22 Things to Experience in Philadelphia in 2022

Named a high vacation spot in 2021 by each Condé Nast Traveler and TIME, Philadelphia’s worldwide attraction is ready to proceed in 2022 with a full slate of signature annual occasions, multicultural celebrations, world premiere exhibitions, new restaurant openings, main sporting occasions, and seasonal happenings able to greet vacationers all 12 months lengthy.

TIP: For the most recent COVID-19 updates, tips and extra journey sources for Philadelphia, click on right here.

With the wave of a wand, Potterheads will really feel like they simply boarded a practice at Platform 9 ¾ and arrived at Hogwarts. Celebrate the enduring moments and characters of Harry Potter and the Wizarding World on this groundbreaking exhibition, the place friends will get an up-close have a look at props and costumes from the Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts movies. The exhibition brings magic to life utilizing best-in-class immersive design and know-how, as guests have interaction with revolutionary and magical environments. The World Premiere for Harry Potter: The Exhibition is now underway, with the spellbinding expertise on view by September 2022. Tickets can be found now.

Rev your engines. The Philadelphia Auto Show returns to the Pennsylvania Convention Center March 5 – 13, 2022. Organized and produced by the Auto Dealers Association of Greater Philadelphia, the annual Philadelphia Auto Show is among the largest auto exhibits within the United States. It can be the biggest shopper occasion held on the Pennsylvania Convention Center every year, drawing greater than 250,000 friends. More than 700 autos starting from pre-production fashions to classics (plus some Hollywood icons) will likely be on show.

3. Cheer on school basketball stars throughout NCAA March Madness

College basketball followers, this one’s for you. March Madness is coming to Philadelphia, a metropolis recognized for its sports activities ardour. The Wells Fargo Center is ready to host the Division 1 Men’s Basketball East Regional on March 25 and 27, 2022 (Sweet 16/Elite Eight). Take March Madness to the following stage with the NCAA Fan Experience with appetizers and drinks, in addition to a meet and greet with a former NCAA participant or coach.

4. Root for athletes from world wide on the Penn Relays

Every 12 months, athletes from throughout the globe — together with many present and future Olympians — journey to the University of Pennsylvania to compete within the Penn Relays, a historic monitor meet that has been held every spring since 1895 and is one in all Philadelphia’s signature annual sporting occasions. Home to the Penn Relays is Franklin Field, the oldest school stadium within the United States — and former house of the Philadelphia Eagles — that includes the nation’s first scoreboard. The Penn Relays present competitors for extra collegiate athletes than every other monitor meet on the planet. The three-day occasion kicks off April 28 and runs by April 30, 2022, full with an accompanying competition that includes meals, sports activities distributors, souvenirs and extra.

The Philadelphia area has extra gardens in shut proximity than anyplace else on the continent, with 37 public gardens, arboreta, and historic landscapes all positioned inside 30 miles of town. Located only a brief drive from downtown Philadelphia, Chanticleer opens for the season on March 30, permitting friends to discover the gorgeous, 35-acre grounds by October 30, 2022. Adventure awaits at Morris Arboretum of the University of Pennsylvania with family-friendly actions like scavenger hunts and constructing actions within the arboretum’s Fairy Woods, provided all 12 months spherical. Special occasions every season on the arboretum embrace the Scarecrow Walk within the fall and the Holiday Garden Railway within the winter.

No matter the season, there’s at all times one thing magnificent to see at Longwood Gardens together with Winter Wonder (January 22 – March 27, 2022), Spring Blooms (April 2 – May 1, 2022), Festival of Fountains (May 5 – September 25, 2022) and A Longwood Christmas (November 18, 2022 – January 8, 2023) which was voted the Best Botanical Garden Holiday Lights within the nation by USA Today’s 2021 10Best Readers’ Choice Awards.

Artist Bruce Munro returns to Longwood Gardens in Philadelphia’s lovely countryside to current a wholly new, breathtaking exhibition, Light: Installations by Bruce Munro. Eight installations will span Longwood’s 1,000 acres, together with the backyard’s picturesque indoor areas and out of doors vistas. Visitors can discover the Field of Light, that includes 18,000 illuminated bulbs adorning the panorama in the course of the lakes and all through the gardens. Light is on show June 30 – October 30, 2022. Tickets and Member Reservations will likely be accessible starting March 7, 2022.

