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Yeah even if I went to Paris I couldn't spend all seven days in the city with out wanting to venture out well beyond it. For DC I'd have to add Harpers Ferry, Annapolis, and OCMD to fill up a week. For the criteria I'd have to extend the radius from 10 to a 100 miles for a day trip and/or overnight excursion.
For San Diego, yeah I could see for families there are enough things to do to fill up a week. Of course everyone has different ideas in mind.
Yeah, I think if you extend the radius from 10 to 100 miles Seattle - even comparatively to the other cities - jumps up to an A. There are just so many great day/weekend trips in that range.
The "horrid" Big Dig is one of the major reasons why downtown Boston is as appealing and charming and pedestrian-friendly as it is today. After all, this project took a huge, hulking, elevated highway and buried it underground, so from the perspective of someone strolling around downtown, it's like the highway isn't even there.
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How about just getting rid of that highway and interchange all together? It certainly would have been a lot cheaper in correcting the 1950s (I'm assuming) blight on the city. Is there a law that says downtown Boston, one of America's most historic big cities, has to have a freeway cutting right through the middle of it, esp given Boston's one of the most walkable, transit-friendly metro in America?
In fairness though, they "intensely" defend Philadelphia like you "intensely" defend Washington DC... Most people are going to defend "their city" if they feel like someone isn't giving it the credit they feel it deserves or if they feel their city is being degraded.
I honestly love Washington DC and you're not going to hear me knock it. It absolutely has an abundance of sights and monuments and tourist areas - it's one of my favorite cities and regions. I do feel like Philadelphia is being short changed in this conversation though. I understand that your opinion is yours and rightly so, but their opinion of Philadelphia and it being on the same playing field is valid in my book.
The WatchMojo video, while interesting is subjective. I could make my own list that may look totally different from theirs. Doesn't make my list correct and theirs wrong or vice-versa.
Philadelphia is a city at the top of my to visit list (and I acknowledge I am only one person). I personally find the history and amenities catering to that history to be quite fascinating whereas other cities mentioned may not be my cup of tea, so to speak. I can understand that all the historical sights may not be everybody's "thing", but activities in other cities mentioned wouldn't score points with me personally. I would say Philadelphia is on par with the Chicago/San Francisco/Washington DC/Boston group.
Outside Philadelphia city limits there is Valley Forge, Wilmington, DE, Trenton, NJ, The Amish Village and Atlantic City, NJ (both just a little over an hour drive away) and just over an hour away is a train trip to both New York City among other things. It's not any worse for amenities than these other cities being mentioned.
Agree with everything from your first sentence to the last
If you're using TripAdvisor (and I use trip advisor a lot. I even have their app) to exclusively gage what to do in any area, then I don't know what to say. That's a poor way to judge what there is to do anywhere. I travel extensively and know this. It bases its "ranking" on Tripadvisor-only reviews. That's just too narrow to be either objective or accurate.
*Just the museums uptown, 3/4 of a day (a full day easily if you have kids).
*U.S. National Whitewater Center, 2 days to relaxingly enjoy everything. It's a one-of-a-kind property.
*Carowinds Theme Park & Water Park, a day/day and a half.
*2 state parks in the metro, NASCAR speedway, Splash Planet Indoor Waterpark, NFL/NBA/MLS teams, Latta Nature Preserve & Raptor Center, 3 state parks in the area (Lake Norman SP, Crowder's Mountain SP, Kings Mountain SP), are some of the other things off the top of my head. The Billy Graham Center is actually a very interesting place to visit and it's free. It's a stunningly gorgeous property. Even non-religious people find it interesting and relaxing.
So I really can't take this list seriously when Charlotte ranks on par with Fresno, CA in the number of things to do, lol. In reality, for its size, there is a lot to do.
I agree Charlotte is not a bad city. Never a first choice but worth at least a day or two.Most cities are. It was a very irrational statement .I would say uniformed but thats obvious from some of his ratings for several cities. Not even Camden Nj deserves zero days
While I agree with your assessment regarding Philadelphia's Colonial history and strong arts and some other tourist charms, you give Philly transit a very unfair jab.
The subway, elevated and LRT (subway-surface lines) take visitors many places in the city other than just from the Amtrak station to Independence Hall. The Broad Street subway takes visitors to the sports complex in South Philly, as well as to many vibrant, row-house/retail neighborhoods, esp along Passyunk Ave (Tasker-Morris Station), the vibrant revitalized "Met" concert hall and gentrified neighborhood (Girard), the Temple U campus/town (Temple) and the South Broad Arts District (Lombard-South).
The Market Street El takes you to bustling Olde City/Penn's Landing waterfront (2nd Street), the new sprawling, diverse Fashion District shopping/entertainment complex (11th Street), and the red hot, vibrant neighborhoods of Northern Liberties (Spring Garden St) and Fishtown (Girard).
The LRT lines, in tandem with the el, blanket West Philly, esp vibrant University City, Powellton Village and the near West/S.W area around the Univ of the Sciences...
The fast 24/7 PATCO subway/commuter rail line to NJ takes you to Camden's revitalized downtown and waterfront, Philly's vibrant "Gayborhood" along Locust near 13th St. and upscale/vibrant Rittenhouse Square.
And then Philly's electrified, 13-line comprehensive/connected Regional Rail system (the only Euro S-Bahn-type system in the US), brings you in from the airport and covers such interesting neighborhoods as Chestnut Hill, Manayunk, Mt. Airy and others (as well as University City), along with a slew of interesting/charming suburban areas, like the Ardmore shops, historic Doylestown, Jenkintown, Glenside, Media, Norristown, and many, many other similar spots....
