Philadelphia Christmas trip report

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01/12/2025 15:36

Subject: Philadelphia Christmas trip report

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Anonymous

I spent 4 nights in Philly with my husband and 2 kids right before Christmas 2024. We stayed at the Kimpton Hotel Polamar. This was our 1st trip to Philadelphia (took us wayyy too long to visit considering it's not far).

Hotel: Great location, it was decorated nicely for xmas, staff were friendly, and there was a cozy fireplace & complimentary wine-hour. The rooms were just okay and I felt like it could have been cleaner. Breakfast was "included" but only included 2 adults. We ended up paying an extra $8-12 daily for our kids to eat breakfast but tbh it was a pretty good breakfast and was relaxing each morning. They did have kids scooters & adult bikes to borrow for free but we didn't do that. To park, you have to pay like an extra $60 a day which is wild. We did not drive after we arrived. If you can take the train, probably best. I would probably stay there again **IF** there was a really good deal.

Christmas Activities:

1) Christmas Village. We absolutely loved it! It is about an 8 min walk from the hotel and the market honestly felt A LOT like the European Christmas markets that I've been to. It truly feels the most like a European Christmas market that I have yet found in the US and made my heart happy. The mulled wine was good and there was a white apple wine that was actually really good. The mug+1 drink cost $12 and then refills cost $8 so it wasn't bad! The rides were fun, there were some decent vendors with local art and pretty local ornaments, ect., and some awesome food. I loved the "humptysdumplings" with all of their different flavored dumplings at the market - sooo good!! My kids loved the raclette sandwiches the most and the strudels. We went the last few days they were open and I expected it to be MUCH busier than it was. It was bustling but not overcrowded and there was lots of lovely live music. Ice skating was delightful! We were super close to the Wannamaker building and we enjoyed checking out the macy's displays and watching the lightshow. We made the mistake of not booking the "Dickens village" show in advance so couldn't make it there but it's free. I'm not sure what will happen next year with Macy's

2) Riverrink Winterfest: This is a bit far from where we stayed and kind of isolated from other things, especially with construction going on nearby but it is a lovely spot for ice skating, warm drinks, and beautiful views. The views were just perfect and the rink is pretty big.

There's also just random other spots that were decorated such as "east market" where there was a beautiful tree/lights/swings, the Betsy Ross House, and Elfreth's alley. There's lots of other spots but we didn't get to everything like the zoo lights, franklin square, ect.

Other activities:

historical- Visiting the Liberty Bell (they have some great info about it there!)- we really enjoyed this, checking out Independence Hall- tbh not as interesting, & Museum of the American Revolution -we all really enjoyed this museum as it was very engaging and there is a great children's area in the basement, plus they had a scavenger hunt my kids liked.

Franklin Institute: We absolutely loved this museum!! It was soo much fun and we did not get to everything. My only recommendation is to pack a lunch because the food options there are not great at all and are extremely expensive but there are some spots to sit and eat, which is what a lot of families did.

Reading terminal market: kind of an activity?? lol. This was the ONLY super crowded place we visited in all of Philly. It was still worth it. The food was terrific. We went on dec 23rd so perhaps it's not always that busy but the lines actually moved really quickly considering how long they were. I don't think we waited for more than about 10 min in any line, we just had a really hard time finding a spot anywhere to even stand and eat, not even sit.

I found the city very walkable & it looked like there was great shopping (beyond markets) but I didn't get to any of that. The only drawbacks included the cost of parking (it was expensive basically all over) and their subway was extra gross/dirty with a lot of urine, drug use, and intoxicated people but that may have been worse because it was so cold. I've been on lots of subways around the world and I did not feel as comfortable on this one as I have on most others.

I definitely do recommend visiting for a Christmas trip - there's soo much more to do that you really do have to pick and narrow it all down but it was delightful. I'd love to go again and visit some of the sights I missed this time around.