A Foodie’s Guide to the Sweetest Place on Earth
Hershey has always been famous for chocolate, but there’s so much more to discover when it comes to food experiences here. Whether you’re planning a cooking class date night, hoping to explore local flavors on one of the area’s food tours, or curious about wine and chocolate pairings, Hershey offers memorable ways to connect over good food and drink.
From hands-on couples cooking classes at our Hershey bed and breakfast to tasting experiences that highlight the region’s culinary heritage, these Hershey attractions give you a chance to try something new and make memories that go beyond the usual tourist stops.
The Winter Table at Church Road: Chef-Led Cooking and Cocktail Classes
If you’re looking for an intimate, hands-on experience right here in Hershey, we’re thrilled to invite you to The Winter Table at Church Road, a series of chef-led cooking and cocktail classes hosted at the Inn on Church Road this winter.
These aren’t your typical couples cooking classes. They’re small, personal gatherings, limited to just a handful of our guests, where you’ll work alongside our professional chef-innkeeper, Hannah, who loves teaching as much as cooking, to prepare seasonal dishes, learn new techniques, and enjoy the fruits of your labor around our table.
Hannah is a Pennsylvania farm country native who holds both a Culinary Arts degree and a Baking & Pastry Arts degree from Pennsylvania College of Technology, Penn State University. Her passion for travel, which has taken her to live and work worldwide in places like Switzerland and Japan, is second only to her love for all things cooking. During your class you will experience first-hand how she is dedicated to inspiring confidence in others through teaching cooking.
For a sneak peek at what you can expect from class, Follow Chef Hannah on YouTube. From seasonal cocktails to decadent desserts, you’ll find bite-sized lessons that bring professional techniques into your home kitchen.
What to Expect at The Winter Table
Each session focuses on a different culinary theme, from classic comfort foods to adventurous new techniques. You’ll cook, ask questions, and share stories in the warm, historic setting of the inn. Classes include hands-on instruction from Hannah, seasonal, locally sourced ingredients whenever possible, cocktail-pairing workshops on select evenings, and an intimate group setting.
Classes are available exclusively for guests staying at The Inn on Church Road, so you can turn the evening into a full getaway complete with a soaking tub or fireplace to enjoy after class, and get to know your fellow travelers.
Yokl Food Tours: Explore Hershey by Trolley
If you prefer to sample flavors around town rather than cooking them yourself, Yokl Food Tours offers a wonderful way to explore Hershey’s culinary scene aboard a vintage-style red trolley. These guided food tours take you to local eateries you might not discover on your own, from cozy cafes to family-owned restaurants.
Mid-Day Magic Food Tour
The Mid-Day Magic Food Tour is a curated three-hour afternoon experience that showcases the best of Hershey’s culinary scene. You’ll visit a handpicked selection of local restaurants to enjoy exclusive tastings and hear from the chefs and restaurant owners themselves about their inspiration and favorite ingredients.
The tour concludes with a decadent dessert tasting for the perfect ending to the afternoon. Tours board at the Hershey History Center (look for the red trolley).
The Trolley Crawl
For a more relaxed evening experience, the Trolley Crawl is your ticket to an easygoing night of food, drinks, and music. The Trolley operates on a continuous loop from 5 pm to 10 pm, stopping at popular Hershey restaurants, so you can hop off to explore, eat, and drink, then hop back on when you’re ready for the next stop.
Stops include The Mill, a former feed mill turned rustic-chic dining spot with hand-crafted cocktails and elevated comfort food; Hidden Still, an award-winning craft distillery and restaurant housed in the old Hershey Company recycling facility; Tröegs Brewing Company, Hershey’s award-winning brewery; and Fresh Market, a food lover’s playground inside a historic post office building with a gourmet food hall, wine bar, and local vendors.
Chocolate Tours and Tastings: The Heart of Hershey
No visit to Hershey would be complete without celebrating its most famous product. Chocolate tours and tastings are among the most popular Hershey attractions, ranging from factory-style experiences to boutique tastings.
