Fairmount

Centered around the magnificent Museum Mile on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway – modeled after the Champs-Élysées in Paris — Fairmount Philadelphia offers outstanding museums and plenty of breathtaking sights.

What to Do

The Rodin Museum boasts one of the largest collections of famed sculptor Auguste Rodin’s work outside of Paris. The Thinker greets you outside the entrance. Next door, the Barnes Foundation houses the world’s largest collection of Renoir pieces. The museum is renowned for its impressive exhibits of impressionist, post-impressionist, and early modern art. Or marvel at a fully constructed Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University.

Barnes Foundation

Emerging above the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, The Philadelphia Museum of Art houses a triumphant collection of art and artifacts. The museum holds more than 2,000 years of artworks from Europe, Asia, and the Americas.

Outside the museum is the Rocky Statue and Rocky Steps, which Sylvester Stallone’s underdog boxer famously ran up in the titular film. As Rocky said, “when you get to the top, you think you can fly.”

Fairmount is home to one of the most influential buildings in modern history, Eastern State Penitentiary. This historic prison was revolutionary at the time for its separate incarceration prison system and radical hub and spoke design. Kept in “preserved ruin,” visitors can stroll through its crumbling halls to learn about former inhabitants, including Al Capone, with an audio tour voiced by actor Steve Buscemi.

Where to Dine

Atop the Logan Hotel is Assembly, a rooftop bar with a spectacular, picturesque view of the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. On Fairmount Avenue, Bar Hygge is a cozy brewpub focusing on neighborhood comfort food. The Parkway Museums District also boasts a family-friendly lineup of reservation-free pubs, taquerias, pizza parlors, and steakhouses, including Pizzeria Vetri and Iron Chef Jose Garces’ Buena Onda Tacos. 

Discover more neighborhoods.