Charter Bus & Group Shuttle Service to West Laurel Hill Cemetery

West Laurel Hill Cemetery: a quiet arrival.

West Laurel Hill Cemetery, at 225 Belmont Avenue in Bala Cynwyd, has been Philadelphia's suburban rural cemetery since 1869. Two hundred acres of hillside, shaded avenues, historic monuments, and one of the region's earliest natural-burial grounds. For families holding a service here, transportation is a chance to slow the day down — not add pressure to it.

We serve West Laurel Hill weekly. Our chauffeurs know the Belmont Avenue entrance, the drive up to the on-site funeral home, and where to stage buses so the procession stays intact from gate to graveside.

About West Laurel Hill

Founded in 1869 as a companion to Laurel Hill Cemetery in East Falls, West Laurel Hill sits on 200 acres of Lower Merion Township hillside, just across the Schuylkill River from the city. It is non-denominational, and welcomes families of every faith and tradition.

Notable Philadelphians buried here include department-store founder John Wanamaker, Frances Folsom Cleveland-Preston (First Lady, wife of Grover Cleveland), and Anna Jarvis, the founder of Mother's Day. The grounds hold Civil War sections, a Jewish burial ground, a natural-burial Nature Sanctuary, and one of the region's few pet-inclusive family plots.

The cemetery operates its own on-site funeral home, Laurel Hill West Funeral Home, at the main entrance. Many families choose to hold the service in the funeral home's chapel and then move directly to the graveside — we can coordinate the vehicle staging for either flow.

Address, entrance, and staging

• Mailing address: 225 Belmont Avenue, Bala Cynwyd, PA 19004
• GPS address (recommended): 321 Belmont Avenue — the cemetery advises this for accurate GPS routing
• Main phone: 610-668-9900 (24/7 care team)
• Office hours: Mon–Fri 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM, Sat 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM, Sun 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM

The main entrance is on Belmont Avenue. Charter buses enter through the main gate, follow the drive up to the on-site funeral home, and park in the funeral home lot. Ceremony guests gather at the funeral home first, then the procession proceeds to the graveside section within the cemetery.

Our chauffeurs will call the cemetery care team ahead of time if the procession is unusually large or if the burial section is deep in the property. West Laurel Hill's staff is exceptional at directing procession traffic — we work with their lead rather than around it.

Drive times to West Laurel Hill

Approximate drive times, off-peak. Traffic on I-76 and City Avenue can add 10 to 20 minutes during rush hour.

• Center City Philadelphia: 15 to 20 minutes via the Schuylkill Expressway
• Philadelphia International Airport (PHL): 25 to 35 minutes
• Kirk & Nice (Roxborough or Huntingdon Valley): 15 to 30 minutes depending on location
• Craft-Givnish (multiple locations): 15 to 40 minutes depending on location
• Bringhurst Funeral Home (on-site): minutes — located at the cemetery
• Fluehr & Sons (Bucks County): 35 to 50 minutes
• Joseph Levine & Son (Trevose): 40 to 55 minutes

What we typically arrange for West Laurel Hill services

Most families booking us for a West Laurel Hill service ask for some combination of the following:

• Family stretch limousine from the funeral home to the cemetery, riding in the procession lead position behind the funeral director's coach
• Motor coach or mini-coach for extended family and friends traveling together from the church or funeral home
• Sprinter van for a smaller group of close friends or for airport arrivals joining directly
• Return shuttle from the cemetery to a repast venue — Water Works by Cescaphe, Overbrook Golf Club, or a private home are the most common destinations
• Multi-day coordination when the wake, service, and burial span two days

On-site facilities that matter for transportation planning

West Laurel Hill has several features that make it unusually easy to serve compared to older cemeteries:

• On-site funeral home. Laurel Hill West Funeral Home at the main entrance means the family can gather, view, and hold the service without an off-site stop.
• Dedicated funeral home parking lot. Enough space to stage a motor coach plus multiple family vehicles.
• Reception facility. The cemetery has on-site reception space, which occasionally eliminates the need for a separate repast shuttle. Ask the cemetery directly about availability.
• Wide interior roads. Most sections are accessible to a full-size motor coach. Very few graveside locations require guests to walk more than 100 yards from the vehicle.
• 24/7 care team phone. The cemetery answers overnight and on weekends, which helps when procession timing shifts at the last minute.

Working around traffic

Two chokepoints matter most for a West Laurel Hill service:

• The Schuylkill Expressway (I-76). Most Philadelphia processions use I-76 or City Avenue to reach Belmont Avenue. Both are slow between 7:00 and 9:30 AM and 3:30 and 6:30 PM. We factor that into your arrival time.
• Belmont Avenue itself. Two lanes each way with signalized intersections. A large procession can stretch through two or three lights. Our chauffeur will hold the line by pacing carefully rather than trying to catch a green.

For services scheduled during rush hour, we suggest building an extra 30 minutes of buffer into the funeral home departure time. Better to arrive early and wait quietly than to arrive late and rushed.

Repast venues after a West Laurel Hill service

Because West Laurel Hill sits at the Bala Cynwyd / Lower Merion edge of Philadelphia, families often gather at Main Line or riverside venues after the committal. The venues we shuttle to most often after a West Laurel Hill service:

• Water Works by Cescaphe — 640 Water Works Drive, Philadelphia. About 15 minutes from the cemetery, riverside setting.
• The Tavern at Cescaphe — 261 Montgomery Avenue, Bala Cynwyd. Under 10 minutes from the cemetery. Private dining rooms for 40 to 75 guests.
• William Penn Inn — 1017 DeKalb Pike, Gwynedd. About 30 minutes from the cemetery. Private memorial-luncheon rooms for 45 to 120 guests.
• Private residences in Bala Cynwyd, Wynnewood, or Merion — we can loop between the cemetery and a home neighborhood as many times as needed.

See our repast luncheon transportation page for a longer list of venues.

Booking a West Laurel Hill service

Call (267) 223-4647 for anything inside 72 hours — a dispatcher answers 24 hours a day. For services further out, the quote form above returns a real vehicle assignment and price on screen within a minute.

Please tell us at booking:

• Funeral home name and phone (so we can coordinate directly)
• Cemetery arrival time as set by the funeral director
• Section or graveside location if known — helps our chauffeur park closer
• Whether a repast is planned and where
• Any mobility or medical considerations

A note on the natural burial section

West Laurel Hill was one of the earliest cemeteries in the region to establish a dedicated natural or green-burial section. Families who chose that option for their loved one often want a quieter procession — smaller vehicle, shorter approach, less formal chauffeur presence. If the burial is in the natural section, tell us at booking and we will match a chauffeur experienced with that particular family preference. Sprinter van or sedan is more common than a stretch limo for these services.

Historical context that occasionally matters

Because West Laurel Hill is a National Register historic site with several nationally significant graves, some services attract press attention or extended-family attendance beyond the immediate expectation. If your family has any connection to a notable Philadelphia figure buried at the cemetery, we suggest budgeting for a larger vehicle than the initial guest count would indicate. The cemetery has managed high-attendance services many times and coordinates with security when needed — that coordination flows through the funeral director, and our role is simply to have the right-sized vehicle on hand.

Combining a graveside visit with a longer trip

Families visiting West Laurel Hill from out of state sometimes combine the graveside visit with an unveiling ceremony, a family reunion at a Main Line hotel, or a scattering ceremony at a second location. We can arrange a single vehicle for a full day — PHL Airport pickup, hotel drop, West Laurel Hill visit, second-location visit, return to hotel or airport — under a single quote and single invoice. Tell us the whole day's plan at booking so we can size the vehicle correctly.