gettysburg bus tours battlefield

Battlefield Bus Tour

Climb aboard a climate-controlled motor coach and tour the battlefield with a Licensed Battlefield Guide. During your tour, you’ll have opportunities to step off the bus and explore some of the battle’s most legendary locations.

At A Glance

Gettysburg Battlefield Bus Tours

778 Baltimore St. Gettysburg, PA 17325 Phone: 717-334-6296 Region: Dutch Country Roads

Travel the historic fields of Gettysburg aboard the famous Double Decker Bus as the epic conflict is played out before you. Licensed Battlefield Guide bus tours offer the visitor a truly unique perspective into the struggles of the three days' battle. Providing quality tours to Gettysburg visitors for over 40 years. Open year-round. Tickets are available at most of Gettysburg's finest lodging establishments.

More adventures in Dutch Country Roads

More ideas nearby.

City Life 26 of Our Travelers' Favorite PA Small Businesses Need a birthday, wedding, or anniversary gift or a “from me to me” little pick-me-up for yourself? You’re sure to find the perfect gift at one of Pennsylvania’s many small businesses curated by none o ... Read More

City Life May Events & Festivals in PA Spring has sprung in Pennsylvania! Whether you’re dining under the stars, reeling in your next big catch, or dancing at a local music festival, there are so many ways to get outside this month with ex ... Read More

10/25/23 - 09/29/24

New & Improved: The Age of Convenience in the Home

602 East Second Street Bethlehem, Pennsylvania 18015

Our latest exhibit examines what it means to strive for the American Dream following World War II through the end of the 1970s. Coordinated with the electrification of the country, advancements in mas...

01/10/24 - 09/24/24

Centennial Hiking Challenge

80 East Corydon Street Bradford, Pennsylvania 16701

Come celebrate 100 years of growth and adventure in the Allegheny National Forest by hiking 100 miles. The Centennial Hiking Challenge will take you to over 100 miles of the best and most beautiful tr...

01/11/24 - 09/24/24

ANF Centennial GeoTrail

Bradford, Pennsylvania 16701

Explore the beauty of the Allegheny National Forest while learning about its history and ecology. Search for 28 geocaches hidden across the four counties of ANF (Elk, Forest, McKean and Warren countie...

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use our website, we will assume that you are happy to receive all cookies (and milk!) from visitPA.com. Learn more about cookie data in our Privacy Policy

ALERT: Little Round Top is currently closed to all visitation for rehabilitation. The National Park Service estimates Little Round Top to reopen to the public in late Spring or early Summer 2024.  Learn more .

Buy Tickets

Battlefield Value Package

Special Exhibit in the Gettysburg Museum of the American Civil War at the Gettysburg National Military Park Museum & Visitor Center

A Rough Coarse Life: The World of the Civil War Soldier

Film, Cyclorama & Museum Experience + Battlefield Bus Tour Value Package

Significance, why go prepared.

• Set the scene, feel the fury, share the journey . The Film, Cyclorama & Museum Experience sets the stage for your visit and provides insights to the places you'll visit on the battlefield.
• Make the most of your visit.  There are more than 6,000 battlefield acres to explore and 1,300 monuments and markers to view. Go with a Licensed Battlefield Guide so you don't miss a thing.
• Save time. Save money. The Film, Cyclorama & Museum Experience + Bus Tour is your best value.

At A Glance

Important Information:

Timed tickets are issued for all show times of the Film, Cyclorama & Museum Experience.

Current schedule: Film/Cyclorama showings every 15 minutes from 8:15 a.m. The final Film/Cyclorama show of the day begins at 4:15 p.m.

The National Park Service and the Gettysburg Foundation partner to enhance the preservation and understanding of the heritage and lasting significance of Gettysburg through the Foundation's public outreach and private financial support.

National Park Service website

Set the Scene. Feel the Fury. Share the Journey.

Film, Cyclorama & Museum Experience

Set the Scene : Narrated by Morgan Freeman, the 22-minute film “A New Birth of Freedom” provides the backdrop for your visit with a dramatic look at the battle and its place in history.

Feel the Fury: Sense the battle all around you in the light and sound show of the Gettysburg Cyclorama. Originally displayed in 1884, this massive, 360-degee painting places you in the middle of Pickett’s Charge.

