Take a look at our special Historic Bethlehem tours. Custom Tours must be booked at least 72 hours in advance and be a group of at least 4 people.
Historic Bethlehem Tours
Visit, explore, experience almost three centuries of Bethlehem's rich heritage through walking tours, museums, & more!
Tour Schedule
Historic Bethlehem Guided Walking Tours
Historic Pub Tour - Special Musikfest Offering!
Saturday & Sunday August 7-15
1 pm
Explore a "curious and remarkable town" - John Adams, January 1777
Saturdays & Sundays in August
1 pm
Learn about Bethlehem's unique beginnings
Fridays-Sundays in August
3 pm
Bethlehem Steel Guided Walking Tours
Discover its incredible rise--and fall
The Rise & Fall of Bethlehem Steel Walking Tour
Fridays-Sundays in July and August
*See times below*
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Year-Round Self-Guided Tour with our App
Walk the Heritage Trail
Any time
| Masks are not required for outdoor portions of walking tours for fully vaccinated visitors.
Masks are required for all visitors for inside the historic buildings during walking tours. Walking tours are limited to 20 visitors. |
To learn more about a specific tour, click on the links below:
Our tour offerings change seasonally, but if you see a tour you'd like to take during your visit, you can schedule a Custom Tour at the link below!
- 1752 Apothecary Tour - Explore the oldest continually operating drug store in the U.S.
- Behind-the-Scenes Dollhouse Tour - See the dollhouse collection of Elizabeth Johnston Prime, one of the largest in the U.S.
- Bethlehem By Night Bus Tour - Learn about Bethlehem's local holiday traditions, old and new
- Cemetery Tour: Death & Dying - Visit Bethlehem's oldest cemetery and explore Moravian funerary traditions
- Christmas City Combo Ticket - Create the perfect holiday visit to Bethlehem
- Christmas City Stroll - Explore Christmas traditions and visit two National Historic Landmarks
- Christmas Horse-Drawn Carriage Rides - Cozy up and witness the beauty of historic Bethlehem
- Church & Chapel Tour - Visit Bethlehem's oldest places of worship
- Colonial Industrial Quarter Walking Tour - Visit America's first industrial park and explore how it morphed over centuries
- Heritage Trail - Experience all Bethlehem has to offer on your own time with this self-guided tour
- Group Tours - Coming with a group? Let us help you customize your visit!
- John Adams Walking Tour - Find out why John Adams called Bethlehem a "curious and remarkable town"!
- Moravian Story Walking Tour - Take a step back in time to the early Moravian community and discover the story of Bethlehem's founders
- Mystery and History Tour - Explore the spooky side of early Bethlehem in the Colonial Industrial Quarter
- Old Bethlehem Walking Tour - Bethlehem is home to more than 275 years of history, learn about its unique beginnings as you visit some of the oldest buildings
- The Rise & Fall of Bethlehem Steel - Experience the former industry giant, Bethlehem Steel, up close
Historic Pub Tour
Leave from the 1810 Goundie House
501 Main Street, Bethlehem, PA 18018
Learn about Bethlehem's beer history on a guided tour starting at the 1810 Goundie House, home of one of Bethlehem’s early brewers, John Sebastian Goundie. Discover the importance of beer in Colonial America and explore Bethlehem’s brewing history as you visit Hotel Bethlehem, Lost River Tavern, Tapas, Red Stag Pub, and the Sun Inn!
The Historic Pub Tour will be offered select days during Musikfest.
One drink is included at the start of the tour in the 1810 Goundie House. Visitors of all ages can sign up to join the tour, but in order to receive a drink participants must be at least 21 years of age and show valid ID.
Dates: Saturdays and Sundays August 7-15 at 1 pm
Price: $20
If you have a great experience on the Historic Pub Tour, please consider tipping the tour docents who volunteer their time for us!
John Adams Bethlehem
Walking Tour
Leave from the Historic Bethlehem Visitor Center
505 Main Street, Bethlehem, PA 18018
Why did John Adams call Bethlehem “curious and remarkable town”? Find the answer to this, as well as the role Bethlehem played during the American Revolution during this tour led by a costumed guide.
Dates: Saturdays and Sundays in August at 1 pm
Price: $15 for Non-Members, $10 for Historic Bethlehem Members [Become a Member today and save!]
If you have a great experience on the John Adams Bethlehem Walking Tour, please consider tipping the tour docents who volunteer their time for us!
Old Bethlehem Walking Tour
Leave from the Historic Bethlehem Visitor Center
505 Main Street, Bethlehem, PA 18018
Led by one of our certified guides in period dress, the tour will tell the 275-year history of Bethlehem’s unique beginnings since 1741.
You'll stop at the 1741 Gemeinhaus, 1762 Waterworks, 1758 Nain-Schober House, and the 1752 Apothecary to find out how Bethlehem residents have flourished.
