Woodland trails, architectural icons and a legendary sandwich with fries inside. Follow Alex Durand and Tom Carles around the greater Pittsburgh region for a Pennsylvania fall getaway with range.

Jump To The Itinerary

Some getaways make you choose between mountain air and city energy. Pennsylvania would rather give you both. In the Laurel Highlands, fall unfolds across wooded hillsides, waterfalls and trails worth taking your time on. In Pittsburgh, the scenery shifts to hillside views, remarkable architecture and a football crowd that makes its own kind of thunder. 

After falling in love with Philadelphia earlier this year at the World Cup, Alex Durand and Tom Carles, the creators behind ATFrenchies on Instagram, came back to Pennsylvania for another kind of adventure. This time, their stops stretched from the Laurel Highlands to the heart of Pittsburgh. Follow their lead with this four-day fall itinerary, bringing together outdoor exploring, memorable meals and a little black-and-gold spirit. 

Here’s their Pennsylvania fall getaway, at a glance: 

  • Destination: Pittsburgh and the Laurel Highlands (about an hour from Pittsburgh)
  • Home bases: Seven Springs Mountain Resort and Kimpton Hotel Monaco Pittsburgh 
  • Length: Four days, three nights 
  • The mix: Fall foliage, hiking, architecture, local flavors and Steelers football 
  • Getting around: Plan to have a car for the Laurel Highlands and the drive into Pittsburgh, then explore the city with a mix of walking, driving and local transportation

Day 1

The route: Laurel Highlands, TreeTops Restaurant, Seven Springs Mountain Resort 

Trade your usual scenery for wooded hillsides, then settle into a getaway that looks especially good in fall. 

Take the scenic way into the Laurel Highlands: Make the drive part of the experience as you head into the Laurel Highlands, a USA TODAY 10Best Readers’ Choice Award winner for Best Destination for Fall Foliage. Around here, the changing leaves don’t need much help making an impression. Give yourself time to enjoy the landscape rather than treating it as the stretch between stops. There will be plenty to do over the next four days. For now, a slower start feels right. 

Make a meal of it at TreeTops Restaurant: Follow Alex and Tom to TreeTops Restaurant at Polymath Park. It’s a fitting first stop for a trip where the setting is part of the appeal, bringing a dining experience into your Laurel Highlands road trip. 

Settle in at Seven Springs Mountain Resort: Alex and Tom stayed at Seven Springs Mountain Resort during the Laurel Highlands portion of their trip. Make it your home base for the next two days, with time to unpack and unwind somewhere that feels a little removed from your usual routine. Tomorrow brings a house unlike any other and a dose of fresh air. 

Day 2

The route: Fallingwater, Ohiopyle State Park, The Farm at the Falls 

Today is for architecture that belongs to its landscape and scenery that deserves more than a passing glance. 

Find a different perspective at Fallingwater: Make Fallingwater your first major stop. Frank Lloyd Wright’s celebrated house brings architecture and nature together in a way that photographs can introduce but never quite explain. Give yourself room to take it in, from the relationship between the house and its wooded surroundings to the details that make this such a memorable place to visit. Review tour options and arrange your visit ahead of time, then build the rest of your day around it rather than rushing toward the next stop.  

Stretch your legs at Ohiopyle State Park: Continue to Ohiopyle State Park, where the Youghiogheny River Gorge gives the landscape its dramatic shape. Alex and Tom made hiking part of their visit, and this is your invitation to do the same. Choose a route that suits your pace. The point isn’t to cover the most ground. It’s to spend an afternoon somewhere that makes checking your phone feel less urgent. (Except for the occasional photo. Understandable.) 

Add The Farm at the Falls to your outing: Alex and Tom also visited The Farm at the Falls at Ohiopyle. Work their stop into your own Ohiopyle exploring before heading back to Seven Springs for the evening. Keep the rest of the night unhurried. You’ve earned a little time with nowhere else to be. 

Day 3

The route: Kimpton Hotel Monaco Pittsburgh, Primanti Bros., Duquesne Incline 

Leave the mountain scenery behind, but keep your expectations for the views. 

Check in at Kimpton Hotel Monaco Pittsburgh: Head into downtown Pittsburgh and settle in at Kimpton Hotel Monaco Pittsburgh, Alex and Tom’s city home base. After two days of countryside exploring, the move downtown gives the getaway a different rhythm. Leave your bags, get your bearings and head out with an appetite.  

Meet the Pittsburgh sandwich at Primanti Bros.: Make time for Primanti Bros., where the fries and coleslaw go inside the sandwich. It’s a Pittsburgh classic and a very good argument for arriving hungry.  Follow Alex and Tom’s lead and make this part of your introduction to the city. While some local traditions require a little explanation, this one mostly requires a lot of napkins. 

Take the Duquesne Incline: For another perspective, visit the Duquesne Incline and head up Mount Washington. After spending the first half of your getaway surrounded by trees, give the city skyline its moment. Take in the rivers, bridges and buildings below, then linger a little longer than you planned. Pittsburgh in fall begs to be seen from more than one angle. 

Day 4

The route: Downtown Pittsburgh, Cathedral of Learning in Oakland, Steelers game 

Build your Pittsburgh days around the home-game schedule, swapping these city stops as needed. Football gets its own say in the itinerary. 

Look up at the Cathedral of Learning: Alex and Tom explored some of Pittsburgh’s most striking architecture, including the Cathedral of Learning in the Oakland neighborhood. Make this soaring landmark - which is also rumored to be haunted - part of your own city outing and give yourself time to appreciate the details. It’s a different kind of architectural experience from Fallingwater, which is exactly the appeal. In one getaway, you can go from a house woven into the woods to a building that commands the skyline. 

Join the crowd at a Steelers game: Bring some black and gold for a Steelers home game, another highlight of Alex and Tom’s trip. Make the game the main event rather than squeezing it between other plans, with time to get to the stadium and settle into the atmosphere. After woodland trails, memorable meals and architectural exploring, a stadium full of Steelers fans makes a fitting change of pace. Quiet getaway? Not this afternoon. 

A Little More Pennsylvania, If You Want It: Four days can introduce you to a place, but they rarely finish the story. If you’re not quite ready to head home, here are a few more ways to keep exploring. 

  • For more black-and-gold history: Visit the Heinz History Center and its Franco Harris Sports Museum. It’s a natural addition before or after the game, with sports history that puts the region’s hometown pride in perspective. 
  • For an Oakland museum day: Pair the Cathedral of Learning with the Carnegie Museum of Natural History or Carnegie Museum of Art. Choose the one that calls to you, or give the neighborhood another day. 
  • For a Warhol moment: Add The Andy Warhol Museum to your Pittsburgh plans, with seven floors dedicated to the Pittsburgh-born pop artist’s life and work. 
  • For an underground adventure: Head to Mines & Meadows ATV and RV resort in Wampum for a guided tour through an abandoned limestone mine. This is a separate outing worth building into your schedule, not a quick stop between city attractions. 
  • For another side of the Laurel Highlands: Explore Laurel Caverns State Park, Pennsylvania’s first and only underground state park. The 35-minute guided Maze Tour introduces the cavern’s history and geology, with a sound-and-light show along the way.  

Alex and Tom came back to Pennsylvania for a different kind of getaway. Now you’ve got the stops to make one of your own. Put a date on those fall plans, bring an appetite for a little of everything and leave room for Pittsburgh to surprise you. Discover more fall getaway ideas in Pennsylvania.