Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

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Tips:

-There is no need for a car. Public transit will get you most places and is easy to use. There is also a bike share which for a walk up first time user is $4 per 30 minutes with plenty of spots to park the bike. I still personally prefer the subway and buses. You can get a 1 week unlimited ride card for $25 to be used on all subways and buses.

-The taxi ride to and from the airport to anywhere in center city is $30. The explanation of center city is defined here. If you are AirBnBing in (most of) NoLibs, Fishtown, Brewerytown, etc this will not be included.

-Book some dinner reservations at preselected restaurants in advance. They all get very busy for dinner and you may not get to try the places you wanted.

-Check out uwishunu.com and visit philly . These is the best sites which tell you everything that is going on while you are in town.

 

Common Phrases:

Jawn- This literally means anything in the world. Its just a noun. Use it when you cant think of the word you want. Ex: “How do i rent this jawn?” “This jawn tastes delicious!” “That jawn is so jawn he makes me want to jawn.”

Wooder- Don’t be fooled by the accent. This is really somoene saying water.

 

Unique:

-Mütter Museum is filled with medical oddities. Not for the faint of heart but does include:

Saponified woman

Skin with tattoos from hundreds of years ago

Wax sculpture of penis with syphilis

Hand with smallpox

Conjoined fetuses

Cyclops fetus

Fetus with 3 legs

Giant growth of the colon (i really couldn’t believe this was real it was so big)

Fetuses starting at 8 weeks

Tsantsa shrunken heads

Medician herb garden

-Eastern State Penitentiary is an old haunted prison once home to Al Capone AKA Scarface.

-700 club is a professional house party if there ever was one. See more info in the Food & Drink section.

-Hop Sing Laundromat is a speakeasy which is hard to spot, hard to get into and no photography in allowed once you are in. This makes it an exciting experience. Great fancy cocktails await you.

 

Food & Drink:

-Philly is a restaurant city.  Foodies love this place and there is an abundance of spectacular places no matter what neighborhood you are in. Phill is also known from a few common foods. Water ice, flavored shaved ice in a cup, Hoagies, local sub sandwiches, Steaks, otherwise known as cheesesteaks.

-Cheesesteaks are probably the most known and Pats & Genos are the most popular tourist spots to get one. Honestly, don’t go there. Even if your heart wants to experience something famous and snap a photo to brag to your friends on social media, don't do it. These do not taste like anything. There are plenty of better cheesesteak places to experience the flavour. Ishkabibbles, Tony Lukes, and Jims Steaks are all worth checking out.

-Hoagies are a great quick food to eat and there are endless options in the city. You can get one at the local Wawa which is a Philly favorite of convenient stores and has a cult following. Sarcones Deli sandwich called The Junkyard Special is my personal favorite. Paesanos also has great sandwiches but I would recommend the Paesano hoagie.

-Italian Market is a great neighborhood to get some Italian fare. They also have a great outdoor food market for cheap in case you are staying at a place with a kitchen and need some groceries.

-Some of my favorite Vegan spots are Blackbird Pizzeria (they win best seitan wings every year in a competition), Vedge (was ranked 3rd best restaurant in the US a few years ago), V street, Hip City Veg, Charlie was a sinner, & Bar Bombón

-Fishtown is the hottest hood right now with tons of new restaurants popping up weekly. Pizzeria Beddia is ranked one of the best in the country but you can't order in advance, they only make a certain amount per day and once they are gone they close up shop. Needless to say there are lines outside the door. Frankford hall, Johnny Brendas and Barcade are fishtown classics. Fette Sau is a pretty good meat and whiskey spot. La Colombe is the cult coffee joint and distillery in fishtown worth checking out. There are other locations around the city but none as extravagant as this location.

-Last but certainly not least is the 4 spots that I frequented the most while living in Philly and you are a fool if you pass all of them up. The Blind Pig has an extensive beer menu but their food is fantastic. They have a gator sausage sandwich which is my personal favorite (i swear its good and nothing like the crappy gatore you have tasted in Florida), Thanksgiving balls which is all of the typical thanksgiving foods rolled into a delicious ball, Dirty fries with are fries with short rib gravy  and many other unique foods. Next door to the Blind Pig is the 700 club. While this looks like your average football/soccer pub the upstairs actually turns into a small dance club thursday-saturday nights. Its an old home turned club and the DJ spins on top of a bathtub while an old toilet remains on the dance floor. Its a legit house party. Orliebs bar has live music most nights and some cheap ass tacos every night. Kyle is also a pretty awesome bartender. Federal Donuts is a donut and fried chicken joint. Honestly you can’t find a better fried chicken or donut in the city. There are 2 types of donuts: Hot Fresh or Fancies. My personal fav is the strawberry lavender hot fresh. On the chicken you can get a dry seasoning or wet glaze. Again, my personal favorite is the honey ginger glaze.

 

Budget:

-Fairmount Park is one of the largest urban green spaces in the US. plenty to see and do.

-Uwishunu is an extensive website which posts things going on every weekend. This includes numerous neighborhood street fairs and food markets.

-Philly is also famous for its murals around the city. Simply exploring the city will get you tons of mural photo ops.

-pop up parks in summer are quite common. All you need to do is simply google pop up park philly and you will find the ones open for the current season.

 

Shopping:

-Olde City 3rd & 2nd st have tons of great local shops. This is a perfect way to support local artisans and find some unique goods.

-South street is what i consider the “St. Marks” of Philly. Head shops, spiritual shops and other funky and artistic places adorn the street. Its a fun walk.

-Walnut & chestnut streets include the typical high end retailers.

-Century 21 is the popular NYC chain that has designer items for discount prices.

 

Downfalls:

-There is endless food and entertainment options in the city. Its just too big and too hard to see it all in a vacation. I truly love this city.

-Philly locals are an interesting bunch. There are some that are tremendously kind and helpful and then there are the locals that only want to talk to locals. This can make it tough to get around or meet some local people to give tips.

-Traffic. I hate driving in Philly because of the traffic and idiots on the road. Be prepared to have very short entrances to highways, very big pot holes in the streets and angry drivers around you.

 

Travel Details:

5 days total

May

Personal travel