Philadelphia, USA

Highlights

Walking the historic centre
Museum of the American Revolution
Franklin printing office
Independence Hall
The Dream Garden mosaic
Society Hill and South Street
Magic Gardens
Dilworth Park and JFK Plaza
Reading Market
Chinatown
Rodin Sculpture Museum
Chinese Lantern Festival

Getting there and getting around

We visited Philadelphia in August 2024.

After spending 9 nights in New York we took an afternoon Amtrak train to Philadelphia.

The train took two hours and it was a very easy and comfortable journey. Non refundable tickets in standard ‘coach’ class cost just £45 for the four of us.

From Philadelphia’s 30th St station we took the Market Frankford Line subway to 2nd Street and walked one block to our hotel.

Philadelphia’s centre city (the historic core), is compact and walkable.

To travel further afield in the city we took the subway or bus, using contactless Apple Pay on our phones to pay. For adults, each single journey cost £1.50. Kids under 12 travel free on public transport in Philadelphia.

Accommodation

We stayed for 5 nights at the Independence Park Hotel, a Best Western Premium hotel. This was a gorgeous building in the old centre, located right across the road from the American Revolution Museum.

We had a top floor room facing the street with 2 queen beds (cost $1640, or $328 / £254 per night). The room was smartly decorated, with a modern bathroom and plenty of space.

Our star rating: 4

Our cost rating: 4

Elfreth’s Alley and walking the Historic Centre

Elfreth’s Alley is a historic street in Philadelphia that dates back to 1703. There are houses that were originally home to various tradespeople, along with a museum.

As we are from the UK, old and picturesque streets aren’t particularly notable to us. However, what was endearing about this street was how well preserved it is.

Walking around the old centre of Philadelphia was a pleasure. It was clean, felt safe, and everyone was friendly. We walked during the day and at night without trouble.

There were interesting sights on every corner and lots of boutiques and cool shops to browse.

Museum of the American Revolution

The Museum of the American Revolution (family ticket cost $57 / £45) is a fantastic museum that presents an honest and balanced view of the events leading up to the American Revolution, the Declaration of Independence, the Revolutionary War, and the founding of the United States.

The museum had a number of well produced videos explaining key events, interesting artefacts and objects, information panels, and interactive displays.

During our visit the Museum had a special and poignant exhibition on Washington’s Tent. A movie explained the significance of the tent and how Washington stayed with soldiers on the frontline. After the video, the restored tent was revealed.

We visited on a weekday morning in mid-August when the museum was extremely quiet. We had many of the rooms to ourselves which meant we could engage with the material without feeling crowded or rushed.

Franklin Court Printing Office

Tucked behind the Benjamin Franklin Museum is the Franklin Court printing office where national park staff give free demonstrations of letterpress printing using an 18th century wooden press.

Here we saw how Franklin’s newspapers would have been printed and print copies of the Declaration of Independence. This was well worth a quick visit between other activities.

Independence Hall

We booked tickets in advance online for the Independence Hall. Timed entry tickets are required except for in January and February, or before 10.30am. Reservations are free save for a $1 administrative fee per ticket. All visitors have to go through a security check and have any bags scanned.

Tickets give visitors entry to the ground floor of the Independence Hall with a guide from the National Park Service.

First we visited the court room and learnt how the building dated back to the British Empire (1753) and was originally the Pennsylvania State House before it became the capitol building for the newly independent nation of America.

Then we saw the Assembly Room where the Declaration of Independence and US Constitution were negotiated between the 13 colonies and signed.

The tour was excellent. The ranger gave a clear and engaging explanation of the historical and political significance of the building, the debates that took place, and the decisions that were made there.

The Dream Garden Mosaic

On the same block as Independence Hall, in the Curtis building is the Dream Garden Mosaic, designed by Maxfield Parrish and executed by Tiffany’s.

The stunning mosaic measures 15ft x 49ft, and consists of over 100,000 glass pieces in 260 colour tones. It’s free to visit and is publicly accessible.

Society Hill and South Street

We took a 15 minute walk to South Street. This walk took us through the pretty and leafy area of Society Hill, with grand and well kept heritage homes.

On the way we saw James Madison’s house.

South Street is known for its bohemian shops and cafes.

At 10am on a Saturday all the shops were still shuttered and the street appeared rather drab and run down, but by noon the shops had opened and the street had transformed into a buzzy vibrant area.

We browsed in some of the shops including Wooden Shoe Books and Head House Books, Atomic City Comics, and The Philly Game Store. We also had a quick look around the flea market at South 2nd and Pine Street.

