My wife and I need to blow vacation time (I know, what an awful position to be in!) - we've got tons of time we haven't used (both work at the same company, both for almost 10 years, and have spent money on projects at in our home, not on vacations...)  So we're planning a road trip...visiting my extended family in rural Pennsylvania, then touring Gettysburg (you can reserve private tour guides there now - used to be first come-first served...those people are truly amazing), then staying with a friend in NYC for a couple days.  All of that is pretty much taken care of.

 

Then we have one more stop - we're thought we'd drive to Philadelphia on Thursday afternoon, stay the night, then start driving back Friday evening.  I really want to see Constitution Hall and the Liberty Bell, but other than that, I have no idea what to see or do, or where to stay.

 

So, anyone have any suggestions for us?  Obviously, we'd love to arrive, park the car, and not see it again until we left on Friday...but we'd rather not spend truckloads of cash...

 

I went to Philly a few years ago for 4 days as a vacation.

 

Try this site

 

http://www.gophila.com/

 

Philly seems to have a lot of museums. I recommend the Mutter museum. They have a lot of medical oddities and weird things if you are into that sort of thing. My fiancee was grossed out but I liked it.

 

At night, South street has a lot of bars and cheese steak places and seems to be a big draw.

go ask user volguus zildrohar

3rd street & Society Hill can't be missed!

having lived there from 93-2004, there is a lot I would suggest to contrast cincinnati but is sounds like you have just 24 hours or so.  I suggest walking through all of the litle cobblestone streets that go through Old City and Society hill.  start at Eldfredths alley (the oldest street in the USA that has been continuously inhabited.)  Check out the sub 6' front doors.  while youre in that area there are probably 100 active art studios.  If you happen to be there on the 1st friday of the month, it will be a madhouse...thousands expolring the artwork.  like final fridays here but with craploads of people.  head south from there and see society hill's perfectly preserved italianate architecture.  the historic stuff is every 50 feet here, and liberty bell/independence hall are in this area.  a little further south is South street, which is kind of like main street meets Mainstrasse, but with a lot more activity day and night.  hafve a slice of Lorenzos (3rd and south).  good shopping.

 

the nicest of the parks is at 18th and walnut (Rittenhouse Square), and coincides with the high end boutique shopping.  There is no tax on clothes in PA so go nuts.  More amazing architecture in this area.  THe quintisential euro-trash-wanna-be-famous-writers hang out at La Colombe (19th and walnut).  If you want advice on dining, let me know.  you will probably stay near chinatown, since thats where most of hte newer hotels are.  Penang is the most popular asian eatery in this neighborhood, if youre into malasian.

 

You shoudl eat some italian when youre there, and La Viola at 16th and spruce is a cheap BYO that's family run, or Ralphs, which claims to be the oldest italian restaurant in the US is at 9th and Christian.  That neighborhood is intersting, but extremely gentrified today.  still charming, but not as many Sopranos types around as 10 years ago.  It's the Italian Market neighborhood...picture Findlay Market times 10.

 

I'm heading there in a week.  Pm if you want any advice.  just ditch the car....everyhting is walking.  your feet will hurt.

 

enjoy!

^Wonderful!  We're going to get our walking on during this trip, because we'll have spent two days walking around NYC before we get to Philly!

 

When it gets closer, I'll gauge out a rough map with the gmap pedometer, and will PM it to you for your review, if you have time to look it over...that sounds like just about exactly what I was looking to do!  Thank you!

 

We'll see if we can get Volguus here to help you, Ethan...

I was going to suggest Elfreth's Alley as well.  One of my favorite residential streets in the country.

 

I know you like a good meal, so I'd suggest one of Stephen Starr's restaurants. (Buddakan, Tangerine, Angelina, etc)

Alright, let's do this...

 

You've already made one smart decision: Forgetting the car until you're ready to leave. Since you'll only be in town a day, Center City (downtown) and its environs have more than enough to keep you occupied, entertained and intrigued.

 

For parking your car, I'd suggest finding a hotel not right in the heart of Center City where you can park and go about your business without worrying about a ticket (which, beyond a shadow of any kind of doubt you will receive for any violation). Center City is eminently walkable and is served by nearly every trolley, subway and commuter train that runs in Philadelphia as well as numerous bus lines. Suggestions for hotels where you can park and hoof it are:

 

-Best Western Center City/22nd & Pennsylvania - on The Parkway near the Art Museum just outside downtown (they plan to tear it down and build a 47-story condo on site next year)

 

-Comfort Inn/Penn's Landng - on the waterfront near the historic area. Not terribly ped friendly

 

-Hyatt Penn's Landing - like the Comfort Inn but on the right side of 8-lane Delaware Avenue

 

-Holiday Inn Old City on 4th Street - convenient to Old City and Center City

 

There are other places you can check out but these are some of the closest to Center City and near some type of transit.