Dates: Fridays-Sundays in August at 3 pm
Price: $15 for Non-Members, $10 for Historic Bethlehem Members [Become a Member today and save!]
If you have a great experience on the Old Bethlehem Walking Tour, please consider tipping the tour docents who volunteer their time for us!
The Rise & Fall of Bethlehem Steel
Leave from Steelstacks Visitor Center
711 East First Street, Bethlehem, PA 18018
Bethlehem Steel, once the 2nd largest steel producer in the country, helped build some of America's greatest landmarks, including the Golden Gate Bridge and the Chrysler Building. Discover the humble beginnings, monumental growth, and humbling decline of this 20th-century giant.
The one-hour walking tour features up-close views of the former steel plant and an in-depth look at the steel-making process and the roles the workers played in our country's history.
Dates: Fridays-Sundays in August at 1 pm. NOTE: Tours August 6-8 and August 13-15 are held at 11 am.
As of April 17, the Hoover-Mason Trestle will be reopened for visitation and included on the tour! Read more.
Complimentary screening of The Christmas City documentary available one half hour before tour. Check ticketing page for details.
Price: NEW! Value Package includes admission to the National Museum of Industrial History (NMIH).
Adult - $20 tour only; $27 for tour and admission to NMIH
Child - $12 tour only; $20 for tour and admission to NMIH
Heritage Trail
Download the tour to your mobile device
Walk, jog, or bike along the Historic Bethlehem Heritage Trail! Experience Bethlehem on your own time and at your own pace with the use of your own mobile device.
With 6 links, 80 stops, and 275 years of history, you'll meet the Moravian Founders, Monocacy Valley, Westward Expansion, Victorian Bethlehem, Farmland to Industry, and Bethlehem Steel.
Price: $12
Colonial Industrial Quarter Walking Tour
Leave from the Historic Bethlehem Visitor Center
505 Main Street, Bethlehem, PA 18018
How did the early Moravians establish the largest concentration of crafts, trades, and industries in the American Colonies--and learn to use them to become self-sufficient?
Explore the Colonial Industrial Quarter--America's first industrial park, with our costumed guide, to learn how it has morphed throughout the centuries from business center to junk yard to treasured museum site.
Dates: Dates will be posted shortly. Can't wait? Book your Custom Tour today!
Price: $15 for Non-Members, $10 for Historic Bethlehem Members [Become a Member today and save!]
If you have a great experience on the Colonial Industrial Quarter Walking Tour, please consider tipping the tour docents who volunteer their time for us!
Moravian Story Walking Tour
Leave from the Historic Bethlehem Visitor Center
505 Main Street, Bethlehem, PA 18018
Walk through history with a certified guide to discover the story behind Bethlehem's founders--the Moravians! What made the Moravian community unique? How do the historic buildings reflect their daily lives? Who lived in the Single Sisters' House, Nain-Schober House, the 1741 Gemeinhaus, and the 1810 Goundie House, and why?
Dates: Dates will be posted shortly. Can't wait? Book your Custom Tour today!
Price: $15 for Non-Members, $10 for Historic Bethlehem Members [Become a Member today and save!]
If you have a great experience on the Moravian Story Walking Tour, please consider tipping the tour docents who volunteer their time for us!
Cemetery Tour: Death & Dying
Leave from the Historic Bethlehem Visitor Center
505 Main Street, Bethlehem, PA 18018
Your costumed guide will tell tales of the early Moravians' funerary traditions, stroll through God's Acre - Bethlehem's oldest cemetery, and hear the stories of the people behind the names you'll find there including men, women, and children of all races denoting equality in life as in death.
Dates: Dates will be posted shortly. Can't wait? Book your Custom Tour today!
Price: $15 for Non-Members, $10 for Historic Bethlehem Members [Become a Member today and save!]
Mystery and History Tour
Leave from the Historic Bethlehem Visitor Center
505 Main Street, Bethlehem, PA 18018
Unsolved murders, eerie premonitions, ghostly sightings...do spirits roam among the historic buildings of Bethlehem? There's a spooky side to the early Bethlehem Moravians that you'll year about as you explore the grounds at twilight.
Your costumed guide will take you on a journey through the Colonial Industrial Quarter's 1750 Smithy and colonial blacksmithing building, the 1762 Waterworks, and 1761 Tannery. You'll find out about the fire at the Luckenbach Mill and the other struggles the Moravians faced.
Dates: Dates will be posted shortly. Can't wait? Book your Custom Tour today!
Price: $15 for Non-Members, $10 for Historic Bethlehem Members [Become a Member today and save!]