Hershey’s Chocolate World
Start with the classic: the free Hershey’s Chocolate Tour ride at Chocolate World. This immersive tour takes you through the chocolate-making process from tropical cocoa bean to wrapped candy bar, complete with the warmth of roasting cocoa beans, the smell of rich milk chocolate, and a complimentary product sample at the end.
The Hershey Story Museum
While Hershey’s Chocolate World gets a lot of the attention, the real chocolate education happens at The Hershey Story Museum’s Chocolate Lab. This hands-on experience teaches you about chocolate’s origins, the refinement process, and the art of chocolate making.
During the 45-minute class, you’ll pour, decorate, and taste your way through creating your own chocolate bar to take home. The museum also offers a Truffles for Couples class on select dates (including Valentine’s weekend), where you’ll create beautiful chocolate truffles together.
Also at The Hershey Story Museum, don’t miss the Chocolate Tastings experience. Sample a flight of warm drinking chocolates from around the world that are rich, complex, and nothing like the powdered packets you grew up with. From fruity African chocolate flavors to Indonesian chocolate with caramel overtones, these tastings offer a chance to hone your skills as a cocoa connoisseur. All tastings are available daily from 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Wine Tastings and Vineyards Near Hershey
Pennsylvania’s wine country isn’t far from Hershey, and the region is home to award-winning, family-owned wineries offering tastings, live music, and beautiful vineyard settings. Here are some of our favorite Hershey Vineyards for local tastings:
Waltz Vineyards: The Best Wines in the Area
Waltz Vineyards offers what we consider the best wine tasting experience in the region. This family-owned estate winery produces beautifully crafted wines on their hilltop property with sweeping views of the countryside.
Their tasting room offers flights of estate-grown varieties, including elegant Chardonnays, rich Cabernet Francs, and signature dessert wines. On weekends, settle into their outdoor seating area (heated and equipped with blankets for cooler months) with a bottle, a cheese and pretzel board, and those stunning views. They often host special events with live music, extended hours, and seasonal celebrations, so check their website before you visit.
The Vineyard at Hershey
Just minutes from the inn, The Vineyard at Hershey offers a relaxed farmhouse winery and wine tasting room open daily from noon to 5 p.m. Walk-in wine tastings are welcome, or you can book a tour and tasting reservation.
Cassel Vineyards of Hershey
Known for award-winning wines and ties to horse racing, Cassel Vineyards has been producing exceptional estate-grown wines and hand-crafted ciders since 2008. The five-acre vineyard with six grape varieties offers tastings in a pastoral, peaceful setting just five minutes from Hershey attractions.
The Cassel brothers are committed to sustainable agricultural practices, and the property features free-roaming peacocks and guineas, plus mares and foals grazing on the hillside. Red wine lovers especially enjoy their Homestretch Red.
Tröegs Brewing Company: Award-Winning Brewery Tours
If beer is more your style, Tröegs Independent Brewing in Hershey offers what USA Today readers voted The Best Brewery Tour in America in 2020, 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025.
The Guided Production Tour offers an in-depth, behind-the-scenes look at the brewery. Follow in the footsteps of their brewers through the mill room, hop cooler, and brewhouse deck, plus get a look at the fermentation cellars and packaging lines. The tour includes a welcome beer of your choice and an exclusive souvenir glass. Tours must be booked in advance and all participants must be 21+.
Even if you don’t take the tour, Tröegs welcomes visitors for tastings and dining at their scratch kitchen, which uses local ingredients and makes everything from bread to pickles in-house. Try Pennsylvania’s #1-selling Perpetual IPA, the rich Tröegenator Double Bock, or one of their experimental Scratch Series beers.
Planning Your Culinary Getaway in Hershey
Whether you’re here for a cooking class date night at The Winter Table, a guided food tour aboard Yokl’s red trolley, or a day of wine tastings at local vineyards, Hershey offers a surprising depth of culinary experiences.
When you’re ready to rest, the Inn on Church Road is here to welcome you. Book a suite with a soaking tub or fireplace, wake up to a chef-prepared breakfast made with local and seasonal ingredients, and let the quiet elegance of our historic 1821 home be the perfect bookend to your culinary adventures.
Ready to join us at The Winter Table? View the full schedule and book your spot, and reserve your suite.
We’ll see you in the kitchen, or around the table.
