There's a lot more going on in Philadelphia than a Phillies playoff run. A big-time sports town with professional and minor league teams, Philadelphia is also a big-time art town, history town, university town, music town, food town and fun town. You can easily eat, drink, walk, shop and sightsee your way through a long or short weekend in the City of Brotherly Love.Â
To get to Philadelphia, Southwest Airlines (tel. 800/435-9792; www.southwest.com) has a system-wide sale where flights to anywhere Southwest flies, including Philadelphia, range from $49 to $159 one-way. For instance, roundtrip from Chicago to Philadelphia for a trip in November costs $218. You must book by October 19, 2006 for travel between September 26, 2006 and March 9, 2007 with a 14-day advanced booking.
US Airways (tel. 800/428-4322; www.usairways.com) also flies into Philadelphia on a daily basis. If you live in the Portland, Ore. area, the airline now operates a new nonstop route from Portland to Philadelphia for $153 one way. US Airways also has roundtrip fares to Philadelphia from Nashville for $210, $238 from Savannah, $258 from San Diego and $228 from Myrtle Beach. If you live abroad, fares into Philadelphia and back cost $538 from London Gatwick, $598 from Dublin and $278 from San Juan. All prices are before taxes. Tickets for the domestic fares require a 14-day advance purchase. Only a three-day advance purchase is required from San Juan.
Once in Philadelphia, Go Philadelphia (tel. 800/537-7676; www.gophila.com) has a full listing of events and hotel packages to Philadelphia. The city has made itself much more tourist friendly with improved ways to get around town such as, the Phlash a visitor-friendly $1 per-ride bus. With the exception of walking, it's the best way to get between the city's top attractions. A one-day pass costs $4, children and seniors ride for free, and an all-day family pass allowing you to get off and on as you like costs $10. The Phlash runs daily through November 30, 2006 from 10am till 6pm.
Go Phila also lists hotel packages across a number of different travel categories. A "Tour of the Town Package" includes a one-night stay at the University Sheraton adjacent to the University of Pennsylvania (www.upenn.edu) in collegiate and hip West Philadelphia. The hotel is centrally located to downtown and many other sites such as the Philadelphia Museum of Art (tel. 215/763-8100; www.philamuseum.org), and only a short stroll from Locust Walk, the pedestrian-only cobblestone artery slicing through the University. Costing approximately $149 per night for single occupancy and $179 for double occupancy, the package comes with one voucher for a Trolley Works show and one voucher for a sandwich at Jim's Steaks, one of the city's top cheesesteak spots.
Go Phila has a page dedicated to different walking and sightseeing options. People interested in colonial architecture and city garden landscapes will be intrigued by the "30 Minute Walk" tour that visits the gardens and secret parks of Society Hill, as well as the churches of Old City and a stop by Independence Hall.
For inclusive air and land trips to Philadelphia, Travelocity (tel. 888/872-8356; www.travelocity.com) has last-minute deals from almost any gateway city in the United States. Departing on Friday, October 6 and returning Monday, October 9, 2006, Travelocity has packages to Philadelphia from Cleveland starting at $399.54 per person for people traveling in twos and staying at hotels in the suburban neighborhoods of Cherry Hill, NJ and Allentown. To stay closer to the city, add $132 per person for three nights at the Holiday Inn City Line, just five miles from Center City. For an extra $221, you can stay at the Hilton at Penn, a hotel just off Penn's campus. Travelocity's last-minute deals are easy to use and designed for almost immediate travel. You just select a departure city and a destination, click enter and wait for the available packages.
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