A family reunion asks more of a house than a friends' weekend does: a grandparent who can't manage stairs, a baby who needs a crib, a table big enough for everyone at dinner. This guide is a checklist for getting those details right in a Poconos rental.
If you mainly need the biggest houses, start with our large group rentals page, where every home sleeps 12 or more. Here we cover the planning: counting beds, the questions to ask the host, feeding a crowd, booking two homes near each other and the township rules that matter when the whole family gathers.
Count everyone first
Every Pocono township caps the number of overnight guests, usually by bedrooms, and the cap is a legal limit, not a suggestion. Rules differ on young children: Tobyhanna Township counts everyone, including infants, while Coolbaugh Township doesn't count babies under 2. Make a list with everyone's age before you look at houses.
- Tobyhanna Township (Pocono Pines, Pocono Lake, Pocono Summit, Blakeslee): 2 people per bedroom plus 2.
- Tunkhannock (Long Pond), Kidder (Lake Harmony) and Penn Forest (Albrightsville): 2 per bedroom plus 4.
- Coolbaugh and Pocono townships: 2 per bedroom plus 4, up to 14 at most.
- Then match people to beds: bunk rooms are great for cousins, but grandparents and couples need real bedrooms. In a group of 14 or more, count bathrooms as carefully as beds.
Sources: Tobyhanna Township Chapter 114, Short-Term Rentals · Tunkhannock Township Ordinance 2019-01 · Kidder Township Ordinance 2021-187 · Penn Forest Township short-term rentals · Coolbaugh Township Chapter 324, Short-Term Rentals · Pocono Township Chapter 302, Transient Dwelling Use
Questions to ask the host (every generation)
Listings don't always say how a house works for a toddler or an 85-year-old. Put these questions in your booking request so the answers come back in writing.
- Is there a bedroom and a full bathroom on the main floor?
- How many steps are there from the driveway to the front door, and is there a railing? Are the inside stairs steep or open?
- Is there a crib or pack-and-play, a high chair or a baby gate? If not, can you bring your own?
- Is the hot tub or pool covered, locked or fenced, and what are the house rules for kids?
- Is the driveway steep, and who plows it in winter?
- How many people does the dining table seat? Is there a grill, a big coffee maker or a second fridge?
- Is there a quiet room for naps, or space away from the game room?
Booking two homes near each other
Two mid-size homes can beat one huge one: grandparents get a quieter house, each household has its own kitchen, and you may find more choice for your dates. Some hosts and managers look after several homes in the same community, so ask whether a second one is free. Send a separate request for each home.
- Each home has its own guest limit, so the family has to split up overnight the way the permits allow.
- When everyone gathers at one house for the day, day-guest limits apply: up to half the overnight limit in Tunkhannock Township, and up to 75% in Penn Forest, Pocono and Coolbaugh townships.
- Lake communities track visitors. Locust Lake Village pre-registers everyone 12 and older and charges day guests $5 per person plus $10 per car; Penn Estates registers visitors at its Welcome Center; Indian Mountain Lake admits only guests on the registration. Your hosts handle this, so tell them who's coming.
- Cars park on each property, never on the street or lawn, so carpool between the houses.
Sources: Tunkhannock Township Ordinance 2019-01 · Penn Forest Township Ordinance 2 of 2021 · Pocono Township Chapter 302, Transient Dwelling Use · Coolbaugh Township Chapter 324, Short-Term Rentals
Feeding a crowd
- Groceries: there's no big supermarket in Lake Harmony, Blakeslee, Albrightsville, Pocono Lake or Pocono Pines. Route 940 in Mount Pocono has ShopRite, Weis Markets and a Walmart Supercenter, and there's a GIANT in Lehighton (often closest for Albrightsville), Bartonsville and East Stroudsburg.
- Delivery: grocery delivery and pickup apps cover parts of the area, but coverage in the lake communities varies. Check the rental's address in the app before you count on it, or order ahead and pick up on the way in.
- Catering: Barley Creek Brewing Co. in Tannersville has a catering team that can come to your house, and simpler pickup or delivery trays through ezCater with 48 hours' notice (570-629-9399).
- A night out: Pocono Brewery Company in Swiftwater takes large-party reservations and online orders (570-839-1500; closed Tuesdays).
- Share the cooking: give each branch of the family one dinner, and keep a shared list of who's bringing what.
Sources: Barley Creek catering · Pocono Brewery Company · Weis Markets, Mount Pocono
Things to do together
- Kalahari, Pocono Manor: an indoor waterpark for every age. Day passes are limited, so buy them online ahead of time.
- Family rafting: Pocono Whitewater's Family Style trips take kids from age 4 on gentler stretches of the Lehigh River, and groups of 10 or more get group leader perks.
- Skirmish Paintball, Albrightsville: for the cousins 10 and older, with private fields for groups of 15 or more (20 or more on Saturdays).
- State parks: no entrance fee. Tobyhanna State Park's Lakeside Trail is an easy 5.1-mile loop, and Hickory Run State Park has the Boulder Field.
- Pocono Raceway: the 2027 NASCAR weekend is June 11 to 13, 2027, and kids 12 and under get in free.
- At the house: a game room, a hot tub and a long dinner table do a lot of the work. See our game room guide.
Sources: Kalahari waterpark day passes · Pocono Whitewater groups · Skirmish rates and groups · Tobyhanna State Park hiking · Pocono Raceway kids free
Rules that catch reunions out
- No camping in the yard: Tobyhanna, Tunkhannock and Kidder townships ban tents and outdoor sleeping. Penn Forest Township makes an exception for kids under 13 camping out.
- No fireworks, even on the Fourth of July: Tobyhanna, Tunkhannock and Kidder ban them, and so do the lake communities.
- Campfires: Emerald Lakes bans open fires (fire pits need a screened cover), and Penn Forest and Coolbaugh want fires out by midnight. Ask the host about the fire pit.
- No events with outside guests: a reunion of the people staying is fine, but a party for the wider family isn't. Lehman Township, for example, allows overnight lodging only, with no weddings or events.
- Quiet hours usually start at 10 or 11 PM in the lake communities (9 PM Sunday to Thursday in Arrowhead Lake).
Sources: Tobyhanna Township Chapter 114, Short-Term Rentals · Tunkhannock Township Ordinance 2019-01 · Kidder Township Ordinance 2021-187 · Penn Forest Township Ordinance 2 of 2021 · Lehman Township short-term rentals
