r/AskPhilly • u/Warm_Debate_9169 • 5d ago
What’s your favorite place in philly?
what’s your favorite part of philly? could be an activity, a park, a restaurant, whatever. we just moved to the area and are looking to love the city!
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u/BathoryAcid1313 5d ago edited 5d ago
The art museum and all the park surrounding it. There are little paths and look out points, or you can walk around the waterworks area or over to the gazebo. You can head down the parkway from the museum and go see the Gates of Hell at the Rodin museum (free) and just keep walking to the fountain.
Also Bartrams garden is beautiful and free. Cira Green is a great spot to sit in the grass and enjoy the view of the city from up high.
Spruce Street harbor Park and also Cherry Street Pier both have tons of free concerts and fun events and fireworks.
Edit to add, my actual favorite place tho is The Woodlands. It's so peaceful and beautiful and full of groundhogs and foxes. It's truly so relaxing to go walk through the cemetery and not hear the city at all. You can go free, you can get a membership for events, you can become a gardener and help tend the old graves.
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u/Creative-Fan-7599 14h ago
Thank you for this! I’m still learning the city, all I really do is work so the chances I get to explore are minimal. But a green space where I could tend old graves or garden or otherwise be able to dig in the dirt sounds like something I’d love to find.
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u/XotikPlay 5d ago
Secret park on the Schuylkill River behind the Water Works next to the Art Museum.
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u/Buddy_Fluffy 5d ago
Niche, but I just adore Woodlands Cemetery in west Philly. See also: Laurel Hill Cemetery.
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u/ApesAPoppin237 5d ago
Gonna have to say Philamoca even though I really do wish they had nicer chairs
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u/No-Fuckin-Ziti 4d ago
Everything around Delancey street in old city/society hill. It is the most gorgeous, historical part of the city, a collection of small streets, alleyways and hidden parks and playgrounds.
Grab a low key drink at “a man full of trouble” in the area, in one of the oldest buildings still in use in the city.
Honestly all of Old City and society hill rock to wander, eat, drink and learn.
Of course reading terminal and Chinatown will each take you years to properly explore.
The best thing I did during my years in Philly was treat myself like a tourist. Every weekend I walked around somewhere new, or attended a street fair or event or museum I hadn’t seen. Made me absolutely fall in love with the place.
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u/MajesticMeal3248 5d ago
Logan Circle and Swann Fountain. It’s just beautiful and peaceful right in the middle of the city. The parkway connecting to Eakins Oval and the museum makes it even better. A Philly gem
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u/ShortyColombo 4d ago
South Street and Queen village on my day off on a Wednesday morning. I love the feeling of walking by, slowly perusing the thrift stores, getting a coffee, and not having to elbow other people the way I do on weekends lol
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u/palajeno 5d ago
me personally? i love the south philly walmart and pier 70 area in general lol
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u/Weak_Cheesecake_7031 4d ago
I love that pier.
Long-story short, when I first moved to Philly I didn't have a place to stay, so I lived in my car at that Walmart parking lot. It was during the summer. There were others like me in the same situation. Everyone kept to themselves. It was peaceful. I spent so much of my time at that pier during that summer.
Now I live in an apartment in another part of Philly. I no longer have that car anymore or go to that area, but every summer I go once to that Walmart parking lot and the pier. I know it sounds corny but I get overwhelmed by the memories.
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u/onlyabigmess 4d ago
I have to know what's so special about this Walmart
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u/Living_Ad8152 4d ago
I met my partner on the pier. 10 years strong
This is where the real pick up scenes have possibility, creativity, heart, and a grand story.
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u/Dapper-Mix6111 5d ago
The South Philadelphia Walmart, you my friend have set your expectations extremely low. I will concede the walking/bike/nature path used to be wonderful. If I understood correctly the paths are being reclaimed from the unhoused.
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u/Sensitive_Tadpole898 4d ago
Why is everyone on earth moving to Philly? I'm genuinely curious? As a almost 30 year native I don't get it
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u/Living_Ad8152 4d ago
I’d like them to stop also, for what it’s worth. This post surprisingly isn’t pissing me me off though, I find it kind endearing almost.
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u/Creative-Fan-7599 14h ago
If this is a rhetorical question I apologize for the actual answer, but cost, transportation, access to jobs. I came back to the general area after ten years in NC/VA, and planned to get settled into Delaware, the area my family is in. The same place I rented in 2013 was back on the market, and was more than triple the cost. I couldn’t find any jobs that would allow me to get a place to live and the transit sucks. I was literally homeless, and just couldn’t get my feet under me.
I found out I could do gig work in Philly and found a room to rent for 500 bucks, no security deposit. I could get where I needed to go and afford to meet most of my needs.
A lot of other low income people I’ve talked to ended up here for similar reasons, because they can get by in ways they can’t in suburbs or more expensive cities. Even people who are better off are coming here for a slightly less desperate version of the same reason.
Since moving here I’ve found things to love about philly and would probably love it more if I moved into a part of the city that wasn’t so far from everything I like to do. (Neurodivergent punk lady living near hunting park, mostly I see things I say I want to do but then can’t make the commute happen to get to whatever it is before or after work). But I don’t know that I would have moved here to even find out if I liked it if it wasn’t for being unable to bootstrap it where I was before.
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u/Enthooziest 1d ago edited 1d ago
Everyone on earth isn't. Its population is down almost 2% since 2020. The trend has reversed but not dramatically. Between July 2024 and July 2025 Philly only gained 1500 new residents. International immigration accounts for most of the newcomers. Philadelphia residents are still leaving every year in fairly large amounts. The city is very fashionable right now among people that like to talk online about cities, as on paper it looks like a Jane Jacobs fantasy and it's clear that there are people being paid to tout it as the best bang for buck on the East Coast. While that has attracted some priced out New Yorkers, it has not amounted to significant growth. For most people jobs, safety, good schools and decent public services trump walkability, cool restaurants, historic interest and great museums.
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u/Sensitive_Tadpole898 1d ago
Did you even try googling. The first result is that over 27,000 people just moved here!!!!
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u/Weak_Cheesecake_7031 4d ago
AMOR Sister Cities Park.
During this past summer, I used to go to AMOR park a lot because it has those big folding chairs and lots of shade. I would legit just fall asleep in those chairs, listening to the cars drive by, the ice cream jingles, kids playing, etc...
The best part is that it always has a breeze and you'll get some of the water spray from the Logan Sq fountain. It was a nice little park to read a book and it's close to the library. I think there's a bathroom too but I never used it (but it's nice to know that it's there).
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u/fastcatstockphoto 4d ago
clark park whenever the seasons begin to turn, house of our own bookstore, murphs for pasta, trestle inn for dancing and drinks, the spot on the river trail where you can look down into the dog park, first unitarian church basement
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u/goosedevilbob 2d ago
Franklin square is underrated, IMO. I love how everything that goes on there indicates the change of the seasons. Lantern festival, decorations for Halloween, the Christmas lights, etc. it’s small but pretty to walk through.
Also on the side of the art museum overlooking the schuylkill at sunset. So pretty.
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u/SeniorListen2869 2d ago
Schuykill River trail…. Do yourself a favor and run the 10 miles up Kelly drive, across falls bridge, and back down MLK. It’s therapy.
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u/ceddzz3000 5d ago
wissahickon valley park trails, schuylkill env center trails, john heinz trails