The Pocono Mountains, which rise to the west of the Delaware River, hold a number of traditional summer resort hotels spread among the golf courses and ski areas. Like the Catskills “Borscht Belt” of southern New York, the Poconos had their glory days in the 1950s, but some resorts still thrive thanks to the invention here in the 1960s of the couple-friendly, heart- or champagne glass–shaped bath tub, which has turned many a Pocono hotel into a pseudo-Roman honeymoon destination (the Baltimore Sun called one a “mini Playboy Mansion”). Many of these passion pits tend to feature all-inclusive package deals (free archery lessons, so you and your beloved can play Cupid with real arrows, etc). If you’re interested, try Caesars Pocono Palace (570/588-6692) off US-209 five miles northeast of Stroudsburg. By contrast, a classic “old-school” Pocono resort—the rightly named Skytop (800/345-7759)—is about 20 miles northwest of Stroudsburg, via Hwy-447. This very grand yet family-friendly 1920s hotel, with just 150 rooms but full resort facilities, sits on 6,000 acres of mountaintop forest, with its own golf course, hiking trails, and hunting preserve.
At the southern edge of the Delaware Water Gap park, Stroudsburg has the Poconos’ most extensive tourist facilities, clustered along the I-80 freeway corridor.
