What’s New in Greater Philadelphia for 2024

PHILADELPHIA, January 24, 2024 – 2024 in Greater Philadelphia offers a lot to look forward to, with the next 12 months filled with new parks and green spaces, exhibits, historical sites, walking trails, hotels, art and light installations, shows, eateries and so much more.

Among the highlights: 

• The opening of the Bicentennial Bell Garden, which will display the bell — cast at the same foundry as the Liberty Bell — gifted to the United States by Queen Elizabeth II. 
• The city becomes more illuminated as both Dilworth Park at City Hall and the frontages along Boathouse Row reveal new LED lighting displays. 
• A new PATCO Franklin Square Station and the Schuylkill River Crossing Bridge at Bartram’s Garden both open for business, making it a little easier to get around.

Also, travelers planning a trip to Philadelphia should note the Visit Philly Overnight Package, which features free hotel parking and choose-your-own-adventure perks, including tickets to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the National Constitution Center or the Museum of the American Revolution. Another option is the Visit Philly 3-Day Stay package, which offers a third night free at participating hotels.

Openings

Bicentennial Bell Garden in Old City
Benjamin Rush Garden, 3rd and Walnut streets
Opening spring 2024

To celebrate America’s 200th birthday in 1976, Queen Elizabeth II gifted the Bicentennial Bell to the people of the United States. The bell, forged in the same foundry as the Liberty Bell, was on display until 2013 before heading to storage. Now for the first time in a decade, the bell will be viewable to the public as the centerpiece of the new Bicentennial Bell Garden. Old City’s Benjamin Rush Garden will be transformed into a new space to showcase the bell (supported by locally founded armature), and surrounded by flowers and plants representing seeds exchanged between the two nations in the 1700s. The park will open in spring 2024, but the bell will be installed and viewable from the sidewalk beginning in late February/early March.

PATCO Franklin Square Station
Franklin Square southwest entrance, 7th & Race Streets
Opening April 2024

For the first time since 1979, subway trains will stop below historic Franklin Square with the reopening of PATCO Franklin Square Station. The station, first opened in 1936, comes back to life in April 2024 with a brand-new transparent headhouse made of speckled smoked glass (designed to keep birds from colliding with it) and an underground platform and concourses lined with original refurbished 1930s green-and-white tiles. Transit officials estimate that the station — which will be the new easternmost stop in Pennsylvania on the line — will draw up to 1,500 daily riders and offer an additional transit stop in Philadelphia’s Historic District.

Schuylkill River Crossing Bridge in Southwest Philly
Schuylkill Swing Bridge, Connecting Grays Ferry Crescent and Bartram’s Garden
Opening late 2024

The next step in extending the 40-plus mile Schuylkill River Trail to its final destination at Fort Mifflin comes in late 2024 with the opening of the new Schuylkill River Crossing Bridge. The bridge, replacing the out-of-use PW&B No. 31 railroad bridge, will connect Grays Ferry Crescent with Bartram’s Garden and the future Bartram’s Mile Trail extension across the river in Southwest Philadelphia. Sitting just south of Grays Ferry Avenue Bridge, the new vehicle-free bridge — the only operating pedestrian swing bridge in North America — will provide full ADA access from shore to shore for strollers, hikers, runners, cyclists, wheelchairs and strollers.

New Features at Major Attractions

New LED Lights on City Hall and at Dilworth Park
Dilworth Park, 1 S. 15th Street
To be illuminated early 2024

Brand-new permanent color-changing LED lights are coming to City Hall in early 2024. The installation will illuminate the exterior of Philly’s most famous municipal building as well as the decade-old SEPTA transit headhouses that emerge in Dilworth Park. The display will have the ability to change colors depending on the day or season and have a similar look to the LED lighting along South Broad Street.

New Lights on Boathouse Row
Boathouse Row, 1 Boathouse Row
To be illuminated late first quarter 2024

For nearly 50 years, the 15 photogenic boathouses that make up Philly’s iconic Boathouse Row have been famously outlined with twinkling lights viewable from across the Schuylkill River. In 2023, the lights went dark as part of a major renovation and, in the first quarter of 2024, are ready to be illuminated again. Once complete, the new Boathouse Row lights will consist of 6,400 individual next-generation energy-efficient LED bulbs offering 16 million programmable color combinations that will illuminate and dance along the boathouses each night.

Longwood Reimagined: A New Garden Experience at Longwood Gardens
Longwood Gardens, 1001 Longwood Road, Kennett Square
Opening fall 2024

Visitors returning to Longwood Gardens, one of the world’s premier horticultural displays, are in for a grand new adventure as the century-old botanic wonder opens Longwood Reimagined: A New Garden Experience this fall. The project, a sweeping transformation of 17 acres of Longwood’s core conservatory area, creates a seamless connection from lush formal gardens to open meadows. Upgrades include a new 32,000-square-foot floating West Conservatory, a standalone glasshouse for the tropical Cascade Garden, an outdoor Bonsai Courtyard, an expanded orchid display, a Central Grove and a public restaurant. The expansion creates a continuous link between the new and old conservatory with sweeping new views of the Brandywine Valley.

