Visit Bethlehem, PA City Guide

Bethlehem's ambiance and cultural events attract visitors from around the world all year long.

Bethlehem is America's Christmas City, and hosts a German-style holiday market - Christkindlmarkt Bethlehem - every year between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

As the corporate home of the now-defunct Bethlehem Steel Works, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania was a major industrial center during the height of the manufacturing age in the USA. Today Bethlehem is in the midst of an urban Renaissance to rival cities of greater size and wealth, and the abandoned steel mill property is at its heart.

Bethlehem is a mecca for higher education and the performing and visual arts in the Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania. The old city retains its Main Street America charm with wide, tree-shaded streets and historic buildings built from stone and brick and dating to the 1700s.

Redevelopment of the former Bethlehem Steel Works is transforming an abandoned industrial brownfields site from a decayed, rusting eyesore to a world-class destination resort and cultural center featuring a hotel and casino, restaurants and pubs, upscale retail shops, performing arts center, housing and much more. Sands Beth Works casino opened to the public in May 2009.

The city of Bethlehem was home to the main headquarters for the world-famous Bethlehem Steel Works. Billy Joel made neighboring city Allentown famous in song but the issues he sang about were actually those of thousands of people who lived and worked in the regional steel industry ruled by Bethlehem Steel. Bethlehem is included in the song lyrics.

The Bethlehem Steel site is huge, and for years was a decayed eyesore and painful reminder of lost prosperity to former employees and townspeople. In 2008, the rusted and abandoned Bethlehem Steel industrial site became a location set for the film Transformers 2.

Today, the decaying steel mill property is under reconstruction to become a destination resort and cultural center. Sands BethWorks will feature a world class hotel, casino, night clubs, loft apartments, upscale shopping and arts center.

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Bethlehem has a long history of hospitality. The 1758 Moravian Sun Inn, located just off Main Street, has been serving guests of distinction continuously since the American Revolution.

The Continental Congress met at The Sun Inn September, 1777. Historically notable guests and visitors to the inn include George and Martha Washington, John Hancock, the Marquis de Lafayette, John and Abigail Adams, Samuel Adams, Benjamin Harrison and Ethan Allen as well as many early governors, foreign dignitaries and native American leaders.

The lower floor of the beautifully restored inn is a living history museum filled with 18th century artifacts and furnishings. The Sun Inn no longer offers lodging, but does offer exquisite dining for individuals or groups in the reception rooms on the second floor, and guided tours of the building and landscaped courtyard.

The Sun Inn celebrates its 250th anniversary in September, 2008. Special events include a public party and a special dinner at the Inn.

Hotel Bethlehem sits on the same site as Bethlehem's original first house, erected by Moravian settlers who arrived in 1740.

The hotel's traditionally furnished guest rooms overlook historic downtown and the famous hillside Bethlehem star.

Lehigh University Lehigh's picturesque 1600-acre wooded campus is actually built into the side of what is affectionately known as "Old South Mountain" in historic Bethlehem, Pa. A little more than an hour's car ride from Philadelphia or New York City, Lehigh is located within the thriving economic and cultural corridor of the eastern United States. Undergraduate and graduate students experience challenging diverse programs in four colleges: arts and sciences business and economics engineering and applied science and education.

Moravian College America's sixth-oldest college, located in the center of historic Bethlehem, Moravian delivers a values-based liberal arts education in a caring environment, through which it nurtures in students the capacities for leadership, lifelong learning, and positive societal contributions. The College traces its founding to 1742 by followers of John Amos Comenius, the 17th century Moravian bishop whose humanistic ideals helped to shape modern education.

Northampton Community College For 40 years, Northampton Community College in Bethlehem, Pa., has focused on offering a wide variety of courses at an affordable price, without sacrificing quality of instruction. NCC offers recent high school graduates, as well as adult learners, a variety of credit and non-credit classes, offered during the day, evening, and on weekends.

Muhlenberg College Muhlenberg College is an independent, undergraduate, coeducational institution related to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Founded in 1848 to provide a liberal arts education in the Judeo-Christian humanistic tradition, Muhlenberg is committed to the highest standards of academic integrity and excellence. The College is located in Allentown, Pennsylvania, approximately 55 miles north of Philadelphia and 90 miles west of New York City.

The Philadelphia Eagles hold their annual football team training camp in Bethlehem each summer at Lehigh University. The region is also home to the newly formed franchise Iron Pigs baseball team, a training club for the Philadelphia Phillies.