As another school year winds down, you might find yourself making the 200-mile trek west to Penn State to pick up your nascent English and food science majors.

Or maybe you’re an alumnus feeling nostalgic for those halcyon Nittany Lion days. Or maybe you’re just looking for a spring weekend getaway that involves neither the beach nor the mountains. In any case, State College delivers: collegiate energy, world-class art, beautiful outdoors, and a food scene that’s quietly come into its own.

Start the car.

The Way’s family’s story began in 1872, when Robert A. and Lucretia Way planted 1,000 apple trees in Halfmoon Valley — a wedding gift that turned into five generations of fruit farming. Today, their legacy lives on at Way Cafe & Bakery in downtown State College. The sunny dining room, filled with families in blue and white, serves simple, fresh breakfast dishes like spiced baked oatmeal or an egg sandwich stacked with Pennsylvania bacon. Warm cider doughnuts, made with the farm’s cider, are nonnegotiable.

📍 252 E. Calder Way, State College, Pa. 16801

When visiting a college town, the first hotel check should be the Graduate. These Hilton-backed boutiques lean into campus culture without overdoing it. The preppy Penn State property is no exception. Its comfortable rooms are done up in navy plaid, ice cream cone-patterned wallpaper (a tribute to Berkey’s, more on that in a moment) and pillows embroidered with “WE ARE.” You’re also steps away from campus.

📍 125 S. Atherton St., State College, Pa. 16801

More than 350 acres make up the Penn State Arboretum, stretching from the H.O. Smith Botanic Gardens on campus through the experimental agricultural fields and horse paddocks bordering I-99. Explore the gardens, with its marsh meadow and rose-filled fragrance garden, then head into Hartley Wood, an old-growth forest laced with eight wildflower-fringed trails.

📍 E. Park Ave. & Bigler Rd., State College, Pa. 16803

Home to one of the largest collections between Pittsburgh and Philly, the university’s Palmer Museum of Art casts a wide net. Inside the galleries you’ll find ancient African masks and Andy Warhol photography, Cambodian ceramics, and Alexander Calder works. The museum is free to visit (donations suggested), and stays open late on Thursdays, usually complemented by expert talks and studio sessions.

📍 650 Bigler Rd., University Park, Pa. 16802

Barrel21 Distillery, from the crew behind the beloved Otto’s Pub & Brewery, crafts quite the collection, from Nittany Vodka to spiced rum and limoncello. But the star is whiskey. Swing into the wood-and-brick tasting room for their limited-edition single-malt or White-Tail Bourbon, a recent winner at the Pennsylvania Farm Show. Not a whiskey person? The cocktail list has you covered — try the Bourberry, with bourbon, blackberries, and sage.

📍 2255 N. Atherton St., State College, Pa. 16803

A favorite of Inquirer restaurant critic Craig Laban, Revival Kitchen is worth leaving the PSU bubble. About 25 minutes south in Reedsville, this seasonal, hyper-local restaurant runs May through October and serves a sought-after six-course tasting menu from Liz and Quintin Wicks. Reservations are tough — but cancellations happen. If you get in, expect dishes like carrot-buttered cavatelli and binchotan-roasted strip steak with beef-tallow hash browns and miso-creamed morels.

📍 64 S. Main St., Reedsville, Pa. 1708464 S Main St, Reedsville, PA 17084

Think Penn State football games attract fans? You should see Berkey Creamery. An 1865 outgrowth of Penn State’s dairy-research institute, the scoop shop is a university legend whose flavors include banana-peanut butter Monkey Business, retro Teaberry Delight, and (for the diehards) Alumni Swirl, a blue-and-white concoction of vanilla ice cream studded with mocha chips and swirled with blueberry. We are: getting hungry.

📍 Rodney A. Erickson Food Science Building, University Park, Pa. 16802