I'd say, transit-wise, Philly is as good or better than Boston... OK, nobody has the fancy, extensive DC Metro, but that doesn't make Philly transit bad... quite the contrary. The high-speed rail network covers the metro area comprehensively, including those old charming London-like neighborhoods for which Philly is justly noted.
Thank you for this detailed response. I should have been clearer in my own comment, that I was mainly commenting on SEPTA's utility as a means to access the Colonial-era sites. And also, when I disparaged the subway system, I was referring to its architecture, design, and physical plant. Not to put too fine a point on it, but the stations are dirty and ugly. In terms of aesthetics, I would rank their subway as being the second-ugliest of America's 14 heavy-rail systems. The only thing that bumps them above last-place New York is the murals that some of the stations have.
It also doesn't help that I lived in Philadelphia in the 1980s and 90s, when the city was still crawling out of the 1970s pits. The Colonial sites were the same then as they are now, and that's what I was basing my comments on. But a lot of the places that you named as desirable tourist spots, I would have warned people away from when I lived there. No one, but no one, ever called Northern Liberties and Fishtown "red hot" and "vibrant" back then. Spring Garden Street, though possessed of a lovely name, was a bland and sketchy street that was best avoided. I lived in University City, and the residential parts were pretty nice even then. But the streets to the north of Penn's campus -- Chestnut, Sansom, Walnut -- were NOTHING back then like they are now. I visited that area less than a year ago, and the change from what I remember was nothing short of breathtaking. Philadelphia is a vastly nicer city now than it was back then.
yeah, and now you can get murdered/shot/robbed in almost of this attractions in that once great city!
you forgot to mention THOSE "selling" points..
This is do silly. I bet same people talking about crime in Chicago would go to Bogota or mexico City without hesitation.You are talking about a world city with some of the most significant American iconic features as well as a cultural capitol.
I can promise you its on the list of many foreign visitors despite its crime as most just use caution because they know its a relatively low risk something bad will happen
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How about just getting rid of that highway and interchange all together? It certainly would have been a lot cheaper in correcting the 1950s (I'm assuming) blight on the city. Is there a law that says downtown Boston, one of America's most historic big cities, has to have a freeway cutting right through the middle of it, esp given Boston's one of the most walkable, transit-friendly metro in America?
I'm not sure why you're complaining about this. What you're asking for is essentially what they did; they got rid of the highway (from the standpoint of a pedestrian in downtown Boston) and yet, by burying it (instead of just eliminating it) gave a place for all those cars to go, instead of clogging up the surface streets. To be sure, there's a lot to criticize about how the project was managed, and the cost overruns, and the sometimes shoddy workmanship, and all that. But the concept of the Big Dig -- namely, putting the highway underground -- is exactly what should be done with all major freeways in the central cores of our cities.
Location: That star on your map in the middle of the East Coast, DMV
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Originally Posted by the resident09
They are not equals in tourism though. I've already explained that I feel DC is ahead of ALL of them in tourist opportunities, especially within the city itself (SF is it's own beast, but that's not in conversation here). If we expand to the greater metro areas of each they ALL get better yes, but DC starts off at a higher plateau IMO, because of what is in the capital city. The museums alone, which range beyond Smithsonian museums, are greater than any museum experience in all of North America, not NYC/LA/Chicago/Toronto etc., can beat DC in this category. DC embassy tours or "Embassy Week" here is an unmatched. Cherry Blossom Festival on the tidal Basin see over 1 million tourists annually. Philly has stuff to see, and it's own history of course, Independence Hall, Liberty Bell, Betsy Ross' house are nice, but it's not DC's attractions by a long shot. Tourism is Washington DC's second industry after government. It's what the city does extremely well.
The DC metro area sees more tourism overall than Philadelphia, and especially more international tourists, period. DC has more hotel rooms downtown, and the top 5 metro areas in hotel rooms are NY, Las Vegas, Orlando, DC, and Chicago. DC has two international airports that travelers come in from in addition to Reagan National, and they all move tourists to and from Downtown DC seamlessly. It's not so easy to say oh Philly has good commuter rail, and then just say it jumps up to DC's tier in tourism. Doesn't work that way. I stand on DC A-, Philly B+.
The DC area is a part of a greater CSA btw, and I haven't even brought that into play which further separates it, but just like Boston, and the Bay Area claiming tourist places like Cape Cod, Napa etc. Baltimore and all it's offerings are a part of the overall region along with DC and NOVA.
Philadelphia isn't represented on any of these lists. Throw in the larger tourism numbers in DC and hotel rooms, yea DC>Philly's tier in tourism. I'm not bashing Philly at all. This isn't homerism or boosting, just saying there is a gap. Philly is still one of America's greatest cities regardless (B+ in tourist attractions or 88/100) is nothing to sneeze at.
I'll be a homer here...as there is so little love for my home town.
Unlike many of the cities listed that are just big places (not just, but you know what mean), one of the top tourist attractions in the world is in the Buffalo area. Niagara Falls which made 3 of the 4 "best attractions" lists above (and the Great Lakes also made the top 100 list). Yet, Buffalo just carries a D? No one who visits Buffalo is NOT going to the Falls. The Falls may be the main attraction, but there are multiple attractions on both sides of the water (yes you should include Niagara Canada as part of the area when he border is open). Plus, there are the non-Falls related activities in Buffalo and adjacent areas (theater, festivals, concerts, boating, fishing, kayaking, major league sports, museum, architectural touring, religious touring, historical touring (forts and battlefields), lake cruise, river cruise, wing-tours, skiing in winter, skating on the canals, etc. (also things like beer bus (brewery) tours, casinos, etc which probably occurs most places now (except for 4am last call pre-COVID but Indian casino downtown now 24-hr though!), and of course eating tours.
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