Travel advice: Philadelphia, Boston or Chicago?

[S.o.a.r.]

So it's almost time for my fourth visit to the States, this time focusing on the east coast. I'm going with the same friend as before and we've already decided on New York, but we would like to combine our NYC visit with one other city that's fairly close by; Philadelphia, Boston or Chicago are the cities we're the most interested in.

We're hoping to find a city that's as well-rounded as New York; plenty of shopping opportunities, as well a few museums and a zoo. We don't mind walking great distances in order to soak up our surroundings, otherwise we prefer to take the bus or train/subway.

So, you guys who live in either of these cities or have traveled there before, please shower us with tips and suggestions!

[shelvesofwhimsy]

As someone who grew up visiting Boston, has lived near Boston, and loves Boston...I say Boston

The city itself has so many cool historical sites, museums, aquariums, and more!
The food is also amazing! The T (metro/train) is pretty easy to navigate, and it isn't too bad walking from place to place!

It's also pretty close to NYC, I think maybe 2-3 hours by car or train.


A few of my favorite places:

Boston Aquarium- There are seals right outside you can watch for free! They're so sweet, and inside there are really cool exhibits including a large penguin habitat!

Faneuil Hall- Nearby the Aquarium is this large brick building full of cute shops and places to eat! Tons of "street vendor" type foods so you can try lots of different things close by!

The North End- HOLY YES! If you want good Italian Food...this is it! I recommend Giacomo's, it is the best. And I am not just saying that. I dream about eating their Butternut Squash Ravioli all year from CA lol. You may have to wait in line, but trust me it is worth it!
When you're done, stop by Mike's Pastry for awesome Cannolis! So many flavors, and all delicious!

Boston Science Museum- I grew up visiting here and its still pretty cool as an adult! They have rotating exhibits, but also very cool displays of different animal species (similar to natural history museum), areas with science displays (so technical I know), and a room where they demonstrate lightning! I love it here!

Harvard Square- This area is awesome, and is on the Red Line for the T. You can browse the lovely brick campus...and then stop by L.A Burdick for the best liquid milk hot chocolate you will ever have in your life! Its so so good! There are also tons of cute shops and places to check out!
Also visit the "Garage" Shopping center for a few cute shops including a Japan Totoro Store, and a Newbury Comics (which I cant find on the west coast haha)

Chinatown- I have only been once, but they do have a cool entrance gate, and yummy hot pot places to eat!

Newbury Street- Super cute brick houses, lovely high end shops!
 
John Hancock Tower- Tallest building in boston

Paul Revere House- I haven't been but also very cool!



And...depending on how much time you have Boston is also a train ride away from Salem, MA which is also a very cool place full of Witches (lol), cool shops, museums and more.

Seriously I love it here and I could probably go on 

[Breyer600]

I grew up near Chicago and can say there is a ton of shopping, several excellent museums, and two very nice zoos plus an aquarium. 

My favorite museum is the Field Museum of Natural History which is directly across from the Shedd Aquarium and the Adler Planetarium.  It's possible to walk there from the train station but there are plenty of buses that can take you there as well.  The Museum of Science and Industry is in another area of town but is another excellent museum that I highly recommend.  Each one takes pretty much an entire day to see; the Aquarium doesn't take quite as long and could be combined with something else.  There are other museums as well. 

The Lincoln Park Zoo is located downtown.  It's small but quite good for it's size, has an excellent Great Ape House, and is free.  The Brookfield Zoo is the one I prefer.  It's in the suburbs but can be easily reached by train (there are directions on their website).

[Jocelyn]

I see Boston and Chicago are well represented, so I'll pop in and share some of my knowledge of Philadelphia!

Philly is a few hours from NYC by bus, I believe there's even a bus you can take from the NY Chinatown that'll take you to the Philly Chinatown for $20. May be a little shady, but pretty affordable! Chinatown is right downtown and between the Museum district and Old City, where all the historic/colonial stuff is.

