Rent a Car in Philadelphia

Center City Philadelphia is genuinely walkable, and SEPTA's subway and regional rail cover a lot of ground for a US city, so a car adds little for a trip confined to Old City, Rittenhouse Square and the Museum District. Where a hire car earns its keep is everything just beyond the city limits: Valley Forge and the Brandywine Valley's museums and gardens are 30–45 minutes west, Lancaster County's Amish farmland is about 1.5 hours further, and the Jersey Shore's boardwalk towns are roughly 90 minutes east — none of it well served by train.

Philadelphia also sits almost exactly between two major cities, which makes it a workable base for a longer East Coast itinerary. New York City is about two hours north on the New Jersey Turnpike, and Washington, D.C. is a similar distance south on I-95, though most visitors take the train for those specific city-to-city legs and save the car for the Pennsylvania and New Jersey countryside a rail pass doesn't reach.