Behind-the-Scenes Dollhouse Tour
Kemerer Museum of Decorative Arts
427 North New Street, Bethlehem, PA 18018
A 16-room mansion, meticulously outfitted with curtains, rugs, and piano? A 19th-century kitchen with ice box, stove, and cupboards? You won't be able to tear yourself away from Elizabeth Johnston Prime's dollhouse collection--one of the largest in the U.S.
Dates: Dates will be posted shortly. Can't wait? Book your Custom Tour today!
Price: $25 for Non-Members, $20 for Historic Bethlehem Members [Become a Member today and save!]
*Tickets must be purchased IN ADVANCE Walk-ins at the Kemerer Museum will not be accepted.
Church & Chapel Tour
Leave from the Moravian Museum of Bethlehem
66 West Church Street, Bethlehem, PA 18018
Bethlehem's oldest places of worship--the 1741 Geminhaus, 1751 Old Chapel, and the 1803-06 Central Moravian Church Sanctuary--still inspire visitors today.
Explore the history of the buildings, as well as the structure of the worship services that are still held here.
Dates: Dates will be posted shortly. Can't wait? Book your Custom Tour today!
Price: $15 for Non-Members, $10 for Historic Bethlehem Members [Become a Member today and save!]
1752 Apothecary Tour
Leave from the Moravian Museum of Bethlehem
66 West Church Street, Bethlehem, PA 18018
Early Moravians successfully treated the infirm with herbs and other plants collected from near and far. They also supplied medicines not only for Bethlehem but the for the surrounding areas as well.
Explore the Apothecary--the oldest continually operating drug store in the U.S.--to find out what other medicines they used between 1743 and 1952.
Dates: Dates will be posted shortly. Can't wait? Book your Custom Tour today!
Price: $15 Non-Members, $10 for Historic Bethlehem Members [Become a Member today and save!]
Christmas City Stroll
Leave from the Historic Bethlehem Visitor Center
505 Main Street, Bethlehem, PA 18018
Designed especially for Christmas, this tour will focus on cherished traditions: candle-in-every-window, the renowned Bethlehem Star, and the community Putz set among Bethlehem's exquisite Victorian and colonial architecture and two National Historic Landmarks: the 1741 Gemeinhaus and the Bethlehem Waterworks.
Dates: Dates will be posted shortly
Price: Historic Bethlehem Member Adult: $10; Historic Bethlehem Member Child: $4; Adults: $15; Children: $6 [Become a Member today and save!]
Horse-Drawn Carriage Rides
Leave from the front of Central Moravian Church
Main Street, Bethlehem, PA 18018
Nestle into a horse-drawn Christmas carriage to witness the beauty of Bethlehem's downtown National Historic Landmark District's sparkling lights, festive music, and imaginative decorations.
Dates: Dates will be posted shortly
Price: $75, carriage fits up to 4 adults and 2 children on laps
Bethlehem By Night Bus Tour
Leave from the Historic Bethlehem Visitor Center
505 Main Street, Bethlehem, PA 18018
This bus tour, led by a costumed guide, includes a visit to the famous star atop South Mountain, a look at early and current local holiday traditions, and historic highlights in North and South Bethlehem, the city with two downtowns.
Dates: Dates will be posted shortly
Price: Adults: $18.50, Children: $12
Christmas City Combo Ticket
Combine a mesmerizing shopping trip to Christkindlmarkt--ranked one of the best holiday markets in the U.S. by Travel + Leisure--with the gilded Trees of Historic Bethlehem, Christmas trees from around the world, for one great price.
Ticket includes one-day admission to both Christkindlmarkt and Trees of Historic Bethlehem self-guided tour.
Dates: Dates will be posted shortly
Price: $27
Group Tours - Safe & Memorable
Create a lasting, one-of-a-kind experience for your group, family members, wedding parties, clubs, or corporate teams. And do it safely.
Our staff will help you create a visit that is customized to your interests, time frame, and price points. We follow CDC guidelines in fashioning individual events.
See What People Are Saying About Our Tours
"My Friend and I did the Colonial Industrial Tour today. I am a proud, life long resident of Bethlehem and this tour has made me even prouder of the history we have here and the perseverance that is needed to maintain it. "
~ Kathleen C.
"My sister and I did the Apothecary
~ Tara C.
"We did the walking tour with an amazing guide! Taught us a lot in an hour. The staff at the Welcome Center are incredible
~ Curt V.
"My husband and I went on the Rise & Fall of Bethlehem Steel tour. The tour guide was a natural public speaker. I learned a lot without being overwhelmed and absolutely adored having the historic pictures. I can't wait to come back!"
~ Mandi M.
These tours are being funded in part with funding received through the County of Northampton's Hotel Tax Program.
Historic Bethlehem Museums & Sites Gift Shop and Visitor Center
505 Main Street, Bethlehem, PA 18018
1.800.360.TOUR | info@historicbethlehem.org
