The Brutal, Honest Truth about Places to See on First Visit (Philadelphia: live, buses)

[Nouvelle Villa]

I wanted to respond to your post, but turns out that I have only have to second most of what has been posted!

I suggest the Mutter Museum to visitors. It is great. Furthermore, there is a great Museum of Archeology on UPenn's Campus (32nd and South St, Penn Museum) that is also affordable (especially compared with the Franklin Institute, which can be pricey).

Also, I think the museum of Art has a day where it is suggested donations only (I think Sundays) which can save you $.

As for nightlife, I'm very fond of Northern Liberties (an area roughly between 2nd st and 5th st and Spring Garden to Girard Ave). There are a number of bars and restaurants. I guess I would describe the bars as tavern like, or something akin to microbreweries (low key, good food).

Reading terminal market is a nice place to visit. It's a farmers market with a number of stores and eateries. Delilahs is rumoured to have the best Mac & Cheese in the nation. There is also an ice cream / pretzel stand run by Amish or German Baptist that make hands down the best pretzels in the world!

As for safety, as a number of people mentioned, the bad areas of the city have really nothing to offer tourists or even residents for that matter. It is somewhat hard to tell someone specifically what areas to avoid because unlike most American cities whereby the "bad area" is usually confined to a single location, Philadelphia has many pockets of undesirable neighborhoods scattered throughout.

If you take transportation to your visiting points, you shouldn't have any problems.

Have fun!

[newmarlig]

Lunch at the Reading Terminal Market (Wed-Sat - when the Amish are there). Another interesting place is Franklin Court.

www.frommers.com/destinations/philadelphia/A32268 (broken link)

There is a purple bus in center city called The Phillyphlash. It has stops from Penns Landing to the Art Museum. You pay one fare and get a ticket to get on and off where you want.

[Sassygirl18]

Oh yeah, the Reading Terminal Market is highly recommended. It's TOTALLY a Philly experience.

[orrmobl]

I highly recommend the Rodin museum, Art Museum, Elfreth's Alley is my favorite historical place, Christ Church, Betsy Ross's house, Ben Franklin's grave and the penny sculpture. Also Independence Hall, gotta see the Liberty Bell, the Mint is cool if you have time. Lunch at the Reading Terminal Market, a tour or walk around and through of City hall just to admire its architecture.

The Mutter Museum has fetuses in jars and that kind of stuff...I wouldnt take a female friend there unless she was kind of freaky.

Old City is the place for a Manhattan feel - Northern Liberties is for the edgy, artsy feel - just be aware it is still sketchy on the fringes so don't walk too far off the beaten path...

Check out places like Continental for martinis and people dressed all in black, Sugar Mom's for a live band, Standard Tap for a great meal and microbrew in Northern Liberties...

[Finger Laker]

definitely lunch at the Reading Terminal Market - swinging over to the parkway on sunday is good for museums - you can get into the art museum at a discount and the rodin museum operates on donations (i believe it's open on sundays) ...... eastern state pen is also near this neighborhood - there are some good bars, restaurants in this area for lunch as well

lot's of good advice on here - probably my favorite spot in the city when i was living there was Ortliebs Jazz Haus near Northern Liberties - great little place - would often hit there and the Standard Tap in the same night

[Torresdale]

^ I think the Art Museum is free on Sundays. Although, they do accept donations.

Originally Posted by orrmobl

The Mutter Museum has fetuses in jars and that kind of stuff...I wouldnt take a female friend there unless she was kind of freaky.

Hey, I'm female and we love cyclops fetuses just as much as the next dude.

Oh and I agree what everyone said about Reading Terminal Market! Make sure to get some Fisher's soft pretzels while there.

[capricorn11]

If you're into history, stay away from the tourist sites and stay away from the overdone museum-like Elfreth's Alley and wander the residential streets of Society Hill and Washington Square West. Society Hill is the most successful urban restoration project in the country and has the highest concentration of still existing Colonial and Federal era homes, most exterior facades restored to a period appearance with authentic shutters, true divided light windows, etc. Many of the homes - and on some blocks nearly every home - have small markers in the window that tell you the year it was built, for whom and by whom and in what style (e.g. Built 1802 for William Smith, Printmaker in the Georgian style.) Most of the streets look like this: http://z.hubpages.com/u/57938_f520.jpg

Jump about halfway down this page to where it says - Begin your afternoon walking tour - explore Society Hill

Philadelphia Walking Tour - Day One (broken link)

Washington Square West contains incredible 6-foot wide cobblestone streets full of what in the early 1800s were working class homes - think of this as the working class equivalent of patrician society hill. It's also the Philly gayborhood, full of antiques, funky little stores. Stroll down Camac Street (Image:Camac street Philadelphia.jpg - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia). Walk the labyrinth of little streets bounded by Locust and Pine to the north/south and 13th/12th to the west/east - Camac, Quince, Irving, Manning, Jessup, Fawn, Panama, Iseminger... all 6 feet wide, many cobblestoned, all dripping with 1800-1850 tiny tiny brick rowhomes with authentic facades - with no cars on these streets it's easy to imagine it is 1830 when you're walking down them. HEre's a photo of Jessup St. - Jessup Street, Row Houses

[bryson662001]

If you catch the tour I recomended earlier it will pass all these tourist stops and you can get off and get back on, I think for 24 hours. Plan your walking carefully since it is going to be HOT and sweaty. I trust you have the maps from gophilla.com?

[Sassygirl18]

The Mutter Museum has fetuses in jars and that kind of stuff...I wouldnt take a female friend there unless she was kind of freaky.

I went with a mixed group and the women (including me) handled it just fine. None of us are freaky either.

[gbem]

Thanks a lot everyone. I haven't gotten those maps but will before we go. There's still like twenty days before we head out. Interestingly, I was in the Providence Place Mall (here in Providence, Rhode Island), and I was visiting the cafe at the Borders during my lunch break, and I overheard this woman from Philadelphia talking about her experiences with humidity in that city, and awful it is. She mentioned having the air conditioner on all the time, and how she had to wrap blankets around her when inside because it was so cold. Now I'm not about to make any gender comments, so can anyone put it straight as to how the humidity is in Philadelphia? I know that's not what the post was originally intended to be about, but I think it'd be helpful to any visitors. I've lived in Maine and Rhode Island and have spent time in all many other New England states so I know what humidity is relative to us. I don't find it that bad, even when most people are complaining. I'm assuming the best thing to do is just jump inside a cafe or shop every time the sweat gets too unbearable. But also, are mass-transit vehicles air-conditioned?