We spent a lovely afternoon playing board games and eating delicious food at Queen and Rook Keep. This was a very welcoming establishment, costing $7 per adult (children are free) for 2.5 hours of game play, with a great selection of games to choose from in their library.

Magic Gardens

Isaiah Zagar started work on this public art using folk art statues, found objects, glass, hand made tiles and mirrors in 1991.

30 years later the site is completely covered in mosaics and is now run by a non-profit organisation.

Tickets go on sale one month ahead and must be booked online in advance. They cost $15 per adult and $8 for children aged 6+.

What has been created here is intricate and fascinating. It reminded us of the Pachamama Museum in Amaicha del Valle in the Tucumán region of Argentina.

We’d highly recommend the Magic Gardens for anyone interested in folk art, sculpture and the use of space.

The kids were kept engaged completing a rather tricky scavenger hunt. We spent about 90 minutes at the Magic Gardens admiring this amazing work.

Dilworth Park & JFK Plaza

We ventured out of the old town to visit ‘center city’, the downtown area of Philadelphia with high rise administrative buildings like City Hall, and retail areas.

We walked through City Hall and emerged into the impressive Dilworth Park square with fountains and lots of public seating. Across the road is JFK Plaza, with its famous Love public art.

This area felt much busier and more commercial than the old town, with fewer tourists and more residents and workers.

We noticed immediately this area’s homeless / rough sleeper population. We later learnt that Philadelphia has some of the highest levels of poverty and deprivation in the Eastern USA, something that isn’t immediately apparent in the old city.

We’ve also noticed that playgrounds or spaces for children to play and feel safe in the centre of US cities are scarce, and where they do exist, they tend to be small and limited in their play facilities.

This makes us feel very lucky to have such an abundance of green and play space in Sheffield, including Pounds Park playground in the city centre.

Reading Market

Just a couple of blocks from the City Hall area is Reading Market, originally the Reading rail terminal building.

Home to over 70 vendors, this was a busy and thriving market, with lots of people buying produce to takeaway or hot food to eat at the many bar stools.

Not all of the stalls were open on Sunday (including to the kids’ disappointment, the amazing looking candy stall), but most were.

We bought some candy floss (‘fairy floss’), fruit and juices and sat people watching for a while.

Chinatown

After visiting the Reading Market we waited outside for the start of our Chinatown food tour, operated by Jenn from Free Tours By Foot.

During the 3 hour tour we didn’t cover much ground - just a handful of blocks from Reading Market to 10th St Plaza, to the Friendship Arch.

We learnt about the arrival of Chinese immigrants to the area, and the efforts they have put in to resisting encroachment into Chinatown from the highway in the 1980s to a new basketball arena today. We also saw lots of public and street art during the tour.

This was a food tour, and we sampled lots of food around Chinatown including roast pork buns from Bread Top House bakery, bubble tea from Mr Wish, mango desserts from Mango Mango, and soup dumplings and fried rice cake from Dim Sum Palace.

The soup dumplings were our favourite. They were absolutely delicious and we appreciated Jenn teaching us how to eat them without squirting soup everywhere!

This was a Free Tours By Foot tour, which has a ‘pay what you think it’s worth’ model. There is a $4 reservation fee per person for this tour. In addition, we paid for the food we ate along the way, and we tipped our tour guide at the end to show our appreciation.

Rodin Sculpture Museum

This is a small but peaceful and wonderfully curated museum in Philadelphia.

Tickets can be bought on arrival and are pay as you wish (the suggested price is $15 per adult, children are free).

The gardens made us feel like we were on a relaxing holiday in the south of France. We had fun playing giant chess!

We spent about half an hour enjoying the Rodin sculptures inside, and were pleased to find our favourite Hepworth represented too!

After the Rodin museum we went to the front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art to reenact the famous scene from Rocky.

The views of downtown Philadelphia from here were pretty special!

Chinese lantern festival

We returned to Chinatown for more delicious soup dumplings and then spent the evening at the Chinese Lantern Festival in Franklin Square.

This is a ticketed event (cost $25 / £19 per adult and $16 / £12.50 per child) that runs through the whole summer in Philadelphia.

The square is transformed with many lanterns, fountain displays, food stalls, and live performances.

The atmosphere was joyful with people of all ages having fun, and we felt safe and pleased to be able to join in.

The lanterns were spectacular; the fountain show with lights and music was fun; and the stage performers with their dancing, gymnastics and acrobatics were very impressive.

This was a fun and lovely way to spend our last evening in Philadelphia as a family. We’d highly recommend this festival and fantastic city!

There is so much to see and do, from the historic centre, to the wonderful museums and art galleries, to the interesting neighbourhoods like Society Hill, South Street and Chinatown; it is well worth visiting.