Philadelphia
The city where the Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776 and the Constitution drafted in 1787 still keeps, within a grid of brick streets laid out by William Penn, the assembly room, the cracked bell and the oldest inhabited street in the country. Three kilometres away, an art museum whose steps were made famous by Rocky, the world's largest concentration of Renoirs and Cézannes and a Gothic prison of 1829 round off a city best eaten at the counter, melted-cheese sandwich in hand.
By PierrickLocal Guide ★8 · 14M+ views on Google MapsBy PierrickLocal Guide ★8 · 14M+ Maps views
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Philadelphia · Photo Samyantak Mohanty / Pexels
Things to do in Philadelphia in 3 days
Day 1
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The former Pennsylvania State House where the Declaration of Independence was adopted in 1776 and the Constitution drafted in 1787, facing the cracked Liberty Bell in its glass pavilion.
💡 Between 9am and 10.30am, entry to Independence Hall is free, without a ticket; after that, guided tours leave every 20 minutes and require a timed ticket booked on Recreation.gov, free but with a $1 fee. The next day's tickets are released online at 5pm the day before. The Liberty Bell is open from 9am to 5pm, with no reservation needed. Price: free, apart from the $1 booking fee, under €1.
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Opened in 2017 near Independence Hall, a lively account of the War of Independence whose centrepiece is George Washington's campaign tent, revealed after a short film.
💡 Buy online, it is cheaper, and start with the tent film, shown at regular intervals. Allow at least two hours. Price: $25 online, about €22, or $27 on site, about €23; $14, about €12, for ages 6 to 17.
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A cobbled lane of 32 brick houses built between 1728 and 1836, inhabited since 1702, surrounded by Christ Church, the Betsy Ross House and Benjamin Franklin's grave.
💡 The alley is a public street, open at all hours, but the houses are private: be discreet. Two museum houses open from Friday to Sunday, 12pm to 4pm, and a 40-minute guided tour leaves on Saturdays and Sundays at 2.30pm, with tickets sold on site only. Price: alley free; museum $3, about €3; guided tour $10, about €9.
Rhonda McCloughan (Pr41799) / CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
Day 2
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Albert Barnes's collection of 181 Renoirs, 69 Cézannes, 59 Matisses and 46 Picassos, hung floor to ceiling in dense ensembles with no labels, exactly as he left them.
💡 Open Thursday to Monday, 11am to 5pm; book a time slot online, as capacity is limited. The ticket remains valid for two consecutive days, so you can come back the next day. Price: $30, about €26; $5, about €4, for ages 13 to 18; free up to age 12.
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A Gothic castle-like prison open from 1829 to 1971 that pioneered solitary confinement, with crumbling vaulted corridors, Al Capone's furnished cell and death row explored with an audio guide.
💡 Open daily from 10am to 5pm, not recommended for under-7s. Buy online to save $2. In autumn, the prison closes earlier on some evenings for Halloween Nights, its haunted trail, which is ticketed separately. Price: $21 online, about €18, or $23 on site, about €20; $17 online, about €15, for ages 7 to 17 and students.
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The covered market of 1893 beneath the old Reading railroad station, with over seventy traders, roast pork sandwiches, doughnuts fried to order and Amish stalls selling hand-rolled pretzels.
💡 Open daily from 8am to 6pm. Come before 11.30am or after 2pm, as the weekday lunchtime crush makes tables impossible to find. The Amish stalls generally close on Sundays and for part of the week: come from Wednesday to Saturday to see them all. Price: free entry; allow $12-20, about €10-17, for a meal.
ajay_suresh / CC BY 2.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
Day 3
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A neoclassical temple of some 240,000 works, from Van Gogh's Sunflowers to the world's largest Duchamp collection, fronted by the 72 steps Sylvester Stallone ran up in Rocky.
💡 The museum is closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and stays open until 8.45pm on Fridays; some evenings and the first Sunday of the month are pay-what-you-wish, so check the calendar. The steps and the view over the city are free at all hours: come at sunrise to have them almost to yourself. Price: $30, about €26; free up to age 18.
Horcrux / CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)Learn moreMore
The open-air market on 9th Street, with butchers, cheesemongers, taquerias and Vietnamese restaurants, ending at Pat's and Geno's, the rival cheesesteak counters facing each other day and night.
💡 Come in the morning, from Tuesday to Sunday, when the stalls are full; many close on Mondays. For the cheesesteak, order quickly at the window, specifying the cheese and 'wit' or 'witout' for the onions. Price: walk free; cheesesteak $15-20, about €13-17.
"Book" (hotels) and "via GetYourGuide" (activities) are affiliate links (Booking, GetYourGuide). Prices, times and distances are approximate.
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Good to know before you go
🍽️ Must-try food
Burgers and barbecue
brisket and ribs cooked low and slow, done differently in every state.
Clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl
the classic lunch on the San Francisco waterfront.
Mexican food
tacos from a truck in Los Angeles, a Mission burrito in San Francisco.
Pancakes and weekend brunch
a national habit, generous to the point of excess.
Craft beer, and California wine from Napa and Sonoma.
Dishes to look for in the good places: Philadelphia.
⚠️ Best avoided
- Tipping is not optional: add 15 to 20% in restaurants and bars.
- Prices on menus and in shops exclude sales tax, which is added at the till.
- Do not plan more than four or five hours of driving a day: the distances are larger than they look on the map.
- Never travel without health insurance. A night in hospital can cost thousands of dollars.
- In summer, do not hike down into the Grand Canyon in the heat of the day: the climb back out is where people get into trouble.
Have you thought of…?
The little details that make all the difference once you're there.
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