I am planning to take my 2 daughters (age 16 and 5) to Phila over Memorial Day weekend (5/26-5/29)
Thinking about Sesame Place, New Hope, zoo, Camden aquarium, duck tour.
What do you think of these activities. Do you reccomend any others? Also, what is the best hotel or city location to stay in? thanks for helping me out!

The Franklin Institute would be a great place to take your girls.
Also, they might enjoy walking through Reading Terminal Market. Finally, Rittenhouse Square is very pretty.
Your 5-year old will enjoy Sesame Place but your 16 year old will be bored.

Camden Aquarium is absolutely fantastic. Allow about 4 hours, easily. Clean, gorgeous, and about a 10 minute drive from Philly over the Ben Franklin Bridge. Parking is easy. Go to their website, it has a wealth of info.

Right next door to the aquarium is the USS New Jersey. Might not be a girl thing, but still interesting.

You don't say where you're coming from, but if this is a one-time only Phila trip, you definitely should do some of the historic stuff - see the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall and the Constitution Center. Otherwise, save it for another trip.

Sesame Place will be very boring for the 16 year old as New Hope will be for the 5 year old.

Re hotels, where do you want to stay? There's a Sheraton right across the street from Sesame Place and they usually have some kind of package deal for admission. That will be conventient for Sesame and New Hope (about a 20 minute drive), but not great for Phila or the aquarium (about 30-40 minutes.)

As previously stated, your five year old will like Sesame Place and your sixteen year old will be bored to tears. I would recommend you stay in center city and enjoy the historic district. The zoo is great, as is the Adventure Aquarium. We did the Duck Tour with my eight and six year old niece and nephew last summer. It was fun, but I think one of the walking tours might actually give you more info about Phila. Go to the Visitors Center and get your free, times tickets to tour Independence Hall. There is a lot of other info you can get at the Visitors Center. The Constitution Center has interactive displays. I also think your family would enjoy the Franklin Institute Museum.
Go to www.gophila.com for a lot of info on acitivities and hotels.

A fun way to get to the aquarium is by ferry from the Philadelphia waterfront:

http://www.riverlinkferry.org/

thanks for the great reccomendations. As far as a place to stay - is there a particular "family friendly" hotel in City Center? How is Doubletree on Broad Street?

Dear Sailingsailing,
The Doubletree on Broad Street is a very nice hotel. I did live in Philadelphia for a bit, and I would be a little wary of staying at Broad and Locust with two young girls, mainly because there are a lot of panhandlers around there at night. I did have out of town business associates stay there, and they did like the room size.

Rittenhouse Square is a slightly nicer place to stay. The shopping is terrific for both daughters. Anthropologie is the flagship store for the Urban Outfitters chain and has great clothes young adults. For your five year old girl, Born Yesterday has beautiful clothes and toys. The park in Rittenhouse Square is a small and manageable park.

I agree that the Franklin Institute and Independence Mall area are great places to take young girls. Also, Please Touch Museum is across the street from Franklin Institute, but it is a small child's museum.

As a young girl growing up in Philly, I liked the Phila. Museum of Art. I remember beautiful Spanish and Japanese Courtyards in the upstairs, and they have a neat armory room.

My son and I just got back from staying in the Doubletree on Broad St. for two nights. We were there for the Penn Relays. This hotel was one of a few which had rooms available for this weekend when I booked. We liked the hotel very much. We ate in their restaurant on the night we arrived as it was late and we were too tired to go out. The food was not bad at all. Everyone was very nice and very helpful, from the front desk staff to the housekeepers. We didn't use the pool or the health club so I can't comment on them, sorry. The room was a nice size, clean and very comfortable. We would stay there again if we go back the the Relays next year! I didn't notice any panhandlers at all. We walked to a local Italian restaurant which was recommended by the concierge for dinner on Friday and didn't encounter anything at all unpleasant.

I live in Philadelphia and can make some recommendations. If you are only going to be in Philadelphia for a short time, I would not suggest heading out to Sesame Place. It seems like a wastes since There is plenty to do in town itself.

HOTELS
- There are several hotels that would be manageable -- Sofitel, Wyndham, to name a few. For upscale I'd recommend the Rittenhouse Hotel, the Ritz and thr Four Seasons, in that order.

For great food:
- Definitely spend some time at Reading Terminal Market (which is fun on a Saturday morning - great for all kinds of food). Amish breakfast is excellent. NOT open on Sunday
- the Italian market area
- any restaurant on Walnut Street
- Marathon Grill (chain) is good for reasonably priced sandwiches and breakfasts

MUSEUMS:
- the Franklin Institute,
- the Philadelphia Museum of Art,
- the Rodin Museum (people always forget that one -- its houses the largest collection of Rodin's outside of Paris)

PARKS:
- Fairmount Park (walking along the river, right by the museums -- great to see the folks rowing crew)
- Rittenhouse Square Park -- near good shopping on Walnut Street. Tons of people will be out if the weather is nice. Very small park. Farmer's market on the weekend
- Penn's Landing (there may even be a concert or event going on)

HISTORY: Old City/Society Hill. On that front, I'd suggest either the duck tour, the Phiily Plash, the double decker bus or even a horse and buggy rider that will take you around and show you the historical sights and the driver will give you some commentary. Its kind of fun. Must sees:
- Liberty Bell
- Constitution Center
- Independence Mall
- walk by Betsy Ross House (right next to the house where the kids lived on MTV's "Real World" (your oldest will understand that) and Alfreth's Alley

SHOPPING:
- Walnut Street (from Rittenhouse Square down to Broad Street)
- Some on Broad Street itself
- Old City (cool galleris and kitschy shops)