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What are some great things to see and do in Philadelphia?

What are some must see/do/experience/eat things in Philadelphia?

  • I'll be in Philly for 6 days for a professional conference, but will have free time and free days to explore the city. I've never been before - what should I do? Caveats: I'm a vegetarian, so a Philly Cheese Steak is out. I'm a poor graduate student, so I'm on a budget.

  • Answer:

    If you go to the Art Museum be sure to walk down the hill to the river behind it and check out the free Waterworks museum (located beneath the eponymous waterworks) which is very well done a fascinatingly different. If you like new architecture, check out the lobby of the Comcast building at 17th and JFK (tallest thing in town & has electronic walls.) The Loewe's Hotel (12th & Chestnut) is in the former PSFS building, usually called  the world's first modern building or something like it, and has left the building mostly intact. You can just walk in and take the elevators to the top floor where the conference rooms are still in the original deco/modern incarnation and also offer a great 360º view of the city. If you are looking for a cheap place to fabricate a vegetarian lunch try DiBruno's upstairs salad bar (18th & Chestnut) or better yet the Reading Terminal Market (12th & Arch.) High end vegetarian/vegan is pricey here, but there's a decent Chinese place called Singapore I think. There's also a more affordable vegan, Govinda's, at Broad & South near UArts. (Update 3 years later: There's now also an expensive but very well-reviewed high-end 'gourmet' Vegan restaurant called Veg on the 1200 block of Locust St. in Center City.) You might try asking someone who is currently at the U of P about your west Philly options.

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Spend some time walking around Old City and the historical neighborhoods. The architecture is stunning and being in the presence of so much history is awe-inspiring. Do drop by Christ Church's Burial Grounds and visit Ben Franklin's grave. Admission is just a couple dollars. Drop by Reading Terminal Market for lunch one day - it's packed full of stalls offering any kind of food you could want.  If there's one more expensive thing I'd recommend, it'd absolutely be the Mutter Museum. It's one of the most amazing places I've ever been. Well worth it to factor the cost into your budget.

Samantha Brandt

I lived in Philly for years. When I was there the fun/popular things to do were. Go to Chis's jazz cafe, go to China Town on Race st, Ethiopian restaurant/area in west philly "Abysinnia" is the name, go to "Ralphs" in south Philly for some real deal Italian south Philly food, wander around south st, go to the mumers museum to get freaked out. liberty Or you could do the obvious stuff like eat cheese steaks at Ginos or Pats, see the Liberty Bell,Art museum rocky steps ect.....

Justin Rothberg

Theater and dance in Philadelphia is wonderful, plentiful and often inexpensive. Look for productions by Pig Iron, 1812, Brat, Headlong, Azuka, New Paradise, Theater Exile and other small but seasoned groups. I'd also recommend the Peek-a-Boo Revue for outstanding alt-burlesque, and ComedySportz for reliably hilarious improv team challenges. If you'd prefer to be your own theater, sit at the upstairs karaoke bar at Yakitori Boy, do a sake bomb, and grab the microphone.

David Witz

Go to a little slice shop on South St. near 3rd called Lorenzo's; order a slice or two (they're huge, delicious, and only cost $2.75).  Take that slice, go west a couple stores down, to Ishkabibbles (on the same street); order Cheese fries with Ranch dressing, and a gremlin to drink.  Take Cheese fries w/ ranch dressing, pour it onto pizza slice, wrap up, and enjoy!

Andrew Sheep

For Eat: Affordable, good vegetarian places include Kafta Crossing, Manakeesh, Hummus. All at West Philly. Food trucks in University City are a steal too, you can get filling meals for $5. Also look out for happy hour deals - that's where you usually find some steals for good food. Happy hour at distrito is one example

Karina Sengupta

Philadelphia Museum of Art has a Van gogh exhibit right now but be sure to check out The Mutter Museum and its collection of medical oddities, pathologies, anatomical horrors and all around painful situations.

Greg Holley

Take the commuter line out to Chestnut Hill. It is a  cheap and scenic ride to see many neighborhoods quickly as well as taking a walk through one of the most picturesque village environments in the USA. I lived there for many years as well as Center City. And all the comments about Center City are quite good.

Ronald Reed

A few others have said the Mutter Museum and I agree! I was there over Halloween weekend and it was very cool and a different museum experience than most are used to - right now Albert Einstein's brain is on display: http://www.collphyphil.org/site/mutter_museum.html

Mary Parkins

Welp...I've definitely been in Philly and on a budget.  If you find yourself doing all kinds of wonderful things in Center City check out Liberty Place Mall for a large number of affordable eateries in their food court.  If you go around lunchtime, a lot of the restaurants offer free samples, too.  So you can get more bang for your buck. I also suggest taking advantage of happy hour deals/specials.  If you go during the summer, there is something called Center City Sips, where restaurants and bars offer drink specials: think $3 beers, $4 wine, etc. If you have a night to splurge, I definitely would go to a nice restaurant.   Philly has some of the best food in the country.  Try a Stephen Starr restaurant- he runs a number of spectacular restaurants around the US (but mostly in Philly)  and many are quite affordable, like Pizzeria Stella, Continental, and El Rey. El Rey has great happy hour deals. Philly is BYO heavy which helps with the budget, too.  Audrey Claire is a fantastic BYO.

Anonymous

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