My college age daughter and I first took a 2 hour bus tour of the battlefield before walking through the museum. It made the artifacts, commentary, and short movies more understandable since we had just been to the areas, and seen where the items might have been used or worn. We enjoyed our time immensely!

Stayed at the Hilton Garden for 3 nights. This is more then enough time to see everything. Took the 2 hour bus tour and it was very informative. Also visited the visitor center. You need at least 3hours for this exhibit. I would highly recommend the museum and theater combo. Had dinner at the Dobbin Tavern the experience was awesome. I would recommend getting their onion soup. They also have a great shop attached.

The new Visitor's Center is really nice. 1 ticket gets you into the Cyclorama/Movie and then the museum. I did some stuff in town in the morning and came to the Center after lunch hoping that most people would hit the visitors center before going to the battlefield. It was pretty good because the theatre and cyclorama did not have that many people in it so was nice. The museum is very good with a nice overview covering the whole of the battlefield.

We visited Gettysburg in 2004 and a lot has changed since that visit. The visitor Center was built in 2008. We enjoyed the Civil War Film, Civil War Museum, and the Battlefield Bus Tour. It was a wonderful Experience with lots of interesting facts/stories about the Civil War. Our tour guide was fabulous! We also ate Apple Dumplings with ice cream at a the cafe on site!

Our visit to the Visitors Center and Museum couldn't have been better. We purchased the Movie, Cyclorama and Museum package (STRONG recommended) and it was absolutely incredible. The effort that went into the entire experience was breathtaking - it captureed the significance, drama and solemnity of those three days in July 1863. The Visitors Center prepared us most appropriately for the Auto Tour - which we embarked upon immediately our visit. Gettysburg, in my option, is a MUST SEE for any citizen or visitor of the US - and this is a great place to start. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!

Very informative and the staffs were very helpful. I love the fact that they offer self guided tour and we can just do it in our own pace. The museum itself has a lot of artifacts and mementos from the Civil war although we didn't get to explore the entire place due to time constraints but all in all, it was a very pleasant experience.

We purchased the 2 hour guided bus tour of the battlefield. Our tour guide, Fred, was very knowledgeable and made the battle come alive for us. No matter how much you read about the battle, seeing it and having someone explain exactly where the troops were made it all come alive and made you feel like you had travelled back to those historic 3 days. Unfortunately, what I really wanted to see- Devil's Den and Little Round Top, has been closed to the public for a year- supposedly for repaving the road, but in a year's time they haven't laid down an inch of tar. My parents used to take us to that area when I was little and I wanted to see it again, but couldn't get close. Still enjoyed the tour though and highly recommend it to all. Had an amazing bus driver too- Linda. She is the best!!

Definitely should be your first stop if visiting Gettysburg for the historical aspect. It is big, clean, has restrooms, food, and big staff to assist with questions and you can buy individual or package tickets for many things to see/do. The cyclorama, movie, and museum are great, as was the bus tour from there.

I did not pay to see any of the films but it is a very large place with people manning the information counter ready to help answer questions. This is probably a good place to start your trip to Gettysburg if you haven't already researched where you want to go and set an itinerary (which I suggest you do before your trip). There is a very large gift shop with shirts, souvenirs and books on just about anything to do with Gettysburg and the individual battles. Nice if you want to get information and view the museum and cyclorama, those were just things I myself didn't want to pay admission for and take the time to see. .

Even those who are not history buffs should take time to be reminded of the grim tragedy that war is--especially when we are fighting among our selves. We were at Gettysburg for a day and a half which worked out to just about the right amount of time. We began at the visitor center with the film and cyclorama, then did the "Day 1" (July 1st) portion of the Park Service Car tour.(Suggestion: use the Park Service app to locate sites on a GPS app on your phone for directions. We had trouble following some of the signs.) On the second day we began with the 90 minute Park Ranger led hiking tour of the battle field. In our opinion this is the one thing not to be missed. It will allow you to visualize how all three days battles progressed. We followed this will the museum which was excellent and ended with a trip to the cemetery to see where Lincoln spoke. Final thought: don't miss the 90 minute Ranger tour! We do not regret in any way passing on the bus tour to include this in our itinerary.