Share the Journey:  Through rare artifacts and interactive stories, journey back through the events and issues surrounding the Battle at the Gettysburg Museum of the American Civil War.

Gettysburg Battlefield Bus Tours

Experience + Bus Tour Package

• Start your tour and board your bus at the Gettysburg National Military Park Museum & Visitor Center.
• Step onto hallowed ground and enrich your experience as your bus makes stops at some of the battlefield’s most legendary locations.
• Get more than just the facts. Gain an insightful picture of the personalities, places and events at the Battle of Gettysburg.

Exhibits & Tours

The film, cyclorama & museum experience introduces you to the civil war before, during and after the battle of gettysburg and prepares you for a more meaningful tour of the battlefield., film cyclorama & museum + battlefield bus tour.

Make the most of your Gettysburg visit. Package the Film, Cyclorama and Museum with a battlefield bus tour for one memorable Gettysburg experience.

Tour the Battlefield

By bus. by car..

Step onto the hallowed ground and experience Little Round Top (when available, after the rehabilitation project is completed), Devil's Den and the Angle beyond the history books and movies. You'll tour the battlefield with a Licensed Battlefield Guide either in your car or by motor coach.

Battlefield Car Tour

Personalized experience.

Don’t miss a thing on your guided Battlefield Car Tour. Either onboard or point to point, your License Battlefield Guide will provide you with plenty of stops to answer your questions and enjoy your own private tour of the battlefield.

Call to reserve your guided battlefield car tour: 877-874-2478 or 717-334-2436

Gettysburg Cyclorama

Experience pickett's charge.

Originally displayed in 1884, the Battle of Gettysburg Cyclorama is a massive fully-restored, 360-degree painting that places you in the middle of Pickett’s Charge on the decisive third day of the Battle. 

Experience the Cyclorama as part of the Film, Cyclorama & Museum Package.

Ticket to the Past—Unforgettable Journeys

The new virtual reality experience at the gettysburg lincoln railroad station™.

All aboard for Gettysburg's first immersive virtual reality experience. During your visit, you will join one of three historic figures on a virtual journey to the railroad station following the Battle of Gettysburg and its aftermath in July 1863.

Children of Gettysburg 1863 ®

Family-friendly adventure.

Gettysburg's most family-friendly, interactive children's history museum. More than a typical children's museum, Children of Gettysburg 1863 ® tells the engaging stories of the children, teens and young adults who lived in and near Gettysburg during and after the 1863 battle.

Plan Your Visit to Gettysburg.

Whether you are visiting for the first time, or you return year-after-year, we can help you plan your visit. 

ALERT: Little Round Top is currently closed to all visitation for rehabilitation. The National Park Service estimates Little Round Top to reopen to the public in late Spring or early Summer 2024.  Learn more .

• Buy Tickets

Battlefield Bus Tour

Step onto the hallowed ground and experience Little Round Top, Devil's Den and the Angle beyond the history books and movies. You'll tour the battlefield with a Licensed Battlefield Guide by motor coach.

Tour time : 2 hours Tours start/end : Gettysburg National Military Park Museum & Visitor Center

Trails & Tours

Plan Your Gettysburg Trip

   CLOSE TRIP PLANNER   

Battlefield Bus Tour Package

This special package includes your hotel room and two adult tickets for a battlefield bus tour with a licensed guide, leaving from Gettysburg Tour Center which is located next door to the 1863 Inn of Gettysburg.

Call hotel direct to make reservations (866-953-4483)

Additional tickets may be purchased at the Gettysburg Tour Center. Scheduled times and seating may be limited. Call Gettysburg Tour Center for times and availability. Reservations for your tour must be made no more than 7 days prior to tour date, 717-334-6296.

No matter what your reason for visiting our charming little town, make the 1863 Inn of Gettysburg  your “Gettysburg Address.”

  Subject to availability. Offer could change at any time.

Contact the following establishment(s) directly to inquire about the package

1863 Inn of Gettysburg

This package is only available from 04/01/2023 through 10/31/2023

Featured in this travel deal

These businesses are participating in this special Gettysburg package.

