Your Complete Guide to Scranton, PA (The Office Edition)
Hi friends, happy Saturday! I am writing this in the car on my way to NYC! Looking through my DMs I’ve gotten SO MANY requests to share my itinerary for my The Office-themed road trip!
For those new here, my friend and I road tripped to Scranton, PA from Chicago because some of the places referenced in the show are real! I had this trip planned this time last year, but it got canceled due to COVID. If you are an Office fan and looking to replicate this trip, here’s all you need to know!
Rent a car, or drive. We literally could not do much if we didn’t have a car with us. I would recommend driving or renting a car when you get to PA. All of the places are pretty close in Scranton, but you’d spend a lot on Ubers since there is a lot to see. We did a lot of driving and I’m honestly glad we had a car for the whole trip.
Stay in the Poconos! Because when your super-hot girlfriend says, “I wanna go to Mount Pocono,” you go to Mount Pocono and you do her. Whoops TMI. Contrary to what Michael says, you don’t have to go to the Poconos just to “do it.” 😂 My friend and I stayed in a cabin and it really made us feel like we were living the full The Office experience. I was hoping to run into Kelly and Ryan, but no luck. I would share the link to my Airbnb, but honestly, I was disappointed with the host so I don’t want to mislead you all. All you have to do when searching for a place to stay in the Poconos is type in “Mount Poconos” or “Arrowhead Lake” and there are so many cute cabins or chalets! Most of the good ones are 3 nights minimum, so I’d recommend doing that. Since we were only doing 2 nights the choices for our dates were pretty slim. We looked for places that were 30 minutes or under from Scranton.
Start your day early-ish. Start with the Pennsylvania & Paper Supply. 215 Vine St, Scranton, PA 18501. I am so happy with our timing because we got to see EVERYTHING! The day was honestly so perfect! We started around 11 am and our first stop was the Pennsylvania & Paper Supply! We didn’t do much but take pictures of the iconic building shown in the intro of The Office. We drove around a few times to get the perfect shot. LOL #extra. Luckily our car had a sunroof so I filmed from the roof to get the perfect “drive-by” shot.
Lunch at Alfredo’s Pizza Cafe. 1040 S Washington Ave, Scranton, PA 18505. Not to be confused with Pizza by Alfredo. CAN confirm Alfredo’s was NOT a hot circle of garbage. It was actually really yummy! Be sure to call ahead and make a reservation because they do get a lot of tourists in addition to their regulars and sell out of pizza quickly. Everyone was so sweet and our waitress told us that The Office really helped them get a lot of business and stay afloat, so it was really nice to eat at a local business too! We got mozzarella sticks, breadsticks, and a slice of pizza. Scranton is known for their “square pizza” so if you are with a larger group, I’d recommend trying it out! Be sure to check out their signature cocktails! They also have a display case of reasonably priced The Office merch! I got this super cute hoodie that says “Alfredo’s Pizza Cafe” on the front and “Home of the "Good Pizza” as seen on The Office” on the back!
Shopping at the Steamtown Mall. 300 Lackawanna Ave, Scranton, PA 18503. Heads up, this is actually called The Marketplace At Steamtown. Unfortunately, you won’t find the iconic hot spot Jitters inside, but they do have the “Welcome to Scranton” sign located inside! It’s on the second floor of the mall right next to Crunch Fitness! There are no commonly known stores inside, but the store Phyl Your Bags has a TON of Dunder Mifflin merch. I got the cutest stickers for my laptop! 4 for $2! We walked around the mall and also grabbed a Brown Sugar Oatmilk Espresso from Starbucks after!
Cooper’s Seafood House. 701 N Washington Ave, Scranton, PA 18509. I personally am not a fan of Seafood, but if you wanted you could totally eat lunch here instead! What I liked about Cooper’s was the outside was so cute, so we took a bunch of pictures and spent some time in the gift shop they had. Their gift shop is huge, so if you want to wait to buy merch here, they have a TON! They also have cutouts of Michael and Dwight you can take pictures with! We spent a good 30 minutes looking at everything and picked up a few goodies! The restaurant itself is pretty big, so you could definitely walk around there or grab a drink!
Dinner & drinks at Poor Richard’s Pub. Heads up, they open at 5 PM EST! You don’t need a reservation, and they are located inside of a bowling alley, which is open to play! Their food is SO YUMMY! They also have a ton of The Office-themed merch, and also sell $2 or $7 “Poor Richards” cups! They have a ton of signed pictures and Dundies. I tried their wings and they were so good and the same with their sweet potato fries! One of the employees told us how The Office wasn’t actually filmed in that location, but the producers modeled the set in LA based on what the real location looks like! The real Poor Richards looks SO MUCH like the one on the show (minus the broken glass from Roy and his brother freaking out over the jet skis.)
And that’s it! I honestly had such a great time. It was awesome seeing all of the places mentioned in The Office! It was super cool talking with the employees at every place. It’s amazing how the show brought so much business to some of these local businesses. If you are a fan, I 100% recommend taking this trip!
