Winter Weekend Getaways in Ohiopyle, PA

YOUR WEEKEND STARTS HERE

Closer Than You Think

From Your Week to Your Weekend

One of the best things about an Ohiopyle weekend is that you don’t have to spend half of it getting here.

Ohiopyle is about an hour and a half from Pittsburgh and roughly an hour from Morgantown, making it an easy Friday escape for travelers throughout southwestern Pennsylvania and northern West Virginia.

Pick up the kids after school. Load the dog into the car. Throw the weekend bags in the back and head for the mountains.

If you’re coming from Pittsburgh, you can leave the city behind and be settling into your OVR vacation rental that evening.

Even from a little farther away, Ohiopyle works surprisingly well for a long weekend. Cleveland is roughly three and a quarter hours away, while the Washington, DC/Baltimore region is around three and a half hours by car.

That’s close enough to get away without turning the trip there into the vacation itself.

FRIDAY EVENING

Arrive, Settle In & Slow Down

You’ve made it to Ohiopyle. Now the weekend can begin.

Check into your Ohiopyle Vacation Rentals property, unpack and settle in. This isn’t the night for a packed schedule. It’s the night to start slowing down.

Choose a cabin in the mountains, find a rental with a fireplace or make a hot tub part of your winter weekend.

Cook dinner or pick something up on the way. Change into comfortable clothes. Break out the cards or a board game. Put on a movie. Pour your favorite drink and enjoy the fact that tomorrow morning doesn’t have to start with an alarm clock.

If your vacation rental has a fire pit, bundle up and spend some time around the fire under the winter sky.

If the dog came along, take one last walk outside before everyone settles in for the night.

There will be plenty of time to explore Ohiopyle tomorrow.

For now, enjoy having nowhere else you need to be.

Tonight, the rental is part of the getaway.

SATURDAY MORNING

Wake Up in Ohiopyle

There’s something different about waking up in the mountains when you don’t have anywhere you have to be.

Make breakfast. Pour some coffee or hot chocolate. Look outside and see what kind of winter morning Ohiopyle has given you.

Then head out.

Start with Ohiopyle Falls, take a winter walk, explore part of the Great Allegheny Passage or simply see where the morning leads.

If temperatures have been cold enough, waterfalls and streams can become dramatic displays of snow and ice. Cucumber Falls is particularly striking in winter and gives photographers another reason to bring the camera.

When snow conditions cooperate, there are even more possibilities. Spend the morning cross-country skiing, snowshoeing or sledding, or simply pull on a good pair of winter boots and explore on foot.

Winter doesn’t ask you to hurry.

Take your time. Stop for the view. Take the picture. Let the kids play in the snow. Let the dog investigate every interesting smell along the trail.

SATURDAY AFTERNOON

Choose Your Own Winter Adventure

By Saturday afternoon, the weekend can go in almost any direction. Keep exploring Ohiopyle, head out for a bigger winter adventure or decide that the fireplace back at your rental is calling your name.

Stay Local

You don’t have to leave Ohiopyle to fill a winter afternoon. Explore more of Ohiopyle State Park, take another hike, visit the waterfalls or spend some time around town. If conditions are right, head toward the higher elevations around Sugarloaf for even more winter scenery. For more ideas, visit our guide to Winter in Ohiopyle.

Hit the Slopes

If skiing or snowboarding is part of your perfect winter weekend, Ohiopyle makes a convenient home base for exploring the surrounding mountains. Seven Springs Mountain Resort and Hidden Valley Resort offer skiing and snowboarding within the Laurel Highlands, while Wisp Resort provides another option across the state line in Maryland. Spend the day on the mountain, then come back to Ohiopyle for the evening.

Go Tubing

You don’t need skis to have fun in the snow. Snow tubing and sledding can turn a winter afternoon into one of those simple experiences everyone remembers—especially when you’re traveling with kids. If you’d rather find your own hill, snow tube rentals are available in Ohiopyle, making it easy to add some winter fun to the weekend.

Explore the Laurel Highlands

Winter is also a good excuse to slow down and explore more of the surrounding Laurel Highlands. Take a scenic drive through the mountains, explore nearby communities or plan a visit to Fallingwater. You don’t have to travel far from Ohiopyle to make the afternoon feel like an adventure.

