We love a good holiday market, and there are no shortage of great experiences to check out during the holiday season.
So in this one, we thought we'd share some of our favorite Christmas markets in Pittsburgh (and other holiday shopping events) you may want to check out!
When it comes to holiday festivities, one of the best places in Pittsburgh to visit is Phipps Conservatory. Their winter flower show, which begins the Friday before Thanksgiving and runs until early January, is a celebration of the holiday season with festive art pieces, an array of gorgeous winter flowers, and some of the most beautifully decorated Christmas trees in Pittsburgh.
The 2023-2024 flower show is themed Holiday Magic and takes an elegant look at all things Christmas. With traditional decorations and subtle design elements, this one is simply beautiful.
As members of the conservatory, we got the chance to visit this one on opening weekend this season (running until January 7th, 2024) and wanted to share a few of our favorite rooms here!
Note: The outdoor garden shots were from a previous show while indoor shots were from the 2023-2024 show. As such, there may be some differences outside when you visit this year.
There are many reasons to love the holiday season in Pittsburgh, and perhaps one of the most amazing ones is your ability to see many beautiful Christmas lights all over the region.
From the holiday displays downtown, to the many drive-thru light shows, and more, there really is no shortage of impressive Christmas lights in Pittsburgh. So in this one, we wanted to curate all the best places where you can see holiday lights and decorations in the region!
Note: Many of the experiences below are drive-thru light displays such that you can enjoy the holiday lights and decorations from the comfort of your own car. However, we felt we would be doing you a disservice if we didn't mention a few other light viewing opportunities that take place outside of your car as well!
Who doesn't love a great discount? Naturally, the Black Friday to Cyber Monday shopping weekend presents a wealth of shopping opportunities with discounted prices.
Naturally, Pittsburgh businesses and attractions are getting in on the Black Friday celebration as well.
So in this one, we thought we would share some of the best deals that we see popping up on our feeds to help you get the most out of exploring the city. From annual memberships and season passes to special releases at area breweries and distilleries, we've found some gems!
Note: The following is a quick summary of some of our favorite deals we have found so far. Black Friday deals tend to come out on an on-going basis and we will be updating this article over time as we find more. Additional terms and conditions may apply that are not included in our summary, please read deals in full prior to purchasing. Some discounts may be available now, while other promotions may only occur on Black Friday or Cyber Monday.
When it comes to tragedies that are known the world over, the sinking of the Titanic is one of the most documented.
But the touring show, TITANIC: The Artifact Exhibition at the Carnegie Science Center, takes what you know about the Titanic and moves it one step forward. While this one does cover the building, sailing, and subsequent sinking of the ship, there is a human element in this one that ties the experience together.
In Pittsburgh, the start of the holiday season is not ambiguous.
It is not after Halloween when department stores put out Christmas decorations (or do they do it before now?). It is not the day after Thanksgiving that many traditionally observe. It is also not the first snow sighting, December 1st, the fall time change, or any other arbitrary benchmark.
This one particular instance should not be up for debate, as the start of the Christmas season in Pittsburgh is Light Up Night-Â the Saturday before Thanksgiving.
In this guide, we want to share some of our favorite tips on how to get the most out of what is perhaps our favorite annual event in Pittsburgh!
Note: Prior to 2021, Light Up Night took place on the Friday before Thanksgiving. Starting that year, Light Up Night became a weekend affair with most of the true Light Up Night festivities taking place on the Saturday before Thanksgiving.
Everyone wants to shoot a zombie horde during Halloween, right?
If this is something you have always wanted to try, you are in luck! Zombies of the Corn in Freedom, PA, offers a chance to contain a zombie apocalypse armed with glow-in-the-dark paintballs!
Although the star attraction at this one is indeed the Zombie ride, the grounds are home to four haunted attractions and makes for a fun, (mostly) family-friendly haunt north of the city.
Phipps Conservatory is known for being one of the largest botanical gardens in the region, and also for its seasonal flower shows that are truly events not to be missed.
For 2023's Fall Flower Show, Phipps is celebrating all things harvest with the theme Hometown Harvest. From beekeeping to grape growing, apples to the harvest moon, there really are a number of gorgeous harvest designs in this one!
As with all of our show reviews, we're not going to share every room in the Conservatory (you'll have to visit yourself to see them all!). Instead, we're going to feature a few of our favorite rooms from the show to highlight a cross-section of the displays!
When Roundabout Brewery announced that they were closing their Lawrenceville location, we were pretty bummed. Thankfully, this one did not entirely cease operations and went to remote brewing to continue hosting its seasonal Roundabout Popup space on the North Shore River Trail.
Naturally, their end-of-season event, Smoketoberfest, also remained to celebrate all things fall with fun, friends, beer, and a whole lot of smoked food from some of the best food trucks in Pittsburgh.
We had missed attending this one for many years due to seemingly always being out of town, but after visiting Smoketoberfest for the 10th annual event in 2023, we can see we made a big mistake missing out all those years!
We are quite fortunate to have a number of beautiful covered bridges near Pittsburgh, and Washington and Greene Counties just south of the city boast an impressive thirty bridges between them.
Naturally, it should be no surprise that these two counties got together to put on a Covered Bridge Festival at nine of the thirty sites, and have been doing so every September since 1971!
We made our way out to explore a few of the sites in the Covered Bridge Festival and wanted to share a bit more about what you can expect when visiting, as well as a few logistics you need to keep in mind. As far as festivals go, this one can be quite busy!