New Events

WrestleMania 40 at Lincoln Financial Field
Lincoln Financial Field, One Lincoln Financial Field Way
April 6-7, 2024

The wait is over for WWE fans: WrestleMania returns to Philadelphia in 2024. The biggest event in sports entertainment touches down in Philly for the first time in 25 years when WrestleMania 40 brings two nights of high-flying, in-ring action to Lincoln Financial Field. Expect the lights to shine a little brighter as wrestling’s biggest superstars powerbomb, piledrive and suplex in front more than 100,000 fans from around the globe at The Linc — including A-list movie stars, recording artists and sports personalities — expecting instant-classic matches and plenty of did-that-really-just-happen moments.

The Biggest Events & Festivals in Greater Philadelphia for 2024
Dates vary by event

Greater Philadelphia’s events calendar is packed 365 days a year with massive annual street festivals, can’t-miss seasonal celebrations and big-name rotating exhibitions in the region’s renowned museums and attractions. Visit Philadelphia’s complete guide to the biggest events, festivals and exhibitions in 2024 covers what’s returning and what’s new in Philadelphia and the Countryside.

New Hotels

Switch House Hotel
1325 Beach Street
Opens January 2024

Part of the new Battery Philadelphia “lifestyle campus,” located in the former PECO power station on the Delaware waterfront just north of Penn Treaty Park, the 45-room Switch House Hotel is the latest addition to the complex that also houses residences, office space, and the Cesaphe wedding and event venue. Whether visiting the trendy Fishtown neighborhood or in town for a wedding, the new hotel offers kitchen and laundry in every studio king and one-bedroom suite.

Society Hill Hotel at Independence Park
301 Chestnut Street
Opens February 2024

The nearly 200-year-old brick building that houses the Society Hill Hotel at Independence Park has lived many lives. At one time or another, it’s been an oyster cellar, a Civil War recruiting station, a railroad and steamship ticket office, a cigar store, a rubber stamp office, a printing press, a bank, and even a flophouse for sailors and other nomads. But in 2024, the corner spot and its antique neon sign return to life with a new 15-room boutique hotel and whiskey bar.

Hotel Anna & Bel
1401 E. Susquehanna Avenue
Opens March 2024

The new Hotel Anna & Bel invites guests into its property dating back to 1769, the former Penn Asylum for Indigent Widows & Single Women as well as one of the city’s earliest retirement homes. The 50-room Fishtown hotel offers apartment-style accommodations — each with singular layouts, century-old wallpaper, exposed brick and terraces (in select rooms) — and amenities that include an interior courtyard, a heated pool, a lounge, a sauna, a fitness space, a treatment room and Bastia, a standalone Mediterranean restaurant from chef-partner Tyler Akin (formerly of Philly’s Res Ipsa).

The Jaan at Center City
211 N. 13th Street
Opens April 2024

Rising just a half-block from the Pennsylvania Convention Center, the wellness-focused extended-stay hotel features seven stories and 81 units for long-term guests and business travelers. In addition to amenities like a gym, a co-working space, a private conference room, a central courtyard and a two-level rooftop deck (with a future rooftop bar), the property will also feature 1,800 square feet of ground-floor commercial space for a restaurant and bar with indoor and outdoor seating.

The Gas Lamp Hotel
140 N. 2nd Street
Opens summer 2024

There’s boutique and then there’s boutique. The Gas Lamp Hotel in Old City offers just five guest rooms as a property focused on events where guests can reserve the entire lot for wedding parties, corporate travel groups and more. The innovative hotel, adjacent to historic Elfreth’s Alley, occupies a circa-1845 rowhome that once housed the Austrian Gas Lamp Company. Inside, guests will find stylish finishes and elevated, modern accommodations.

About Visit Philadelphia:

VISIT PHILADELPHIA® is our name and our mission. As the region’s official tourism marketing agency, we build Greater Philadelphia’s image, drive visitation and boost the economy. On Greater Philadelphia’s official visitor website, visitphilly.com, visitors can explore things to do, upcoming events, themed itineraries and hotel packages.

Compelling photography and videos, interactive maps and detailed visitor information make the site an effective trip-planning tool. Visitors can also find loads of inspiration on Visit Philly’s social media channels.

Note to Editors: For high-resolution photos and high-definition B-roll of Greater Philadelphia, visit the Photos & Video section of visitphilly.com/mediacenter.