United States

Philadelphia

  • Population:~1.6M (city), ~6.2M (metro)
  • Timezone:ET/EDT
  • IATA:PHL

Overview

Philadelphia is where the United States was born — the city of Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell, and the nation's first capital. It is also a vivid, walkable modern city: the home of the cheesesteak and Reading Terminal Market, the Rocky Steps at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, more than 4,000 public murals, and some of the most passionate sports fans in the country.

Travel

Philadelphia is where the United States was argued into existence, and the remarkable thing is how ordinary the ground feels: Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell sit in a few working blocks you walk straight into, free, between a food market and a commuter station, rather than behind the ceremonial distance a country usually puts around its founding. That accessibility is the character of the whole city. Center City is flat, gridded and genuinely walkable; the colonial streets of Old City run into gallery-and-restaurant blocks; a Champs-Élysées-styled parkway climbs from City Hall to an art museum whose steps are more famous than most of its collection. Philadelphia is also the most affordable of the big east-coast cities by a clear margin, which shows in the eating — a cheesesteak rivalry taken seriously, soft pretzels, water ice, and a covered market trading since 1893 — and in a mural programme that has put several thousand paintings on the city's walls. Two days covers the founding sites and the museums comfortably. A third buys the neighbourhoods, which is where people are surprised.

The heart of any first visit is Independence National Historical Park, often called “America's most historic square mile”. Independence Hall — a UNESCO World Heritage Site — is the redbrick Georgian building where the Founders debated and signed both the Declaration of Independence in 1776 and the US Constitution in 1787; entry is by free timed ticket, worth reserving in peak season. Across Independence Mall, the Liberty Bell, with its famous crack, sits in a glass pavilion that is free to enter (security check only). The surrounding park packs in Congress Hall, the excellent Museum of the American Revolution, Franklin Court and the National Constitution Center, making a full and genuinely moving half-day or more of early-American history.

Frequently asked questions

It is the birthplace of the United States — the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were both signed at Independence Hall, and the city was the early nation's capital. It is equally famous for the cheesesteak, the “Rocky Steps” at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Reading Terminal Market, and being the “Mural Capital of the World” with more than 4,000 public murals. Philadelphians' devotion to their sports teams is legendary too.

This overview comes from Visaja's worldwide missions database (visaja.com), checked against official government sources; for binding answers, the mission itself always has the final word.