Where to stay in Philadelphia
 

Greetings form London!

I am bringing my brother and two others to Philly in October and wondered where the best area to stay is. I want to be near to resurants and shops, as well as some historic tourist areas. I also want it to be safe.
The main purpose of our visit is to pay 'homage' to Philidelphia International Records and am in the process of arranging a visit during our time in Philly. I would like to know how safe that area is and how far it would be away from where you suggest we stay. I would also like to know the best way to get there.

I look forward to your responses.

what is the address for Philadelphia Int'l Records?

Adress is:
The Avenue of the Arts
309 S. Broad Street
Philadelphia, PA 19107

Google maps put it at the airport for me so I knew that was wrong!

Actually, Philadelphia Int'l Records is close to restaurants & shops (LOTS actually), some historic tourist areas and is very safe. I like to stay close to there when I visit.

This is my go-to, but there are many others in the neighborhood, pretty much all similar in price.
http://www.lathamhotel.com/

> I would like to know how safe that area is

When visiting the main tourist areas -- and The Avenue of the Arts is definitely a tourist area -- you'll face greater danger from Philly drivers than from Philly criminals. Use typical precautions for visiting a large U.S. city and you'll be fine. I've walked that area hundreds of times without a single problem.

> and how far it would be away from where you suggest we stay.

Stay anywhere on or near Market Street, and then ride the subway from where you are to the 15th Street Exit of the Market-Frankford Line (aka the "Blue Line"). And that point you're about four blocks from 300 South Broad (the zero point is Market Street).
http://www.septa.org/maps/transit/mfl.html

> I would also like to know the best way to get there.

Mass transit is acceptable in Philly, even with one of the most antiquated fare systems in the world -- it still uses tokens, and vending machines for these are still CASH ONLY. Driving and parking a car, on the other hand, is a nightmare and legalized robbery.

When you arrive at the airport, take the R1 Rail Line
www.septa.org/schedules/rail/pdf/air.pdf
to the station nearest your lodging, then buy tokens for the MFL, then ride that to your hotel. Decide if you want to buy individual tokens or a day pass for the rest of your trip. Because Center City Philly is a very walkable area, you might well be able to use the subways only a few times each day.

Don't miss the plaque honoring your Queen!
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...nnial_Bell.JPG

You don't say how much you want to pay. Last September, we stayed for one night at the Holiday Inn Express on Walnut street which is close to the Philadelphia International Records address. It was very reasonable for the area and we thought it was fine. Not fancy but fine. Here is a link to a thread with more about it (also about another Holiday Inn in Philadelphia)

http://www.fodors.com/community/unit...ith-family.cfm

You've gotten some good advice.

I will say that although I do take the subways fairly often during the day in Philly, and at night if going to be with the crowds such as to a Phillies game, there are certain stations that I don't feel comfortable in off-hours, as they get rather deserted and can have some rather unstable folks around. On the other hand, I take the buses everywhere, I walk above ground almost everywhere, and there are even cabs if sharing with others.

The address given is even not so far from the main historical area, which is more in the area of 2nd - 6th Sts. and between Market and Walnut. Easily accessible by bus or cab (I'd walk it, but I know a lot of people wouldn't).

But staying near Rittenhouse Square, which is the area of the hotel bardo1 recommends, would be even lovelier.

Btw I don't know if price is an issue for you but we've gotten some great deals on priceline.

Wow! Thanks Guys.

I am looking for somewhere that is really cheap as the airfares are daylight robbery from London. I need two rooms, as is my husand & I and my brother & sister in law. It's a suprise for him, for his birthday.

We will only need a base to 'lay our heads', so the cheaper the better.

Another thing I wanted to ask is as,we are avid soul fans, does anyone know any record warehouses or shops that would be selling deleted/ back catalogues, not Philly Soul, but the smaller independent labels. There is a massive Northern & Modern Soul scene over here and my brother & sister-in-law are both big dj's on the scene!)

Thanks so much for your help and again if you know any cheap hotels within the areas you have previously stated could you pop up the link, so I can down load all the information.

