Philadelphia/South

South Philly is a district of Philadelphia. Famous for its Italian heritage and for being featured in the 1970s movie Rocky, South Philly is home to FDR Park and most of Philadelphia's major professional sports teams.

Understand
You want a cheese steak? South Philly's where it's at! South Philly is home to many Asian and Mexican immigrants. It also includes Ninth St Market (aka Italian Market) and East Passyunk St (roughly 11th and Passyunk SE to Broad St and Snyder, also known as Passyunk Square) which is lined with shops, bars, and restaurants. Its upper boundary is South Street. Arguably the center of nightlife and urban activity in Philadelphia, South Street encompasses almost every kind of urban attitude you'd expect in a major city. Tattoo parlors, cheese steak joints, local designer clothing stores, restaurants, music venues, and local cafes line South Street from Penn's Landing up to about 10th street. Some of the most famous include Jim's cheese steaks, Philadelphia Eddie's Tattoo parlor, and the Famous 4th Street Deli. Every night it seems as if there is a street festival going on here.

Society Hill-Queen Village is one of Philadelphia's oldest neighborhoods, site of Gloria Dei (Old Swede's) Church. Walking around Queen Village will give you a taste of what Ben Franklin might have experienced in Philly when he was alive, as well as give you a peek at Philly's old European roots.

South Philly is home to the Philadelphia Flyers (ice hockey), Sixers (basketball), Eagles (football), Phillies (baseball), and Soul (arena football league). (The city's MLS team, Philadelphia Union, plays in the suburb of Chester.)

Get in
SEPTA has many bus routes and subway stops to connect you to where you need to go.

Eat
South Philly dining is stereotypically synonymous with one thing: old-school Italian-American cuisine. And it's true that the area does it quite well, with numerous highly-recommended spots both for traditional red-gravy fare and more modern spins on the style, as well as a few absolutely top-notch Italian-style patisseries. However, in keeping with its melting-pot status, it has a wealth of other global cuisines, most especially Vietnamese, as well as classic American bars, diners, and quick-service sandwich joints.

In addition to being one of the main bar streets in Philadelphia, the stretch of South St. between Front St. and 6th St houses several good eateries which serve excellent fare; note, however, that many cater to the intoxicated (or the about-to-be-intoxicated) and so while delicious don't pay much attention to being healthy.



Cheesesteaks
Two globally-famous Philly cheesesteak shops are located across the street from each other in South Philly. Nearly all of these have been mentioned in travel guides and on national television, so large crowds of tourists are a common sight, and you should expect to wait in long lines, particularly on weekends. As these are all take-out windows, there are no indoor seating available, but some have outdoor seating.