My husband, adult daughter, and I spent three days in Philadelphia this summer and primarily used this guide while there. The guide series I normally use did not have a current one for this city (last one published was 12 years ago), so I tried this out. Overall, I liked the guide and found it very helpful. I used this as a starting place and then cross-referenced recommendations with TripAdvisor for current reviews as well as pictures of hotels and restaurants.
The recommendations given by this guide for lodging and restaurants were largely spot-on. I ended up being quite pleased with our hotel (actually exceeded my expectations) and many meals we had while there. My only complaint is wishing it had been more directive about the cheesesteak restaurants. There were three mentioned without any real recommendation. Only later in our trip did we find out that the one we selected was very geared toward tourists and one of the other three favored by the locals. That distinction would have been helpful as we would have made a different choice.
The maps are good with both a large, fold-out map of the entire city along with more detailed maps embedded throughout showing specific areas and neighborhoods.
Where I found this guide to not be as good as the one we normally use was when it came to sightseeing spots. It's a very inclusive list of all the things to see and do in the city but relies primarily on providing a description of the sight. It doesn't give you any idea of what you can actually do there or how much time you should allot for being there. For example: The Barnes Foundation. Good, concise explanation of what it is and its history, but no helpful hints about how long it would typically take to go through it, no mention of good eateries near by, advice on people needing any type of assistance, etc. I am not sure I would have known how much it was lacking in this area had I not had exposure to a guide that did all those things. That one typically tells you what to skip, what kids might enjoy, places closeby to eat, etc. which I find to be very helpful.
Bottom line: I prefer my regular guide series to this one. This book provided a lot of good information as a starting-off point, but I had to work a lot harder and do more online research to get information that I needed to make the trip go smoothly. A good resource, but not a fabulous one.
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Top reviews from the United States
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A successful trip using this guide but requires more work on the part of the traveler to put all the pieces together.
Reviewed in the United States on July 26, 2016Reviewed in the United States on June 18, 2022
Reviewed in the United States on October 6, 2018
Reviewed in the United States on May 8, 2019
Reviewed in the United States on December 31, 2017
Reviewed in the United States on June 12, 2019
Top reviews from other countries
Janie U
So much more info on internet but I do love a book
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 22, 2018luxton
Very pleased with this purchase which arrived in good time
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 29, 2016
