Philadelphia

[Stu]

Going to Philadelphia in October with my brother (seems an appropriate place to go with him). Anyone on here been and any tips of what to see/do/eat, aside from the obvious stuff?

[pozbaird]

14 minutes ago, Stu said:

Going to Philadelphia in October with my brother (seems an appropriate place to go with him). Anyone on here been and any tips of what to see/do/eat, aside from the obvious stuff?

Been once, but it was many years ago, and was only there on a day trip on the train from Washington DC. The independence stuff was interesting.

This reply has been extremely in-depth, hasn’t it? Hey, at least I never said the words ‘Rocky’ and ‘steps’. 

[David W]

Not sure which of this is obvious but it's what I did when I visited in 2016.

The US Mint is interesting for an hour or so; need your passport. The Liberty Bell is a bell (not really anything to it in terms of displays etc.) and is next to Independence hall which is interesting and is reasonably quick to go through but I think you need to book tickets in advance (we did, and picked them up there).

The National Constitution center, which is across the road from the above, I found fascinating, all about the constitution and the history of US politics.  It was free as it was Independence weekend when we were there but I'd have happily paid the normal entrance fee.

The steps at the Museum of Art are obviously really popular. I think I was the only person re-enacting Will Smith's run up them in the Fresh Prince, rather than the more famous version. Rocky statue there as well. I'm not into art and despite getting in for basically free (they do pay what you want the first Sunday of the month), I felt overcharged. I think we were out in about half an hour. If you like art you'd probably think it was great as it's got a huge amount of stuff.

You need to go to Reading Terminal Market for food. Hustle bustle indoor market, lots of food stalls. "Sabrina's Cafe and Spencer's Too" was good for breakfast, near the Art gallery. We ate twice at the baseball, and also had the option of breakfast in our hotel, so that's about it for my food recommendations.

One Liberty Observation deck is a fairly bog standard panoramic view over the city. We did it at dusk and caught a fireworks display as part of the Independence Day stuff. Not sure it's worth the money unless you really want an aerial view of the city; Philadelphia doesn't exactly have lots of sights that you'd be picking out.

Really enjoyed the Eastern State Penitentiary; Great historic audio tour through the old state prison where Capone used to be jailed. I enjoyed it as much as Alcatraz (and a lot more than Inverary Jail ) .

Museum of the American revolution is apparently good; wasn't open when we were there.

We also went to see the Phillies play twice, and toured CBP. It was a good tour, but I'm a Phillies fan so was always going to like it. Flyers, 76ers, Eagles and Phillies all literally play across the street from each other. They're a metro ride away, whereas the other stuff you can do by walking centrally.

Love Philadelphia. Proper, no-nonsense city.

[Stu]

Got back a few days ago, did pretty much everything you suggested (not intentionally mind you!). Thought the National Constitution Centre was boring but that was probably because we'd just spent a couple of hours at the American Revolution museum so yet more reading etc was maybe pushing it a bit. Reading Terminal Market was tremendous, especially as we accidentally discovered a couple of places started selling their cookies off for $1 half an hour or so before closing. Funny how often we then timed things to be in the area at that point.

We had a sightseeing pass which was ideal. $120 up front for five days and we did about $300 worth of stuff on it including the zoo, museums, One Liberty, bus tour, Eastern State and four walking tours. Also went to a 76ers game, although it was a friendly against a Chinese team who were rubbish by comparison.