Philly noob help!

aspoonfulweighsaton

I know there are plenty of Philly folks around so I'm needing some advice.  I will be attending the Saturday night show and have never been to Philly at all.  I'm trying to find the closest place to stay in hopes it's within reason to walk to the show as driving around in a city like that when an event like this is going on frankly frightens me lol.  Looking at the Holiday Inn near the airport/stadium area as supposedly it's the closest right at a mile away.  

I'm wondering if there are lots of things to do directly in that area as I'm debating on getting there Friday.  Again, not looking to go driving around if I can help it, so just any general advice as to whether it's worth getting there a day early or if the day of the show would suffice for someone like me that would prefer to walk everywhere.  And if there's a better option than the Holiday Inn (I only care about proximity) then fill me in.  Thanks!

F Me In The Brain

Live Casino (used to be a holiday inn before they knocked it down) is the closest,I believe. 
The Orange Line aka Broad Street Line goes right to the complex so you can stay anywhere that is off that.  (Or, change to another Line, but the BSL would cover lots of areas, including Center City)  from Center City you can walk to tons of cool things depending on what you like to do and see.

RiotZact

A blessing and a curse about the Philly sports arena/stadiums is that they are all grouped together very much so out of the way of any other cool things to do in Philly. There are a small amount of places you could go to that aren’t necessarily out of walking distance, but it will be a long walk and again they aren’t exactly at the top of the list of things you’ll want to see in Philly. 

If you want to do some fun Philly stuff outside of seeing PJ, then you’ll probably want to stay at one of the many hotels in Center City and Uber and/or use public transportation to get around. 

A lot of the famous history sites are in Old City, which is a long but not completely undoable walk from Center City if you don’t mind it. A lot of the best places for food and some other popular tourist spots are in South Philly, which is towards the Wells Fargo Center but not nearly all the way there and will be similar distance from Center City. 

I’m not sure if others will agree that this is a good plan, but before I moved to Philly my uncle and I liked to stay at the Hampton in at the airport and Uber everywhere. The hotel was usually cheaper than Center City AND parking is easy/free. It’s technically way further away from everything but the Uber’s are still similarly priced and don’t take much longer because most of that distance is just open highway.

Johnny Abruzzo

I would stay in Center City within a couple blocks of Broad St. (between say 11th & 17th). Club Quarters Rittenhouse usually has reasonable prices - it's a perfectly fine hotel. Then you can easily take the "Orange Line" i.e. Broad Street Subway southbound to the last stop - (it's called NRG Station I think - we are selling naming rights to our train stations lol) - and the arena is right there. Don't stay near the airport - there is nothing around there. There's an option to buy a SEPTA (transit authority) one-day pass - unfortunately they strive to make it as confusing as possible. https://www.septakey.org/info/fare-products  SEPTA smells like a Grateful Dead concert pretty much all the time and is plagued by panhandlers, but it works pretty well. There's a train that goes from the airport right to Center City. I haven't look at the fares for that and how it works for a while. Annoyingly it only goes every half hour.

Once you're in Center City all the fun stuff is easily walkable. Definitely go to Reading Terminal (it's a zoo but it's worth it) - DiNic's roast pork sandwich and then you can get donuts (Beilers) or a cannoli (Termini) and an Old City Coffee espresso - it's all in that little building. Also go to my favorite spot - Gran Caffe' L'Aquila - amazing cappuccino, espresso, gelato, Italian food, wine, etc. At breakfast time they have a croissant that's stuffed with nutella ("cornetto") - killer.

The historical stuff is about a mile walk from there (or a quick ride to 5th St. on the "Blue Line" - Market-Frankford, or the "el"). The tour of Independence Hall is super-highly recommended. It's like $2 - you just have to reserve in advance. You see the room where the continental congresses met and the Declaration of Independence and Constitution were debated and signed. Also around there is the Liberty Bell (just have to wait in line) and the Constitution Center and Museum of the American Revolution, which you have to pay for, and Betsy Ross House.

If you like art The Barnes is a world class museum. You have to reserve in advance.

F Me In The Brain

Can't get much better breakdown!^^^^^^

If you like good food, there are options fancy and plain, cheap, and pricey.   Awesome food city

Johnny Abruzzo

Also 2 Italian restaurants sort of walking distance from the venue (both BYOB) - take subway to Oregon Station and walk a couple blocks:
L'Angolo: https://www.yelp.com/biz/l-angolo-ristorante-philadelphia-3 (they do food much better than websites)
Scannicchio's https://www.scannicchio.online/

If you like to have a good meal beforehand, rather than tailgating or waiting outside the venue or whatever.

aspoonfulweighsaton

Thanks guys!  Public transportation sometimes overwhelms me as I don't live anywhere near a place that has a subway/rail system.  I should have plenty of time to research it and just put on my big boy pants and know it can't be that hard.

CROJAM95

Philly is fun....easy for us NYers to get to

09 Spectrum was a blast/ Yankees Phils WS
2012 MIA/ Had rail....RUN DMC/Jay Z w/ PJ/ Springsteen GA that weekend too

2016 TEN Show

Ill be there for Saturday show for sure ( need tix)...may do Monday show if things fall into place

Johnny Abruzzo

aspoonfulweighsaton said:

Thanks guys!  Public transportation sometimes overwhelms me as I don't live anywhere near a place that has a subway/rail system.  I should have plenty of time to research it and just put on my big boy pants and know it can't be that hard.

The Broad Street Subway/orange line (or just "the subway" - there's only one) just goes north/south - it's pretty easy. Everything I recommended except for the history stuff and Barnes is close to the subway.