Many thanks

Re. records stores:

http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/201...-philadelphia/

The Latham Hotel http://www.lathamhotel.com/ is pretty darn cheap for the neighborhood (which is both safe and central). You should be able to get rooms there for about £120 (or a little less than $200 USD).

aargh, just typed and lost my post. oh well.

If cheap is important, I highly recommend you try the "negotiate your own bid" on priceline for Phila. downtown hotels; I've done it several times and have gotten great deals, right in the heart of things. Choose only the Rittenhouse and Historic District area maps, as their other choices are too far out to give you what you said you wanted re: shops, restaurants, tourist area. I've had success choosing four star and bidding $85, then if you're rejected you can choose three and a half star, and then three if necessary. Since you have lots of time, if you're still rejected, or don't want to come down to three stars, you can always wait a week and try again.

I'm no record shop expert, but you might want to try contacting by email or phone, any of these three, to see if they'd either have what you're looking for or could guide you the right way: Repo Records at 6th and South Sts., Spaceboy at 7th and South, and AKA on 2nd St. near MArket. Google them for phone numbers and email addresses.

Good luck! Would love to hear back how you did.

Thank you so much. i was supposed to be writing a paper today (last one of the year) and with your advice have spent most of the day, checking it all out!

Just one more thing I forgot to ask and probably the most important...'What's the weather like in October?' (It will most likely to be the middle two weeks.)

Many thanks

There is a Rodeway Inn a few blocks away on Walnut St that would be cheap. But you'll get what you pay for, which isn't much.

Temps should be low to mid 60s during the day...so about 18 degress celcius or so???

October weather should be nearly ideal. The summer heat will have dissipated, and winter cold will not have arrived. There COULD be rain, but it's unlikely to be a soaker.


To get monthly temperature and precipitation averages for any location in the U.S.
1) go to www.Weather.com
2) type out the city and state, or the ZIP code, for the place of interest, in the space at the top
3) click on the [Search] Button
4) click on "Monthly" on the left
5) click on "Averages" below the calendar

Ironically for you, the use of inches and Fahrenheit scale is called "english" units; you can easily switch to metric.

I just put in some random October dates, and the cheapest hotels I've found are:

Holiday Inn Express Midtown $137
Rodeway Inn $133
Radisson Plaza Warwick Hotel $122
Holiday Inn Historic District for $140

There are lots of hotels in the $200+ range.

Unfortunately I checked the web site and the rates for the Holiday Inn Express on Walnut Street that I mentioned earlier in the thread seem to be MUCH higher this year than they were last fall when we stayed there.

I live here, so of course I tend not to stay in hotels, but the Alexander Inn at 12th and Spruce Streets gets decent reviews for a fairly cheap place to stay, and the location should work pretty well for you. http://www.alexanderinn.com/

October is generally a lovely time to be in the city, and I think you'll find it very walkable (plus the public transportation gets the job done when necessary.)

You might want to check out Repo Records on South Street; South Street has some cool stuff anyway. www.reporecords.com
And that way you can go to South Street diner or Jim's Steaks; we do cheap food pretty well here. :)
http://travel.webshots.com/album/579...MOZEX?start=12

I need to plug the record store of my friend, Main Street Music, in Manayunk. Great store and very friendly people. Manayunk has some good restaurants and shopping too.

Hi,

We come out on the 25th October for 5 nights.

I am looking for any information about Soul Clubs in the area. (We are staying at the Windsor Suites) and would like to know if there are any that will play PIR music. In other words older soul music.

We also want to go to New York for the day. I saw that it only takes 90 minutes on the train. Does anyone know if this is the case and would it (in your opinion) be worth doing?

Thank you all for your advice so far, it has been extremely helpful and appreciated.

If you want to save some money, then might I suggest, for going to New York, checking into Megabus?

If you book early enough and know which date you want to go to New York, you might be able to get a one-way ticket for $1 or slightly more. Same for the return trip.

http://us.megabus.com/


There is also the Philly Phlash Bus for tourists:

http://www.uwishunu.com/2012/05/the-...-friday-may-4/