Hi, we,re visiting philadelphia from U.K. for 10 days from 19 sept and staying at the Crowne Plaza Centre City. Thats myself and my wife and three sons (ages 15,12,and 6.) Any advise on whats good to do and whats not would be much appreciated. Hope to fit in trip to N.Y.and possibly hire car to visit Civil War and War of Independence sites.
My wife also asks wheres safe and wheres not.(possibly watched too many films.)
visiting philly sept.
Wow. You can see a LOT in 10 days. One suggestion- I would do a side trip to Washington DC instead of New York. If you%26#39;ve been to London, you%26#39;ve been to New York- and a prettier version (except for the traffic driving on the wrong side of the road). Washibngton has LOTS more to see than NYC, and almost everything is free.
Philadelphia is a big city, so the usual cautions apply. Be aware of your surroundings, etc. That being said, the downtown area (where you will be spending most of your time), is generally pretty safe. Stay on well-traveled streets after dark. Walnut Street is the best east-west street after dark.
The Crowne Plaza is a business hotel, and is at the west end of town. The major historic sites are at the east end of town, but everything is walkable. Weather is usually nice the time you will be visiting.
For the boys- try The Mutter Museum (of Medical Oddities). It%26#39;s kind of gross, but kids seem to like it. The 6 and 12 year old may like The Franklin Institute.
Of course, you can%26#39;t miss Independence Hall and The Liberty Bell. The Constitution Center gets great reviews (admission for thsi one). Also don%26#39;t miss Franklin Court (the remains of Ben Franklin%26#39;s house). Betsy Ross house is interesting just to get a taste of what colonial life was like in the city. The flag seamstress thing is really an Urban Legend. ';Ride The Ducks'; tour gets good reviews.
Philadelphia Museum of Art is an absolute must. Easter State Penitentiary seems to be the ';hot'; thing to see right now. Lights of Liberty Tour one evening. Soooo many places to eat. At your end of town, go to Continental at 19th %26amp; Chestnut. Eat inside, but be sure to check out the rooftop deck (in the evening). There are many more, of course. Others here will chime in.
visiting philly sept.
To help you plan your visit, some of the Revolutionary War sites around the Philadelphia area (in addition to the BIG ones in the city%26#39;s historical district) include: Valley Forge, where the Continental Army and various militias under George Washington spent a miserable winter in 1777-78; Brandywine (PA), Trenton (NJ), Paoli (PA), Whitemarsh (PA), and Princeton (NJ). All are in the suburbs/outer suburbs of Philadelphia.
Within the city but not in the historical area near Independence Hall, a major battle was fought at Germantown (now in the northwest part of Philadelphia) and at Fort Mifflin, which is still there and open to visitors, though not exactly fully restored. Fort Mifflin--adjacent to Philadelphia International Airport--was attacked by British ships and land-based artillery during the war. It%26#39;s sister fort (Fort Mercer) on the New Jersey side of the river no long exists, except for monuments.
Civil War? Gettysburg, about 2.5 to 3 hours from Philadelphia(depending upon routing and traffic conditions) is by far the most famous and militarily significant Civil War battle site in Pennsylvania. Three other Pennsylvania cities not far from Gettysburg also saw action from Confederate raids: Hanover, Carlisle and Chambersburg.
The timing of your visit is very good as the weather should be agreeable, you may pick up some early autumn foliage toward the end of your trip and, throughout the region, it will be harvest time for many fruits and vegetables.
On 1st day here, I%26#39;d recommend taking the Hop On Hop Off tour (www.phillytours.com) to get your bearings, then relax the rest of the day with a nice meal to adjust to the time shift.
As previous poster said, the business/historical district is generally safe, but I wouldn%26#39;t go into dark unlit alleys..
You should be able to hit the %26#39;MAIN%26#39; Philly historical and cultural sights in 3-4 days at a nice pace, so for the other 5 I would also recommend:
1 day Amish Tour (the web site above should have one).
One day drive to either Ocean or Atlantic City NJ (some things will be closed past peak season but most will be open.
Take the ferry across to the Camden Aquarium and the Battleship NJ
Go to a Phillies game. Easy to get to via Subway
The art museum! On Sunday%26#39;s it pay as you wish day, and the kids can do the %26#39;rocky%26#39; run up the steps.
1-2 day side trip to Baltimore Inner Harbor (1 is fine if you start early)
I love Washington too, but allow 2-3 days for that if ya really want to make it worth the drive.
As for the Civil/Rev war sights, while Gettysburg is the best it is also the farthest, closer is Brandywine (civil) and Washington%26#39;s Crossing (Rev).
