Top 2 or 3 things to see/do in a weekend (Philadelphia: university, restaurants)

[BoSox 15]

Hey all, I'm planning a weekend trip up to Philadelphia next month. I'm wondering what the recommended things to see and do are? Will only be there for two days, so I'm looking for the "You can't visit Philadelphia with out seeing/doing this" type of things.

Also would like recommendations for a nice dinner place. Will be staying near the convention center and relying on public transportation.

If there's preferred websites for things to do, I'd be happy to look there as well.

Thanks in advance.

[Becca8377]

Uwishunu.com - Philadelphia Blog About Things to Do, Events, Restaurants, Food, Nightlife and More

[Flyers Girl]

If you want to go the historic route, check out the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, and Benjamin Franklin's grave, among other things. There's also Elfreth's Alley (the nation's oldest residential street), Franklin Fountain (awesome ice cream), and Penn's Landing, also among many other things.

[thedirtypirate]

Spruce harbor Park reopens May 12th and it is definitely a popular spot to check out. You can try the Philadelphia favorite's Chickies and Pete's crab fries and Franklin Fountain's ice cream while there. It is a fun place.



Second suggestion, is what is deemed "The World's Highest Beer Garden" The Skygarten, which reopens for the season next week. It is a good spot to have a drink and stand outside 700ft up. It has really cool views of the city.





My third suggestion is the Cira Green, an elevated park that sits between two new skyscrapers on top of a 10 story parking garage. It is being converted into a beer garden by the Philadelphia Horticulture Society for the summer. It is one of our newest attractions, and it blows my mind how empty it is all the time. If it were in NYC, it would be absolutely insanely packed.



It's a really cool view imo from the park looking back at the city.






If you want to go to a muesum area, I would say the Parkway is better than Old City. You can see the iconic Philadelphia Art Museum, The Barnes Foundation, and the Rodin Museum right in a row. The Barnes is one of the most important Post-Impressionists collections in existence, and the Rodin is a great collection of Auguste Rodin's works including one of my favorite statues in the city chilling outside, the thinker




All of these places are easily walkable and in the general downtown area.

[newmarlig]

Lunch at The Reading Terminal Market.

[groar]

Eastern state penitentiary is a really interesting historic site. And I'd second the art museum and reading terminal market.

[groar]

Oh and there are tons of great food options near where you are staying - Penang is an awesome Malaysian restaurant in Chinatown, there are tons of other good places in Chinatown too. If you're on the adventurous side you should get dim sum (I like ocean harbor) although that's a breakfast/lunch thing.

Barbuzzo is really good Italian, vedge is a world class vegan fine dining restaurant, han dynasty is excellent Szechuan, kanella is cypriot/Greek, there are tons of options. And you can get to virtually any part of town easily without a car, say if you wanted to go to West Philly for Ethiopian food you can just take a trolley.

[MarketStEl]

A little off the beaten path but very much worth visiting is the Penn Museum (University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology).

If you're into ancient world cultures, there are few museums in the country that top it.

33rd and Spruce/South (nice walk from 34th Street station on the Market-Frankford Line or Route 42 bus along Walnut to 34th and Spruce).

Since you said you were relying on public transportation (I'm a card-carrying rider who has a rep at SEPTA HQ - I used to be on the transportation beat), here's SEPTA's landing page for visitors:

SEPTA | Welcome

[Pine to Vine]

If you really want to get a quick overview of the city, take one of the hop on/off buses first. In 90 minutes, you'll see more of the city than you could begin to cover on your own. Further, you'll have a local guide explaining just what it is you're seeing. Afterwards, you can decide just which spots you'd like to return to for a longer visit. It does run around $27 a pop, however, but I do think it's worth it.

After the bus, I second visiting Reading Terminal Market. It's right next to the convention center. There is a reason why it's the city's most visited attraction, drawing even more visitors than the Libert Bell: Reading Terminal Market — Visit Philadelphia — visitphilly.com.

[eureka1]

^^^^^^^^^What he said