Weekend Warrior: Philadelphia

By Elizabeth

Philadelphia, like many other cities, offers an array of fun options for the weekend visitor. Each person’s experience yields different outings, each person’s experience varies. But I spent a weekend in Philadelphia and it was flawlessly fun and perfect. If you’ve got your own ideas of what to do in Philadelphia, great! Better yet, share them in the comments on this post. But if you’re clueless, I’d highly recommend doing the following–because I did–and it was awesome:

1. Book a room at Penn’s View Hotel.
I was on a mission to find a cute, local, and boutique-esque hotel for my Philadelphia stay when I came across the Penn’s View Hotel website. Luckily for all of us, the hotel was even more charming in person than it was on the website. This hotel is classy and sexy. Adorable rooms, each with an individual design, make up the hotel. I was in the King suite 315 and if it’s open for you–rent it if you can. The room is spacious, well-lit, cozy, and even has a deep jacuzzi bath in the bathroom. The complimentary breakfast at the hotel is so complete, you won’t be hungry for hours. Fresh fruit, waffles with strawberries on top, yogurt, absolutely delicious scones (there was a cherry almond one day and a banana the next day), bagels, toast, cereal, muffins, and even hard boiled eggs are served with coffee, milk, juice, and water. The bar in the hotel has a fabulous wine tasting every Friday night. For $25 you’ll get to try multiple wines from a different section of the world each Friday (I had 8 wines from Northern Italy) and you’ll have an endless supply of cheeses, breads, fruits, vegetables, and other h’ours de vours while you drink away. The hotel also has a highly-regarded restaurant, but sadly, I didn’t have time to try that out myself.

2. Party at Transit.
That is, if you like to party. Transit is a gigantic 3 floor party space only a $6 cab ride away from Penn’s View Hotel. The place is dark in an antique gothic kind of way. It appeals to music and dance lovers alike and many of their parties even offer drink specials (there was free PBR the night I was there. The PBR was ‘free until it ran out’. I happy to say I contributed to it running out). Make sure you research what’s going on there the weekend you’re there, though. A simple call to the club could help you discern the kind of party going down that weekend, of if there’s one at all.

3. Eat, drink, and dance at Vesuvio.
Everyone hangs out on South Street in Philadelphia. And I like South Street. But if you want to get just a couple blocks away and find something awesome, you need to walk down to the corner of 8th street and Fitzwater and find yourself in Vesuvio. The bar/restaurant serves multiple purposes. Before it became the homey dive-esque bar it is today, it was a fine-dining restaurant. That appreciation for good food once held is still maintained on the ‘bar food’ menu. You don’t normally find dishes like crab dip, portobello melts, and vegetarian pizza at a bar…and you find these dishes to be delicious at bars even less frequently. Vesuvio, however, does their food the right way: without flaw. On top of this, Vesuvio has dance parties upstairs every Thursday-Saturday and multiple televisions for watching the big game, whatever game it is you’re watching. Vesuvio, more or less, is a really fun place to hang out with locals and indulge in fun without being bombarded by the South Street traffic.

4. Ride the bull at Buckhead. If you’re into the idea of finding a big space where you can get Sunset Wheat on tap (I know many of you are used to having this delicious beer on tap, but it’s hard as hell to find in New York), talk to some smokin’ hot waitresses (I’m proud to say the hot Asian, Jenny, is my good friend and will treat you well), and ride a mechanical bull, Buckhead is the place for you. It’s a cheap cab ride from Penn’s View and trust me, after the mechanical bull ride, you’ll need a hot soak in their jacuzzi tub.