Philadelphia Travel Forum

My wife and I are staying near Newark NJ for a few days in September or October. We will be without a car, but want to visit Philadelphia for a day. What are our options for getting to Philadelphia and back, and how is the best way to include Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell during the trip?

Driving, train or bus are you better options. Once downtown everything is there for you. On my first to Philly I took the bus trolley tour that takes you for a tour around the city. It was great you can get off and on at different points as well as while your on learn fascinating things about the city.

there are NJ transit trains that go to trenton
from there you can hop on the septa train into philly
or from trenton take the river line tram/train to camden and from there take the patco into philly.
all the train options are rather expensive compared to the chinatown bus. if you're relatively close to the PATH train in newark, take that into nyc...hop over to chinatown (near the manhattan bridge)..there are numerous buses that go directly between chinatown nyc and chinatown philly (which pretty much is smack in the middle of the city). bus fare is $12 each way or $20 r/t

Going into NY to then go back to Philly is a substantial time waster. If you only have one day, take Amtrak to Philadelphia (the cheapest train is $45 each way, if you book in advance) or take the bus (Greyhound is about $21 each way). You can take the NJ Transit-to-SEPTA combination, also cheap, and about the same length of time as taking Greyhound. Amtrak is by far the best use of your time--it's only about 70-minute ride. The bus or commuter train is about two hours.

The Greyhound station is within walking distance of Independence Hall, about eight blocks. If you take the train, it goes to 30th St. Station--you can then take the subway from there. It's quite easy.