7. Surround your self with coloration and creativity on the Philadelphia Flower Show

For the second 12 months in a row, the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society (PHS) Philadelphia Flower Show – the nation’s largest and the world’s longest-running horticultural occasion – will remodel Franklin Delano Roosevelt Park (FDR Park) in South Philadelphia from June 11 – 19, 2022. The theme for the present is In Full Bloom, showcasing the therapeutic energy of nature and vegetation. Traditionally held within the Pennsylvania Convention Center, the 2021 present was held outdoors for the primary time within the present’s practically 200-year historical past. PHS has since made upgrades to the visitor expertise and is worked up to welcome friends again to FDR Park in 2022 for one more out of doors present. Tickets can be found now.

8. Attend one in all Philadelphia’s signature LGBTQ+ occasions

Philadelphia is house to one of many nation’s oldest and largest LGBTQ+ communities, with many LGBTQ+ occasions and experiences hosted within the metropolis all year long. The unbiased LGBTQ+ movie competition, qFLIX Philadelphia, screens movies from world wide, March 20-27. Philadelphia Black Pride takes place in April, and the PrideDay Parade and Festival is held each June throughout International Gay and Lesbian Pride Month, with celebrations spanning from Philadelphia’s Gayborhood to Penn’s Landing alongside the Delaware River. In October for National Coming Out Day, Philadelphia celebrates with Outfest, a block celebration and road competition — one of many largest such occasions within the nation. For extra LGBTQ+ experiences to hunt out in Philadelphia, click on right here.

9. Celebrate alongside Philadelphia’s multicultural communities

Philadelphia prides itself on its numerous communities, every of which is honored all year long with particular occasions, celebrations, and extra. In late January and early February, head to Philadelphia’s Chinatown – the second largest on the East Coast – for parades, lion dances and different Lunar New Year celebrations. Visit the African American Museum in Philadelphia or one of many metropolis’s notable historic websites in honor of Black History Month (February). Savor genuine Asian cuisines and help AAPI-owned companies all through town throughout Asian Pacific American Heritage Month (May). Commemorate the anniversary of the ending of slavery within the U.S. by celebrating Juneteenth in Philadelphia. Also in June is the Odunde Festival – the biggest African American road competition within the nation. Odunde attracts as much as 500,000 folks yearly to Philadelphia and is understood for its genuine African market that includes distributors promoting merchandise from world wide. In September, kick off Hispanic Heritage Month with reside music and performances at Feria del Barrio within the metropolis’s Centro de Oro neighborhood, a hub for Latinx tradition.

10. Immerse your self in a area of tradition and light-weight on the Chinese Lantern Festival

Planning to return to Philadelphia’s Franklin Square in May 2022 is the Chinese Lantern Festival. Set to gentle up the evening as soon as once more close to Independence Mall and Chinatown, the competition first got here to Philadelphia in 2016, filling the area with huge handmade lantern shows in celebration of Chinese cultural traditions and drawing crowds of tourists from all around the world. Dozens of shows consisting of hundreds of particular person lanterns cowl the grounds, illuminated by tens-of-thousands of LED lights. Guests may get pleasure from performances by dancers, martial artists, contortionists, and different acts, in addition to reside demonstrations and paintings for buy by Chinese folks artists. More updates about 2022’s Festival will likely be introduced quickly. For the most recent data, click on right here.

11. Book a room in one in all Philadelphia’s latest accommodations

Over the final a number of years Philadelphia’s lodge neighborhood has expanded, with quite a lot of new lodging now open in neighborhoods all through town. At thirteenth and Locust streets in downtown Philadelphia, the Guild House Hotel occupies a Victorian-era rowhouse that was as soon as the house of The New Century Guild — one of many nation’s oldest and most outstanding girls’s empowerment organizations. A dual-branded, 51-story property on fifteenth and Chestnut streets homes the luxurious, 295-room W Philadelphia Hotel and the wellness-inspired, 460-room Element Philadelphia Hotel. Be near all of the motion in South Philadelphia’s Stadium District at Live! Casino & Hotel, which options greater than 510,000 square-feet of gaming, lodge, eating, and leisure area on the nook of ninth and Darien Streets – simply steps from Xfinity Live!, Citizens Bank Park and Lincoln Financial Field. To be taught extra about all of Philadelphia’s latest lodge choices, click on right here.

