The Mint and other activities for one day
 

We are stopping one day in Philly on our way from D.C. to New York. We are trying to take in Historical sights. We also thought the Mint looked fun to tour. Does anyone know if they have a place to keep your belongings (purse, camera) while inside? Is it a tour worth going on with such limited time? Thanks. Any suggestions on what to do and see that day would be appreciated. Although I checked 2 months ago the advance tickets for Independence Hall were gone. We are taking the Amtrak and arrive at 8:30 on Thursday, April 22. What do you think our chances of same day tickets would be if we went and got in line as soon as we get there? Thanks for your help.

I remember someone last year asked a similar question about the Independence Hall - and that person came back & reported that there were DEFINITELY day tickets held back for people who show up the day of. Since you can get in fairly early, just go straight to Independence Hall for your ticket.

The Mint: cosmically boring, yet unique. But, as far as I know, with no storage facilities inside--and you can't even take a camera inside the building, so...may not be in your best interest. You really don't see much happening most of the time, and the self-guided "tour" consists of walking a catwalk-type corridor where the monitors may or may not work. In short, there's so much else to do that I wouldn't bother with the Mint.

If you're coming into 30th Street Station, you can go out and cross the street to get the el train to 5th street: you need to go to the Visitors' Center at 6th and Market to get the tickets. They start giving away the day's tickets at 8:30, so you definitely want to go there first; what you will be running into is April and May being extremely heavy school trip months.

Whether you can or can't get the Independence Hall tix, you can go to the Liberty Bell pavilion and get great views of the outside of Independence Hall.

There are many suggestions here: http://www.fodors.com/community/unit...-itinerary.cfm This includes a link to the Franklin walking tour that takes in many of the historic sites of Old City: http://www.fodors.com/community/unit...iladelphia.cfm

And if you need some food ideas: http://www.fodors.com/community/unit...iladelphia.cfm

You sure you don't have more than a day? :)

Visitors once insisted on seeing the mint-WIDE range of ages...not one person thought it was enjoyable/interesting...

On the other hand, Reading terminal Market was a huge hit.

~Liz

Thanks for your ideas. We will most likely miss the mint. The camera is a big problem.

Constitution Center

I haven't been to Philadelphia in awhile but I remembered going to the Franklin Institute with my kids who were 7-12 and they loved it!