516 Baltimore Street , Gettysburg , PA 17325

Gettysburg Battlefield Bus Tours

778 Baltimore Street , Gettysburg , PA 17325

Explore what's nearby

• Things to Do
• Places to Eat
• Places to Stay

View full map

Get the Gettysburg, PA Inspiration Guide

Check out our Inspiration Guide online or have us send you one. Have an immediate question? Call us at 1.800.337.5015

Gettysburg is nearby!

Explore the neighborhoods and towns in and around Gettysburg

Sign up for our newsletter

Guided Double Decker Bus Tour on 5/19/24 @ 2:30 PM on 05/19/2024

For a better experience, certain features of javascript area required. Currently you either do not have these features, or you do not have them enabled. Despite this, you can still purchase your tickets, using 2 simple steps.

STEP 1: Below, select the type of ticket you widht to purchase, enter the number of tickets you wish to purchase, then click Reserve Tickets .

STEP 2: Finally, once you have successfully Reserved all your desired Tickets, click Proceed to Cart to complete your order.

STEP 1 : How many?

Reserve some tickets:.

• All tours are 2-hours and will make at one stop on the historic battlefield and one restroom stop.
• Lower level is not air conditioned, but provides large open windows. 
• No rain refunds, ponchos are provided for light rain. 
• If heavy rain or severe weather is predicted the tour will run on an enclosed bus.

Upcoming View Calendar

• Guided Double Decker Bus Tour 5/3/24 @ 11:00 AM BUY NOW
• Guided Double Decker Bus Tour 5/3/24 @ 2:00 PM BUY NOW
• Guided Double Decker Bus Tour 5/4/24 @ 10:00 AM SOLD OUT
• Guided Double Decker Bus Tour 5/4/24 @ 12:30 PM BUY NOW
• Guided Double Decker Bus Tour 5/4/24 @ 3:00 PM BUY NOW
• Guided Double Decker Bus Tour 5/5/24 @ 11:00 AM BUY NOW
• Guided Double Decker Bus Tour 5/6/24 @ 11:00 AM BUY NOW
• Guided Double Decker Bus Tour 5/6/24 @ 2:00 PM BUY NOW
• Guided Double Decker Bus Tour 5/7/24 @ 11:00 AM BUY NOW
• Guided Double Decker Bus Tour 5/7/24 @ 2:00 PM BUY NOW
• Guided Double Decker Bus Tour 5/8/24 @ 11:00 AM BUY NOW
• Guided Double Decker Bus Tour 5/8/24 @ 2:00 PM BUY NOW
• Guided Double Decker Bus Tour 5/9/24 @ 11:00 AM BUY NOW
• Guided Double Decker Bus Tour 5/9/24 @ 2:00 PM BUY NOW
• Guided Double Decker Bus Tour 5/10/24 @ 11:00 AM BUY NOW
• Guided Double Decker Bus Tour 5/10/24 @ 1:30 PM BUY NOW
• Guided Double Decker Bus Tour 5/11/24 @ 10:00 AM BUY NOW
• Guided Double Decker Bus Tour 5/11/24 @ 12:30 PM BUY NOW
• Guided Double Decker Bus Tour 5/11/24 @ 3:00 PM BUY NOW
• Guided Double Decker Bus Tour 5/12/24 @ 11:00 AM BUY NOW

Best Driving Vacations 2024: Take a Battlefield Tour of Pennsylvania and Maryland

Today we continue on our journey highlighting four of the best driving destinations from central Ohio.

With a focus on the creme de la creme — vital, accessible and unforgettable voyages that every central Ohio resident should put on his or her bucket list — we offer suggestions that will appeal to most everyone.

From a circle tour of “our Great Lake” to the architectural wonders of a modernist sister city three hours away, these four extraordinary adventures are wonderful ways to widen your horizons in 2024.

More: Best Driving Vacations 2024: Explore the Northern Shore of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula

Today's installment is Part 2 of 4 destination packages from Columbus Monthly's annual travel guide. We hope you enjoy.

Traveling to Gettysburg and Antietam

Not every traveler is a history buff. But a visit to Gettysburg, site of one of the most iconic and bloody battles of the Civil War, should probably be on every American’s bucket list. 