12. Savor the latest menus of Philadelphia’s acclaimed eating scene and deal with your style buds throughout Restaurant Week

Visitors hungry for one thing new can appease their appetites with Philadelphia’s abundance of recent restaurant properties, both now open or opening in 2022. Look for the Philadelphia debut of Kura Sushi, that includes a two-level sushi conveyor belt. The in style Japanese eating chain is ready to open its first institution in Pennsylvania at 1721 Chestnut Street in Center City within the spring. Kura will be a part of different new eateries which have lately opened all through Philadelphia, together with Victory Brewing Company’s new taproom positioned alongside the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, an Izakaya in Fishtown from Chef Ken Yanaga, and a Baja Mexican idea from Stephen Starr, amongst others. Enjoy Philadelphia’s latest eating places and lots of the metropolis’s important eats throughout one in all Center City’s Restaurant Weeks. The first Restaurant Week of the 12 months runs from January 9 – 21, 2022, with practically 60 eateries providing prix fixe lunches and dinners. Center City’s Restaurant Week returns every season, with different Philadelphia neighborhoods providing their very own model appetizing occasion all year long, equivalent to East Passyunk Avenue, Manayunk and Northern Liberties.

Celebrate all issues beer at Philly Beer Week, the biggest celebration of beer within the United States. The week is an ideal alternative to sip suds along with your buds within the City of Brotherly Love, the place brewers have been crafting beer for greater than 300 years. The 10-day competition contains beer tastings and pairings, competitions, and naturally, loads of pleased hours at bars and eating places all through town. Philly Beer Week is ready for June 3 – 12, 2022.

TIP: Don’t miss the Opening Tap occasion that kicks off the week, historically that includes brewers from across the area.

14. Explore the “Mural Capital of the World”

See Philadelphia’s neighborhoods and be taught their tales by the lens of community-based public artwork with a Mural Arts Philadelphia tour. Take a self-guided tour of the Mural Capital of the World or be a part of one in all a number of guide-led excursions, accessible by foot, trolley, practice or Segway. Mural Arts Philadelphia engages communities in as much as 100 public artwork tasks every year, including to a set of greater than 4,000 murals presently on view all through town. In 2021, this system added greater than a dozen new murals, together with Reaching Out in Fishtown/Kensington, Declaration in Center City and Cecil B. Moore Philadelphia Freedom Fighters in North Philadelphia. Each 12 months, Mural Arts Philadelphia honors Mural Arts Month (October) with neighborhood occasions, panel discussions, artist spotlights, and most notably mural dedications.

15. Wander America’s “Most Historic Square Mile”

A visit to Philadelphia isn’t full with out visiting a few of America’s most traditionally vital websites at Independence National Historical Park. America’s “most historic sq. mile” options important spots together with Independence Hall – the place the Declaration of Independence and U.S. Constitution have been debated and adopted – and the Liberty Bell, the enduring image of freedom. Our Historic District Itinerary will information you thru the historic district, the place you’ll be able to uncover different noteworthy websites like Carpenters’ Hall, Christ Church and the Museum of the American Revolution.

TIP: Begin your American historical past journey on the Independence Visitor Center, who’s celebrating their twentieth anniversary with particular occasions all year long. Here, you should purchase tickets for museums and sights, get journey planning recommendation from multilingual workers, get pleasure from immersive theater experiences, browse souvenirs on the present store, and choose up the most recent model of the Philadelphia Official Visitors Guide™.

16. Explore can’t miss displays at famed museums

In addition to the magical Harry Potter: The Exhibition debuting on the Franklin Institute in February, many different native museums will characteristic displays you gained’t need to miss. Several new exhibitions are on view on the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 2022, together with Circus: Bouroullec Designs that includes the work of main modern designers and brothers Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec. An exhibition exploring Pueblo and Navajo pottery, textiles and jewellery as dwelling traditions, Water, Wind, Breath: Southwest Native Art in Community will likely be on show on the Barnes Foundation February 20 by May 15, 2022. Celebrate influential girls at Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts – the primary artwork faculty and artwork museum within the U.S. – by Women in Motion: 150 Years of Women’s Artistic Networks at PAFA, coming July 2022. For extra can’t miss displays, click on right here. For extra can’t miss displays on view now or opening quickly, click on right here.

17. Support the humanities in Philadelphia

Philadelphia – house to the oldest theater in America – has been entertaining audiences by performing arts for hundreds of years. Committed to embracing innovation, Opera Philadelphia is set to create opera for the trendy world. Shows scheduled for 2022 embrace Oedipus Rex + Lilacs and Rigoletto. From Bugs Bunny to Beethoven, 2022 can be jam-packed with performances from the Philadelphia Orchestra. Every fall, FringeArts presents the Philadelphia Fringe Festival, bringing town to life throughout a 4-week lengthy celebration of innovation and creativity together with greater than 1,000 artistically daring acts carried out at a number of venues city-wide.

