild Things. Unlike the Pirates, the Wild Things currently boast a winning record within the Frontier League, and, compared to PNC Park, the intimate EQT Park is cheaper, easier to park at, and full of the irreverence and family-friendliness only minor-league ball can offer.
Whatever your activity of choice, Western Pa. has it. Keeping your tourism local keeps your dollars here, which in turn helps the commonwealth reinvest in parks and places rebounding from economic decline. Next time you want to escape, consider looking locally — you might find your new favorite getaway just beyond the backyard fence.
This article appears in Jul 2-8, 2025.
