15 Can’t-Miss Ways to Celebrate the Winter Season in Philadelphia
Visiting Philadelphia in winters is truly a magical experience. To catch on the spectacular events and celebration with family you can choose Philadelphia to be your next destination for a holiday to cherish forever. It’s a beautiful season to discover Philadelphia’s charm. Every year, Philadelphia turns into a true winter wonderland for the holidays.
The city lights up with joyous traditions, including the decades-old Christmas Light Show at Macy’s Center City and the Mummers Parade, which dates back to the 1800s, along with new attractions, such as the Comcast Holiday Spectacular and the Electrical Spectacle light show at Franklin Square.
Here are some of the very best holiday happenings in Philadelphia: Here goes the list- what you can do while your stay in Philadelphia this winter.
- LOVE Park Christmas Village: Christmas Village in Philadelphia is an outdoor Holiday market event held in LOVE Park, right in Center City Philadelphia at the west side of City Hall. It is modeled after the traditional Christmas Markets in Germany and features dozens of wooden booths selling hand-crafted goods.
- Fairmount Park Holiday House Tours: Enjoy group or individual tours through some of Philadelphia’s most beautiful historic homes gloriously decorates for the holidays.
- Adventure Aquarium’s Scuba Santa: Every year, Santa Claus dons his traditional scuba gear and dives into the aquarium’s 760,000-gallon Ocean Realm exhibit, where he waves to onlookers while swimming with sea turtles, rays and fish.
- Philly Pops Christmas Spectacular: Watch, listen and participate as internationally celebrated conductor David Charles Abell leads more than 300 musicians, along with remarkable choirs and an audience sing-along.
- Ice Skating at Penn’s Landing: Penn’s Landing is the city’s waterfront district. It is home to dozens of events throughout the year, including the annual River Rink ice-skating facility every winter
- Ice Skating at Dilworth Park: Don’t miss the Dilworth Park ice rink right next to City Hall is the city’s lively new centerpiece with a lush lawn, tree groves, Garces café and foundation, which converts to ice skating rink in winters. Here in Philly, kids can enjoy the ice skating while the parents can rejuvenate at sidebar cafe with a perfect view of Benjamin Franklin Parkway.
- Macy’s Center City Christmas Light Show: The tradition dates back to 1956 and showcases a time when the holiday period was a little simpler and a little slower.
- Comcast Holiday Spectacular: This 15-minute show on the world’s highest-resolution LED screen is a relatively new addition to Philadelphia’s holiday traditions, but it’s sure to last.
- Electrical Spectacle Light Show at Franklin Square: More than 50,000 lights flashing along to holiday classics, the show runs every half-hour during evenings of the holiday season.
- Mummers Parade: The Nummers Parade is a Philadelphia New Year’s Day tradition dating back more than a century and may be the oldest folk festival in the country. Watch as comics, fancies, string bands and fancy brigades showcase their stuff.
- Longwood Gardens Christmas: See a half-million lights glisten at one of the world’s premier horticultural showplace, situated on more than 1,000 acres.
- New Year’s Fireworks: Fireworks to ring in the New Year? Philadelphia has them right on the Delaware River waterfront. But what about celebrating for the whole family? Philadelphia has that covered, too, with an early fireworks extravaganza at 6 p.m. Dec. 31.
- Pennsylvania Ballet‘s Nutcracker: For more than four decades, the city’s renowned ballet has helped create holiday memories with its stunning rendition of the classic.
- Thanksgiving Day Parade: This longest-running Thanksgiving Day parade started in 1920 and still wows crowds with its floats, performances and the arrival of Santa Claus.
- King of Prussia Mall: What are the holidays without something special for your loved ones? No matter what you’re looking for, King of Prussia Mall probably has it within it’s almost 3 million square feet and more than 400 stores. The mall has more dedicated retail space than any other mall in the nation — that’s right, even more than Mall of America.
Be sure to bundle up warmly and bring your camera to capture the Beauty of Philadelphia. Every year the Winter Festival of Lights takes place from early November continuing until the end of December.
Join the thousands of people who congregate near the falls to celebrate a free outdoor New Year’s event with an early fireworks extravaganza at 6 p.m. on December 31.
For more information visit: www.discoverphl.com