18. Celebrate July 4th within the metropolis the place all of it started

Philadelphia honors our nation’s independence like no different metropolis within the nation with the Wawa Welcome America competition. In 2021, the occasion kicked off on June 19, increasing the as soon as one-week occasion to a number of weeks in celebration of each the Juneteenth and July 4th. The annual occasion options over 50 free multicultural and multigenerational family-friendly actions and occasions together with free concert events, free museum days, neighborhood occasions, free out of doors film screenings, block events and – in fact – fireworks.

With over 100 parks, squares, and recreation websites throughout Philadelphia, having fun with the outside within the metropolis is a stroll within the park. Go for a stroll, run or bike trip on the Schuylkill River Trail – named probably the greatest riverwalks within the nation by USA Today for 2021 – which extends from South Philadelphia by Fairmount Park alongside Kelly Drive. Explore the two,000-plus inexperienced acres of Fairmount Park, one of many largest city park programs within the nation. Kick again at one of many metropolis’s seasonal pop-up parks and beer gardens alongside the Delaware River waterfront equivalent to Spruce Street Harbor Park, which joins former municipal piers which have been reworked into leisure areas, equivalent to Cherry Street Pier and Race Street Pier. Relax in one of many metropolis’s well-known 5 unique squares, and luxuriate in a sport of mini golf and a trip on the carousel at Franklin Square, the place the dazzling Franklin Square Fountain Show is ready to return in April 2022. Also in April, welcome spring on the Subaru Cherry Blossom Festival at Shofuso – a seventeenth century-style Japanese home with beautiful gardens reflecting the historical past of Japanese tradition in Philadelphia. Organized by the Japan America Society of Greater Philadelphia, the Subaru Cherry Blossom Festival – which will likely be held April 8-10, 2022 – celebrates the arrival of spring, whereas appreciating the great thing about the cherry timber as they bloom all through town.

20. Take benefit of tax-free purchasing alternatives

Visitors can profit from tax-free purchasing on garments and footwear on the metropolis’s assortment of independently owned boutiques and nationwide storefronts. Shop till you drop within the Fashion District of Philadelphia, an immersive purchasing expertise with a mall full of model, eating, and leisure that spans three blocks within the coronary heart of downtown Philadelphia. Take a stroll by Old City, the place native retailers line 2nd and third streets. Shop for Philadelphia-themed items at Philadelphia Independents or go to Humphrys Flag Company, one of many oldest and largest flag producers within the U.S. Additional tax-free purchasing alternatives await you in Philadelphia’s Countryside, together with King of Prussia Mall and quaint Main Streets lined with one-of-a-kind retailers.

21. Watch the Army-Navy Game in America’s birthplace

America’s sport returns to Philadelphia in 2022. The 123rd Army-Navy Game takes place in America’s birthplace on December 10, marking the ninetieth time the rivalry has been hosted within the metropolis – greater than every other location. Hosted at Lincoln Financial Field, the occasion attracts hundreds of active-duty army, veterans, and their households to town and affords thrilling experiences all weekend lengthy, lots of that are free and open to the general public. For extra methods to discover Philadelphia’s Army-Navy historical past, click on right here.

Philadelphia is the right vacation spot to rejoice the winter holidays. Kick off the season with the annual Philadelphia Thanksgiving Day Parade – the longest-running Thanksgiving Day Parade within the nation. The metropolis additionally boasts one of many largest Christmas markets within the nation with its Christmas Village in LOVE Park – ranked by Family Traveller as probably the greatest Christmas markets on the planet. See the nation’s first zoo remodel into a blinding show of lights at LumiNature at Philadelphia Zoo. Celebrate the vacations at a waterfront winter wonderland at Blue Cross RiverRink Winterfest, and don’t miss different beloved sights such because the Macy’s Christmas Light Show and Dickens’ Village, Winter at Dilworth Park, Made in Philadelphia Holiday Market, and the Deck the Hall Light Show. Ring in 2023 with spectacular fireworks over the Delaware River, then benefit from the colourful costumes and elaborate performances on the Mummers Parade, held yearly on January 1.

Cover photograph courtesy of The Franklin Institute.