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Comment by dragontamer | Hacker News Reader

What would be the sights to see in Philly?

I was planning on mostly wandering around aimlessly (actually, I'll probably still do that :-) ). But I'm all ears for any "must see" locations.

Liberty Bell + museums are the main thing I know about.

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This isn't really a sight-seeing thing, but grab a cheese steak! Pat's/Gino's are the famous spots where everyone takes photos, but IMO they're mostly tourist traps at this point. Worst cheese steaks I've had within 100 miles of Philly. Jim's is a good spot, plus it's on South Street which is a good area to walk around in.

The South Street area is also home to a bunch of mozaic murals by Isaiah Zagar, which are definitely worth checking out. There are official tours, but you can also just check out the neighborhood map here and explore some of them on your own: https://www.phillymagicgardens.org/about-us/mosaic-mural-map...

If you like walks, check out the Schuylkill River Trail - it got caught up in the recent flooding so I'm not sure what kind of shape it's in right now, but I assume it'll get cleaned up pretty quick if it hasn't been already. The view of 30th Street Station and a nearby USPS building is pretty cool at night. I've heard it can get a little sketchy if you're down on the trail at night, but as a 6ft tall white guy I never ran into any issues on the route walked home from work for ~8 months. Your mileage may vary, but the worst thing I ever encountered was kids my age smoking weed down by the river.

Go to Arch St & N Independence Mall E. See B. Frankie's grave, Christ Church. Walk south down Independence to Chestnut. See the Bell, Independence Hall. Walk east to S 3rd St, seeing the Second Bank, Carpenters Hall, First Bank. Walk south on 3rd to Walnut, see Merchant Exchange Building. Walk West on Walnut, see 18th Century Garden, Dolly Todd House. At Washington Square, walk diagonally down to Locust Street, keep walking west down Locust about 12 blocks to Rittenhouse Square, but stop along the way for lunch and a cocktail. Walk counter-clockwise around Rittenhouse and then go South on South 19th St, until South St. Head east on South St for 18 blocks, until 2nd St. Head North on 2nd St to Spruce St, and then head East for 2 blocks to Spruce Street Harbor. At this point it should be evening, and either you can go home or check out bars/restaurants in Old Town which is about where you are.

You can also take a detour at Broad St up to City Hall (take the Broad Street line subway up and back down if you're tired). See the hall, see the Masonic Temple, see the smallest "LOVE" sign ever at Love Park. Back towards Old City there's Thomas Jefferson's little place while he was writing it, Declaration House. There's the oldest continuously inhabited street in America, with a little art walk on Fridays around there. And of course there's the Art Museum and Waterworks behind it.

If you want to speed up your whole trip, make strategic use of Philly's Indego bikes. A bike is a great way to tour up the Schyulkill, to get to the Art Museum, and head north along the bike trail past boathouse row.

Reading Terminal Market is cool, but I'm not sure how it will be during pandemic conditions (it's usually pretty crowded).

It's still pretty crowded, but not quite as much as pre-pandemic in my experience. Most everything is still open.

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