Day trip to Hershey Park. There%26#39;s something to be said about an amusement park that smells like chocolate. Base this one on weather and have the hotel concierge check the hours for the days you might go.
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One note about food. With Kids traveling who may be fussy, I recommend checking out Chinatown and the Reading Terminal Market (which must be seen anyway) for decent and reasonably priced food.
I think that in the list of excellent suggestions, Loonbeam meant to say that Brandywine is a Revolutionary War battle site, not a Civil War one. To my knowledge, there really are no Civil War battle sites in the immediate Philadelphia area. There were, however, two places relatively nearby where Confederate prisoners of war were held.
Fort Mifflin, which I mentioned previously, was the site of a Revolutionary War battle and, during the Civil War, held some Confederate prisoners. The most notable Union prisoner of war site is Fort Delaware on Pea Patch island near the top of Delaware Bay. It is about an hour%26#39;s drive south of Philadelphia. Fort Delaware held thousands of Confederate prisoners (and some British blockade runners) during the Civil War under poor conditions that earned it the title: Andersonville of the North (Andersonville being a notorious Confederate prison for Union army prisoners). It makes for an interesting visit, is accessible only via a 10-minute ferry ride (small ferry), but I am not sure that I would do it were I coming from abroad with limited time here.
By contrast, all of the Civil War battlefield sites like Gettysburg, are relatively far from Philadelphia (about the same distance as between Philadelphia and Washington, DC). Doing any of them on a day trip would mean 5 to 6 hours of driving, plus the time spent visiting the battle sites. It can be done if you leave early in the morning, but likely would be tiring.
Honestly, I thought Brandywine WAS civil, I sit corrected. I%26#39;ve never actually made it onto the site, something always seems to come up!
Also, to my list above, add the Zoo!
Local experts probably know more about this than I do...but it%26#39;s on my list of future things to do to try one of the canoe trips on the Brandywine. Here%26#39;s the link to the site with information:
http://www.wildernesscanoetrips.com/trips.dws
and it might be a fun active thing to do in the midst of all the museum tours. Maybe someone will post with more details and opinions about this!
I would add the University of Pennsylvania%26#39;s Archaeology and Anthropology Museum. The older boys will probably like it and the little one will love the mummies. As much as I love the Art Museum, it%26#39;s massive and I probably wouldn%26#39;t take kids unless they are in to art. If not, the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts is another great art museum, but much smaller and more manageable with children. My boys also love the Academy of Natural Sciences. Reading Terminal Market and the Italian Market are both interesting. And if tired of all the site seeing, Dave and Buster%26#39;s is a massive arcade that the boys will enjoy.
I would also advise against New York, unless there%26#39;s something specific there you want to see. All of their usual tourist attractions are quite spread out and couldn%26#39;t be done in a day or two. You may want to consider visiting the Statue of Liberty and the Ellis Island Museum. I think both can be accessed without actually going into New York. And DC has way to much to cover in a day or two. However, day trips to the Jersey shore and Baltimore are definitely doable.
I would try to add DC into your schedule. There is a ton to see down there, but if you plan well, it is well worth the drive and your time (more so than NY, in my humble opinion.) Inner Harbor in Baltimore is also a great side trip as well. Let us know if you need additional information, I%26#39;m fairly well-versed with both cities and happy to help. Also, the DC forum is very active and a great source of information should you decide to try and plan a trip there. Good luck!
Suzanne
Hi, thanks for all the advise and apologies for the delay in replying to them.
It was definitely worth asking your help.
Its now Washington DC instead of NY. We,re going to travel by AmTrak, leave early and return about 9pm. That will be wednesdayand we,ll hire a car for saturday thro, to tuesday.
Hershey Park is somewhere that is just not publicised over here but after visiting the website its a must do for the kids, that,ll be an early start on sunday and its their last weekend of the season.
We,ll also fit in a visit to Camden and try for Atlantic City, so taking into account all that is in Philadelphia I think we,ll have a fairly full and interesting time.
Once again thanks for the help its been much appreciated.
Kevin.
Skip Atlantic City!!!!
Not sure why everyone says to skip NYC-- you are here 10 days--even if you just took an early train ( use Septa/NJ transit to save $) you could visit the Natural History Museum and check out Central park- museum is right on park. NYC feels nothing like London-the kids will love it.
You have plenty of time in PA to make these 2 side trips. The Liberty Bell visit takes no time. Aquarium is just alright.
I live here- not trying to bash Philadelphia.