From Columbus, the drive takes a bit more than six hours. And a two- or three-day visit to the Pennsylvania landmark can easily include several other noteworthy sites along the way, including another important Civil War battlefield, the fort where George Washington suffered his most humiliating defeat and the memorial where the first Americans to fight back during 9/11 are commemorated. 

In addition to being a major historic site, Gettysburg is also a lovely small town adept at catering to the nearly 1 million visitors who arrive each year. Even visitors who never set foot in the Gettysburg National Military Park would find plenty to do. Town streets are packed with shopping, dining, breweries and wineries, hotels and inns, galleries and museums. But the battlefield should definitely be on the to-do list. 

More than 165,000 Union and Confederate soldiers clashed from July 1-3, 1863. The largest battle ever fought on this continent resulted in more than 51,000 casualties — and turned the tide of the war in favor of the Union. The battlefield Museum and Visitors Center includes 12 separate galleries, many interactive exhibits and thousands of artifacts on display. Visitors can also experience the Gettysburg Cyclorama, a painting in-the-round created in the 1880s that tells the story of the battle and is, itself, a magnificent piece of history. 

Plenty can also be discovered on a self-guided auto tour. The 6,000-acre battlefield is crossed by several small roads with plenty of places to pull off and explore the many monuments and markers that were erected in the decades after the battle. 

Bus tours are available from the visitor center. But the best way to tour the battlefield may be with a licensed guide in your own vehicle. Guides are happy to customize tours based on visitors’ interests and knowledge. 

Although the three-day Battle of Gettysburg was the bloodiest battle of the Civil War, Antietam, near the village of Sharpsburg, Maryland, was the site of the war’s bloodiest single day — and the bloodiest day in American history, with some 23,000 casualties. Antietam National Battlefield is just an hour’s drive from Gettysburg, making it a logical stop for history-lovers passing through, or an easy daytrip for travelers extending their stay in the Pennsylvania town. 

Like Gettysburg, Antietam is dotted with monuments honoring the military units and men who served there. One of the most curious is a Brobdingnagian marker commemorating the service of a young commissary sergeant who went on to become President William McKinley. The monument celebrates McKinley’s efforts at bringing coffee and hot food to Union troops on the front lines. 

No, really. 

But if I were on the front, tired and hungry, I would certainly have welcomed and appreciated Sgt. Billy’s offerings. (Come to think of it, this might actually be the most noble act a future president has ever performed.) 

Fort Necessity National Battlefield

Southwestern Pennsylvania also hosts two other important historic sites along the route from central Ohio. Fort Necessity National Battlefield near Farmington, Pennsylvania, is a small historic site featuring a museum and the recreated fort where George Washington, as a very young lieutenant colonel, led a unit of British colonial troops to a humiliating defeat at the hands of the French in 1754. Though discouraged, Washington, of course, persevered, having much better luck decades later in the American Revolution. 

Few Americans who remember Sept. 11, 2001, can visit the Flight 93 National Memorial near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, and not get a bit emotional. The memorial tells the story of the terrorist attacks on the United States that day and of the passengers on United Flight 93 who gave their lives fighting back against their hijackers, preventing their plane from being used as a weapon against another prominent target, possibly the U.S. Capitol. 

The memorial marks the site where the plane hit the ground, killing all aboard. In addition to a museum, the site features several trails, including the Trail of Remembrance along the final flight path. Also at the memorial is the Tower of Voices, a 93-foot-tall structure containing 40 large wind chimes, each tuned to a separate and distinct tone of its own — a haunting and fitting way to remember the 40 passengers and crew of Flight 93 and a bit of history many of us lived through ourselves. 

Where to Stay When Visiting Gettysburg

Gettysburg offers a wide variety of lodging options. The Gettysburg Hotel (est. 1797) is a historic property at the heart of downtown with rates from $118 per night. For a cozier stay, consider the Brafferton Inn , with rooms beginning around $110 per night, or Battlefield Bed and Breakfast in a restored 1810 farmhouse, with rooms beginning around $210 per night. hotelgettysburg.com , brafferton.com , gettysburgbattlefield.com   

This story is from the Best Driving Vacations package in the February 2024 issue of Columbus Monthly. 

This article originally appeared on Columbus Monthly: Best Driving Vacations 2024: Take a Battlefield Tour of Pennsylvania and Maryland