PHI and WAS FBGs - potential upcoming visit, need pointers (1 Viewer)

[msommer]

Travelling to the US with the family around Easter and staying for a few days in NYC, that's covered. That'll be me, the wife and my two daughters, 11 and 13 (no, I won't post any pictures... )

One possibility that I am toying with is going to Philly and Washington before returning, likely by train. We would probably allocate about three days for that, maybe four. Obviously in WAS there are a number of things to see, the Mall, Smithsonian etc, but when it comes to Philadelphia I don't know much. Philly cheese steak, and the Liberty Bell, although I think we'll have used our museum and monument quota between NY and Washington - but I am open to suggestions.

We're trying to do this at a relatively low cost so looking for things without a too high ticket price, if any. Just to make matters interesting we are not planning to rent a car if we can help it, so mainly downtown/taxi range...

TIA

 

[msommer]

bump to stay on first page

 

[dgreen]

Lots of DC stuff in here. You can easily do a ton of free stuff in DC with all the museums, memorials, and monuments.

My wife and I enjoyed checking out Elfreth's Alley in Philly.

Both cities can be toured very easily without a car.

 

[Don Quixote]

I think you've basically hit it. With DC, you've got the Mall, Smithsonian museums, White House, Capitol, and Arlington Cemetery as the major spots.

Even if you are burned out on history and museums, that's what I think Philly is best for too, and it's worth spending a day in the Independence Historical Park area.

 

[VA703]

Rocky steps in philly, downtown market also

 

[Parrothead]

Philly- Old City (Independence Hall, Liberty Bell, Betsy Ross,, etc) also cool bars and restaurants.. Take a stroll down South Street.

Italian Market on South 9th..

Center City isn't very interesting, but the Reading Terminal Market is cool..

As far as cheese steaks go, I like Tony Luke's on Oregon Ave in S Philly the best..

edit to add: if you have time and transportation Manyunk and Chestnut Hill are nice neighborhoods to walk /eat

 

[TobiasFunke]

Some non-museum family-friendly ideas:

Baseball- both parks easy to get to from downtown via mass transit. Phillies are mostly on the road around Easter but have a weekday afternoon home game the 17th. Nats are at home for a couple days before Easter and the whole week following.

Reading Terminal Market in Philly- great way to sample the classic Philly cuisine in a place tweens would probably enjoy.

In DC, maybe get away from the downtown tourist spots for an afternoon and hit up a neighborhood like Adams Morgan for some windowshopping and local flavor.

Two other things I always recommend to people visiting DC: (1) do the monuments at night if the weather is warm enough- they're much less crowded and also look about a hundred times cooler; (2) check out the Supreme Court, which unlike most other spots (including the House gallery) allows you to see the actual members of the Court doing pretty important stuff.

 

[msommer]

Thanks guys!

 

[Mopap]

If you will be travelling by train, Amtrak that is, and you're sure you are going to do this, buy your tickets as far in advance as you're comfortable with. Amtrak prices go up as you get closer to your departure date. You should double check me on this but I believe they even let you return your tickets for a full refund up until the day of departure.

For travelling around Philadelphia, mass transit is pretty decent. Buses will take you almost anywhere and the Broad Street Line (subway) runs from center city down to the sports complex. http:\\www.septa.org is the website for mass transit. You can check out bus schedules/routes and prices there. They probably have some type of all day family pass. Taxis in the city are required to except credit cards but some of them will claim their machine is busted.

 

[msommer]

Thanks Mopap, practical advice is always welcome. Yep Amtrak it is. Planning on buying the tickets end next week when everything is coming together - will check into ability to refund before buying!

 

[Thunderlips]

Philly is where the whole ball of wax got started, Bro. NYC was nothing but a bunch of Tories loyal to England and D.C. was a swamp. You got to see to where Ben Franklin treaded.

Reading Terminal might be the absolute best place to get a sampling of all the great food Philly has to offer.

 

[msommer]

Yeah, I get that, but with all the monuments in WAS it may be overkill for the kids. Then again, going PHI then WAS, and ending in NYC so I guess the overkill could come in a different city

 

[dgreen]

Thanks Mopap, practical advice is always welcome. Yep Amtrak it is. Planning on buying the tickets end next week when everything is coming together - will check into ability to refund before buying!

Do the multi-city tickets with Amtrak. You don't pay for each leg when you do it that way. For example, if you go NY-PHI-DC-NY, it's the same cost as doing NY-DC-NY. The NY-PHI and PHI-DC portion will be broken up to equal a NY-DC trip. If you don't know already, some trains are more expensive than others. The Northeast Regional is the cheapest line (Acela the most expensive and I believe the Cardinal and Carolina are more than the NER because they are designed for long distance).

ETA: Just saw you're doing PHI-DC-NY. Not sure the multi-city will work the way I was saying for that.