 

Once you're here nothing is going to put a big hit on the wallet. You can have a great dining experience for reasonable prices. I don't know what your preferences are but if you're feeling exploratory, I would recommend taking a walk along Walnut Street between 11th and 18th, South Street between Front and Second (here I personally reccommend Mallorca, a Spanish restaurant) and 18th Street between Locust and Market just for starters. The concentration of good restaurants on those particular streets is high. There are other areas I'd reccommend but I don't know how much you like scenesters and crowds, which will occupy a lot of places on a Thursday night. If such people don't bother you South Street between 7th & 2nd and Old City (3rd to Front Streets, Chestnut to Walnut) also offer excellent restaurants and bars.

 

During the day, obviously there the historic attractions:

 

-Liberty Bell

-Independence Hall

-National Constitution Center

-Betsy Ross' House

 

There are numerous art galleries in the area of Old City north of Market Street in addition to the more traditional museums (Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA Academy Of The Fine Arts).

 

The Benjamin Franklin Parkway has many of the city's major museums along its length and opens to Fairmount Park with the Fairmount Waterworks at its gateway along with Kelly Drive, one of the most scenic places in the city - particularly at sunset.

 

For shopping - or browsing - I'd direct you again to Walnut between 11th & 19th and to The Shops at Liberty Place, inside of course Liberty Place -  the giant blue skyscrapers on Market Street (which is air conditioned - a definite plus during a Philadelphia August, which can be oppressively hot and humid). I wouldn't reccommend downtown's big mall, The Gallery, to tourists because honestly it doesn't need help - it needs prayer.

 

If you're toting the camera, these are some places that will give you excellent vantage points of the city, the skyline, the streets and the people:

 

-South Street Bridge

-Sansom Street between 11th & 18th

-The Clothespin sculpture, 15th & Market

-LOVE Statue, 16th & JFK Blvd

-Broad Street between Spruce and City Hall (an architectural gem you cannot miss - observation deck included)

-Steps of The Philadelphia Museum of Art (the Rocky statue is not there and please, please, please don't embarass yourself by imitating the Rocky run:))

-Benjamin Franklin Bridge walkway, 5th & Race

 

These are just a few. For sites not to miss, there's the Reading Terminal Market, 30th Street Station, The Four Squares (parks), City Hall, The Kimmel Center...all places you can stick your head in and check out. Thursday/Friday is a decent time to be out about.

 

If there's anything else you need to know or have questions on send me a PM or e-mail me at [email protected]. Also, as I always do over at SSP when someone says they're coming to town, I offer my services as a freelance guide (ColDayMan can attest as long as we're not driving;)) as Philadelphia really is a lot more interesting when you've got someone who knows the land. And I do it for fun anyway.

 

Hope you enjoy your trip.

 

Agreed.  Riverviewer (Ethan), I highly recommend his tour.  You'll really enjoy it!

I lived in Philly for 5 years and loved it... For entertainment, you may want to check out:

 

Warmdaddy's (Front & Market, Old City) for blues;

Ortleib's Jazz Haus (3rd & Poplar, Northern Liberties) for bee-bop jazz

Chris's and Zanzibar Blue -- for more jazz

Trocadero or the Electric Factory, Rock

 

Walnut Street (btw Broad & Rittenhouse Sq) for high end shopping; eating; loads of foot traffic at all hours during the day until 1a.

 

Franklin Institute: 20th & Ben Franklin Parkway: for all kinds of science, natural history, planetarium and an IMAX theatre (Superman Returns was playing there a few weeks ago).

 

Hop a Chestnut Hill train to the end of (either, R7, R8) line to experience old style cobblestone suburban shopping and eating (although, technically, Chestnut Hill is in the City limits, it FEELS very suburban, old money...

 

And then, back in Center City, if you want a Jamaican eating treat, try the famed Jamaican Jerk Hut (featured in it's unaltered form in the recent movie "In Her Shoes")...

 

... but this is only scratching the surface.  Philly is LOADED w/ stuff to do...

 

 

 

 

 

I hope I'm not chiming in too late.

If you're coming from Gettysburg, stay on US 30 and take some time to visit York and Lancaster, along with the Pennsylvania Dutch region (eastern side of Lancaster County)

 

If you continue along US 30, you'll head through the Main Line region, which is upper (and some cases upper, upper) class old style suburbia (Check out Wayne and Bryn Mawr in particular)  And while not part of the Main Line, there's Chestnut Hill (NW Philly essentially), another upper class suburb like area.