Philadelphia Tourism Question

[Salvador VOLi]

Hello everyone,
 
   My wife and I are travelling to Philadelphia this summer for the final round of the:



The tournament is being held at Merion which is in a suburb of Philly called Ardmore.  We are staying in Philadelphia Friday through Sunday night.  Friday is a travel day so we won't have much time in the city that day.  We will be attending the final round on Sunday so almost everything we will do that day will be at the golf course.  We will have all day Saturday to tour the city, however. 

So, this all leads me to a couple of questions.  Does anyone have any recommendations of what to see/do in Philadelphia?  Any restaurants you loved?  Any parts of the city you enjoyed enough to look for a hotel there or parts of the city to avoid?  Any advice would be most appreciated.
 

[Clockwork Orange]

You'll be fine as long as you're armed.

In all seriousness, I have a buddy that grew up in that area. I'll ask him.

[Jethro]

Hello everyone,
 
   My wife and I are travelling to Philadelphia this summer for the final round of the:



The tournament is being held at Merion which is in a suburb of Philly called Ardmore.  We are staying in Philadelphia Friday through Sunday night.  Friday is a travel day so we won't have much time in the city that day.  We will be attending the final round on Sunday so almost everything we will do that day will be at the golf course.  We will have all day Saturday to tour the city, however. 

So, this all leads me to a couple of questions.  Does anyone have any recommendations of what to see/do in Philadelphia?  Any restaurants you loved?  Any parts of the city you enjoyed enough to look for a hotel there or parts of the city to avoid?  Any advice would be most appreciated.
 

This website should give you some pretty good ideas.  http://www.visitphilly.com/

[TheRealOrange]

Hello everyone,
 
   My wife and I are travelling to Philadelphia this summer for the final round of the:

The tournament is being held at Merion which is in a suburb of Philly called Ardmore.  We are staying in Philadelphia Friday through Sunday night.  Friday is a travel day so we won't have much time in the city that day.  We will be attending the final round on Sunday so almost everything we will do that day will be at the golf course.  We will have all day Saturday to tour the city, however. 

So, this all leads me to a couple of questions.  Does anyone have any recommendations of what to see/do in Philadelphia?  Any restaurants you loved?  Any parts of the city you enjoyed enough to look for a hotel there or parts of the city to avoid?  Any advice would be most appreciated.

There is a lot to do, but you could always start at Independence Hall and Liberty Bell Center (http://www.nps.gov/inde/index.htm).  You can still get a horse and carriage tour too (http://www.phillytours.us/?event=offer.detail&offerId=8417).  The Franklin Institute (http://www2.fi.edu/) and the Philadelphia Museum of Art (http://www.philamuseum.org/) always seem to get rave reviews.  The zoo (http://www.philadelphiazoo.org/) is a good one.  The Spirit of Philadelphia Dinner Cruise (http://spiritofphiladelphia.com/Philadelphia/home) is pretty fun.  Finally, just walking around all the shops in the South Street district can be a blast (http://southstreet.com/).  Any of the Center City hotels should work, but they aren't cheap.  You can find less expensive ones, like down by the airport, but then you have transportation issues to all the sights.  If you want the truly best cheesesteaks in town, and not just the famed/hyped Pat's or Geno's, head out to the northeast to a little hole-in-the-wall on Torresdale Ave. called Chink's (http://www.chinksteaks.com/store/magento/).  Have fun.   

[Salvador VOLi]

Thanks for the great advice everyone.  Lots of research to do before we get there.

[101stDad]

Ditto a lot of what TRO said.  We've been to 3 Army/Navy games in Philly and have done everything on his list except the dinner cruise.  Several good eateries on the river, however.

We have stayed downtown at the Crown Plaza and the Doubletree.  Both are good options, and we felt safe walking around downtown at night, but of course there aren't always some 70K Army and Navy active and retired personnel in the area.   

The subway system is a good option for getting around. 

A couple of other attractions that I would add for you to see are the Betsy Ross home, and Christ Church.  Both full of very interesting history. 

Do check out Pat's and Geno's, however.  It's an interesting area and the cheesesteaks are pretty danged good, and since they are right next to each other you can do an honest to goodness comparison. 

And for the record, I prefer Geno's.   

We enjoy Philly and we already have hotel reservations to go back this December for Army-Navy. 

[73Volgrad]

Go to downtown near Liberty Bell and get a real Philly Cheesesteak. Family got one from one of the vendor wagons serving lunch crowd.  Put every other Philly Cheesesteak I had prior to shame.

[Navol]

My wife and I always stayed at the Thomas Bond House B&B on 2nd street, in the historic waterfront district. It's right across the street from the City Tavern, and is within easy walking distance of the Independence Hall area, South Street, and even downtown. there's a parking garage right next to the B&B.