Take It Easy

Of course, there’s another perfectly acceptable option.

You’re on vacation.

Go back to the rental.

Take a nap. Read a book. Get in the hot tub. Sit by the fireplace.

Make some hot chocolate and watch the snow.

There is nothing on the itinerary that says you have to go back out.

SATURDAY EVENING

Come Home to OVR

After a day outside, open the door and step back into the warmth.

Hang up the coats. Kick off the boots. Change into something comfortable.

Make dinner together, break out the cards or board games, put on a movie or settle in with a good book. If your rental has a fireplace, light the fire. If you chose a vacation rental with a hot tub, a cold winter evening is a pretty good time to use it.

If your rental has a fire pit and the weather cooperates, bundle up and spend part of the evening outside under the winter sky.

For families, it can be an evening when everyone is actually in the same room together. For friends, it’s time to catch up without somewhere else to be. For couples, it’s a quiet night away from the usual routine.

And if the dog spent the day exploring Ohiopyle with you, there’s a good chance they’ve already found the best place in the house for a nap.

SUNDAY MORNING

One More Ohiopyle Moment

Sunday morning doesn’t have to mean rushing to pack the car and head home.

Make breakfast. Have another cup of coffee or hot chocolate. Enjoy a little more time together before deciding how you want to spend the last part of the weekend.

Maybe you stop by Ohiopyle Falls one more time, take a short winter hike or walk through town before leaving.

Maybe the dog needs one last walk. Maybe you find somewhere for breakfast or brunch. Maybe you take the scenic route home.

Or maybe you stay right where you are for a little longer.

There’s no prize for squeezing one more activity into the weekend.

MAKE IT A LONG WEEKEND

Sometimes the Perfect Weekend Comes with an Extra Day

The winter calendar gives you several opportunities to turn a quick getaway into a three- or four-day escape to Ohiopyle.

Martin Luther King Jr. Weekend

The January holiday weekend is a natural time to escape to the Laurel Highlands. Use the extra day for winter hiking, skiing, snowshoeing or exploring—or simply give yourself another morning to sleep in, make breakfast and enjoy the rental before heading home.

Valentine’s Day

Skip the usual Valentine’s routine and make a weekend of it. Find a cozy cabin, choose a rental with a fireplace or hot tub, explore Ohiopyle during the day and come home to a quiet evening together. No crowded restaurant required. Sometimes a cabin in the mountains, a hot tub in the snow and an entire weekend together sounds a lot better.

Presidents Day Weekend

Another three-day weekend means another opportunity for a midwinter escape. February can bring opportunities for skiing, tubing and snow-covered scenery, while the extra night gives you more flexibility to let the weather—and your mood—determine what you do each day.

Thanksgiving, Christmas & New Year’s

The beginning of the winter season brings plenty of reasons to get away, too. If your weekend falls around Thanksgiving, Christmas or New Year’s, our Holidays in Ohiopyle guide has seasonal ideas, events and information to help you make more of your holiday stay. And you don’t necessarily need a holiday on the calendar. Sometimes taking Friday or Monday off is all it takes to turn an ordinary winter weekend into a getaway that actually feels like one.

START PLANNING

Your Winter Weekend Starts Here

Snow-covered forests. Frozen waterfalls. Quiet trails. Hot chocolate by the fire. Hot tubs on cold evenings. Mornings without an alarm clock.

A dog asleep after a day on the trail. Kids laughing in the snow. Friends gathered around the table. A quiet evening when nobody needs to be anywhere else.

Winter has a way of slowing things down.

Ohiopyle gives you plenty to explore when you want an adventure—and Ohiopyle Vacation Rentals gives you somewhere comfortable to return to when you’re ready to stop exploring.

Choose a cabin in the mountains, a private retreat, a larger vacation home for the whole crew, a downtown stay at Ohiopyle Suites or a property with the fireplace or hot tub that makes a winter weekend feel complete.

Bring your partner. Bring the kids. Bring some friends.

Bring the dog, too.

EXPLORE OHIOPYLE VACATION RENTALS