Philadelphia - ideas for food, touring, etc.?

[Mamma2004]

DS (17) is attending a sports "camp" all day Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Lodging is not provided, so we are staying in a hotel not too far from the camp.

1) Where might be fun to take him in the evening? Friday he does not finish until 6:30, so by the time we walk to the hotel for shower and change, it will be approaching 8:00. Saturday we could be leaving the hotel by 6:00 p.m. Same with Sunday, though we also need to drive nearly 5 hours home.

2) It feels funny to sightsee without my family, but is there anything I should not miss during my three days in Philly? I plan to walk a lot, but the city is not small!

DS very much wants a cheesesteak and a great Italian meal. With restrictions lifting, it seems many restaurants are booked (I did look about 3 weeks ago, when we decided to go).

Thanks for any must-do recommendations.

[Philly Mom]

Where is the camp? Hotel?


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[Mamma2004]

[QUOTE=Philly Mom;4400147]Where is the camp? Hotel?

The camp is at the University of Pennsylvania, and our hotel is the Inn at Penn. We have only been to Philly once, and never beyond the hospital (!). It will be great to have some time together in the evenings, but most of that time is likely to be spent in pursuit of food. DS loves to travel and experience new places, but my priority will making sure he EATS to fuel himself for the busy weekend.

[Philly Mom]

I like Jim’s for cheesesteaks. Reading Terminal Market for great takeout food. Roast Pork Sandwiches at Dinics.

Philly is very walkable. You can really walk the whole city. I have family stuff going on and will write more later.


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[AnnieW625]

We were just there last week but in the historic area. We stayed with family in the suburbs so we only ate in town once and picked up sandwiches from a little market called Mulberry Market at 236 Arch Street. We didn’t get any Philly Cheesesteaks in Philly because we were short on time (due to Independence Hall tour time) but it was still a nice sandwich I really liked supporting a true mom and pop style market. We had to eat while walking back to Independence Hall (you have to go through security 30 minutes before your tour). There is a Sonny’s Famous Cheese Steaks in the same area though we really didn’t have time to stop in (but it has 4000+ reviews on Google and it was pretty packed when we went by).

We saw The Liberty Bell (no tickets required) and lucked out and got tickets to Independence Hall when someone had some extra, but we were limited to their timed tour, but I thought we should see it anyway. Tickets are first come first served every morning (online reservations are sold out for a few months) and when they are gone they are gone for the day. However the Independence Hall tour (and Constitution Hall tour) is maybe 15 minutes so tbh I wouldn’t go out of your way to get tickets unless you are staying close to the area and can be there right when they are handed out for the day. The Betsy Ross House, and Benjamin Franklin’s grave are also in the same general walking area.

We tried to go into Christ Church but it was closed in the afternoon the Sunday we were there.

We didn’t do Reading Terminal Market on this trip but I was okay with that. My aunt insisted on cooking us breakfast and dinner for the three days we were in town (got in Saturday afternoon and left Tuesday morning) so we just didn’t eat out at other than lunch.

The art museum is closed on Monday so we didn’t get to go to that (we were only in town Sunday and Monday), but DH still ran up the Rocky steps and took a photo of the Rocky statue.

We didn’t go but the American Revolution Museum is in the same area and has good reviews. We didn’t do it but my aunt said she likes walking around the boat house area (which is close to the art museum).

Call us crazy but we opted to take the kids to Atlantic City, NJ (vs. going back to Philly and seeing more sights) on the Monday we were there because they had never been to an east coast ocean. We had a nice relaxing time walking up and down the sand and we actually ate some Philly cheesesteaks there that were delicious. We picked a beach off of Michigan Avenue (parking for 5 hours was about $6) and it wasn’t crowded. We also didn’t have to pay to be on the beach. My aunt also suggested Ocean City, NJ but she said it was about 30-40 minutes from Atlantic City south of Atlantic City and Atlantic City was just an hour from their house. She also said you would have to pay a beach fee there. We didn’t go in the water as it was a little cold so we just collected shells, and took photos. Would I want to spend my whole vacation there, probably not but for a day trip with kids it was fun.

If you like light hiking you can also go to Valley Forge. I had done that on a prior trip but didn’t feel like doing it this time.

Also if you have a car and like history you can drive about 2 hours outside of town to Gettysburg. We did a driving tour and there is a museum as well. We did have to go back to see more of Gettysburg the day after we did our auto tour due to a rain storm the day prior but if you don’t plan on spending the night you can easily do the whole battlefield tour with stops in about 3 hours.

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[lizzywednesday]

Wawa Welcome America is happening now through July 4th, so there are all kinds of free things going on in Center City (sounds like you're in University City? I don't know Philly as well as I know other places!) and in the historic district - complete schedule and whether or not you need to reserve tickets here: https://welcomeamerica.com.

DH likes cheesesteaks from Tony Luke's; I think they're OK, so I get the roast pork there.

I second the roast pork at DiNic's at Reading Terminal Market, and also recommend whoopie pies (especially like the "peanut butter cup" and Guinness-creme ones, but you can't go wrong with a classic!) or a slice of cake (you only need one slice and you should share it with someone else; this month's flavor is the Sundae Cake, but I recommend the Elvis cake if they have it!) from Flying Monkey Bakery and Beiler's Doughnuts (DH and I recommend the blueberry fritters and the Elvis doughnut) ... oh, and Basset's Ice Cream.

[Philly Mom]

Spruce street Harbor is great.

Barnes Foundation

Art Museum and the walk on Kelly Drive

Walk on Forbidden Drive

Have a meal at Parc and walk around Rittenhouse Square

Eat at Melagrano for good Italian.

For classic old school Italian go to South Philly. Lots of people like Ralph’s. I never did but I am in the minority. Other good options there are Dante and Louigi and Villa de Roma

For the best gelato: Gran Caffe L'Aquila, also a full scale restaurant

https://www.visitphilly.com/uwishunu...-week-weekend/



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[Mamma2004]

Thank you for the great suggestions - I feel overwhelmed, as I have been spending my time working, but also dealing with car repairs and a sick dog. I hit the panic button and begged for your help with Philly - thank you! My son is working an unplanned shift right now (!!!), so we will not get to Philadelphia until early evening. Rush hour traffic should be fun. ;-). We will need to figure out where to eat tonight, then maybe I can map out the weekend a bit.

Please continue to send any ideas - I plan to walk all over the city and enjoy what it has to offer. Thank you all!