I live super close to Chinatown, so that's where we mostly go to eat. There are ramen shops, dim sum places, bubble tea places, Pho restaurants, etc. It's all great, really! I'm Japanese, so I have a bit of a bias toward the Japanese restaurants lol...Some of my recommendations would be Yamitsuki (a very contemporary ramen shop, comic book themed and has a giant samurai-like Iron Man at the entrance), Terakawa (a more traditional, but amazing ramen shop), and bubble tea places like Tea Do or Mr. Wish. There's also fun shops there, even a Sanrio store. Of course, most of the anime merchandise you'll find in Chinatown are bootlegs, so just be aware of that.

Also, a big transportation hub is right in Chinatown as well, so from there you could take the train to most other parts of the city - The Market-Frankford line (Elevated rail) will take you to the Northeast and West Philadelphia, which is where a lot of universities are.

In West Philly, you have Fairmount Park which is beautiful, and the Penn Museum which has great archaeological and cultural artifacts. There is a traditional Japanese house called Shofuso, with a walled garden and everything in Fairmount - a bus ride will take you there. Nearby there's also the Please Touch museum, which I've heard is great. Also, near Fairmount is the Philadelphia Zoo - it's a pretty fun one! They recently installed clear tubes going throughout the zoo so sometimes you could look up and see a red panda or tiger walking above your head.

Closer to the center city area (~20 min walk from is the museum walk from Chinatown) is where you'll find a lot of museums. First of which is the Philadelphia Museum of Art, where Rocky did his famous training montage up the steps. There's a statue of Rocky and everything if you want to take a selfie with him, but the museum itself does have great art! It has an excellent selection of impressionist works in particular. And, a beautiful view of the city, from the top of the main stairs! Within walking distance is the Franklin Institute, which is a huge museum, more science-oriented. It actually houses the animatron that the movie Hugo is based off of! It's located on one of the four major parks that make up the original border of the cit – Logan circle, a square with a huge circular fountain that has enormous bronze sculptures. Also on Logan Circle is the Academy of Natural Sciences, which has looots of dino bones, stuffed animal displays, a butterfly exhibit, and it *may* have a colorful frog exhibit..I think that one's rotating, so it might not still be there when you go. A few minutes' walk from Logan circle are the Barnes Foundation, which was once an expansive private collection of art turned museum, and the Mutter, which is a fascinating and eerie collection for medical oddities and diseases. It's very macabre, but from a completely clinical and respectful perspective.

One of the good things about navigating Philly is that the city is arranged in a big grid, and the four parks are arranged in a big square, so you could really orient yourself by them. If you shoot down from Logan Circle seven or so blocks, you'll be in Rittenhouse Square, which is another one of the original four parks. This is where you'll be able to do more high-end shopping. There's nice clothing stores around this area, more restaurants, and it is quite picturesque. It's kinda the bougie part of town, haha.

Walk east of Rittenouse and you'll be in Washington Square, which is the most sombre of the four parks. It's also pretty much in the Old City area, which is where you'll get your fill of colonial history. In Old City, there are a lot of historical museums and sites that were important to the founding of the country - the Liberty Bell, Carpenter's Hall which is where the first Continental Congress took place, the Philadelphia Mint which has really fun self-guided tours, and more. It's right up against the river, and this area also has a lot of art galleries as well! And plenty of shops, restaurants, and an old-timey candy store. Across from this river is Camden, New Jersey - they have a good aquarium right on the river!

The last corner of the four parks is Franklin Park, which has a carousel and a mini golf course. It's right there next to Chinatown, too.

Another cool thing about Philly is the city has a lot of murals - and I mean a LOT! The Mural Arts Program is a huge organization that gets a crazy yearly budget from the city, so they really do have a presence here. They have walking tours of the city's murals, and even a trolley tour so you could ride around the city, see all the murals, and hear about the artists behind them, or the community that houses it. Most of these murals are very deeply ingrained to the culture of where they are, so learning about them teaches you about the people living there in a way

That's all I can think of for now! I hope that wasn't too much, haha.

[S.o.a.r.]

Thank you all for your lovely advice and suggestions!
We will begin the decision process shortly and see what we can afford in the the end.

[Kanchii]

I've been to all three and Boston was the only one I really liked. It's beautiful and has a lot of character!