Philadelphia

At the heart of the Old City, this L-shaped urban park encompasses and protects the institutions that laid the foundations of the United States. Come here to gaze on the cracked Liberty Bell, stand in Independence Hall where the founding fathers hammered out the Constitution, and learn all about Benjamin Franklin at the location of his former home. Between historic buildings and museums rest in formal gardens and grassy squares where you may encounter park rangers and costumed actors ready to share more about Philadelphia's illustrious past.

Founded in 1876 as part of the Centennial Exhibition and best known for its front steps, which featured in the Rocky movies, the Philadelphia Museum of Art is one of the country's oldest and finest public art galleries. The breadth and depth of the collection is astounding, gathering up antiquities from across the globe to cutting-edge contemporary art. Approaching the centenary of being based in its grand Fairmount Park home, the institution is undergoing a major program of improvements with new galleries and public spaces designed by Frank Gehry.

Since 2012 Dr Albert C Barnes' eye-popping collection of art, predominantly focused on French masterpieces from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, has taken pride of place at the Center City end of Benjamin Franklin Pkwy. While the main galleries remain faithful to the collection's original home in Lower Merion, a beautiful contemporary building offers extra space for special exhibitions, gallery resources and a restaurant. This is a virtuoso, one-of-a-kind gallery that doubles as a visual lesson in art theory.

The sound of trains rumbling overhead may be but a distant memory, but Reading Terminal Market endures as a beloved Philadelphia gourmet destination. A survivor of the two World Wars, the Great Depression and the rise of the supermarket, the market stands apart for its policy of barring national chains from its 75,000 sq ft floor space and for catering as much to daily local grocery needs as it does to culinary tourists and office workers craving anything from Amish doughnuts to Thai curries.

It's remarkable, given Philadelphia's heavy industrial past as Workshop of the World, that so much green space remains in the city. That, in part, can be attributed to civic foresight in the late 19th century prompting the purchase of estates on either side of the Schuylkill River to create Fairmount Park. Split by that river into East and West sections this 2,050-acre park is home to graceful mansions, ambitious pieces of public art, jogging and cycling trails, playgrounds, America's oldest zoo and a beautiful Japanese house and garden.

Designed in 1871 to be the world's tallest structure, City Hall took so long to build that it had long lost that honor when time was called on its construction, which by 1901 had cost an astronomic $30 million. Affections for its florid Second Empire style of architecture have fluctuated throughout the years, but the mammoth stone building continues to stand proudly at the heart of Billy Penn's city – just as the 37ft tall bronze statue of the man stands atop its clock tower.

The Italian Market is named for the immigrants who settled here in the late 19th century, starting the grocery businesses that would grow to line several blocks of S 9th St. You may well recognize the market from the original Rocky movie as one of the locations of Sylvester Stallone's early morning runs. We recommend a slower pace for perusing the street-side stalls, old-school delis, butchers and fishmongers, and stores selling the foods of new waves of immigrants from Mexico and the Far East.

Designed to be a model prison, Eastern State Penitentiary is a stabilized ruin that makes for one of the city's most fascinating excursions. If the crumbling cells and forbidding Gothic-style architecture don't give you the creeps, then the guides' spirited recounting of the prison's awful history certainly will. From its opening in 1829 until 1913, Eastern State kept prisoners in solitary confinement as this was believed to be the best route to their reform. Installations of contemporary art and an exhibition about present-day penal policy in the US provide extra layers of interest.

When Philadelphia hired artist Jane Golden in 1984 to assist with tackling a graffiti problem, no one could have realized quite how successful her Mural Arts Program would eventually become. Today, with some 3000-plus official murals – and countless other unofficial ones – Philadelphia can justifiably lay claim to being the world's largest outdoor art gallery. Street art has been raised to a fine art with professional creatives collaborating on giant painting projects with at-risk youths, current and ex-prisoners, and just about anyone in the community.

Isaiah Zagar is an award-winning mosaic mural artist whose creations cover hundreds of public walls and buildings throughout the city. His masterwork is Philadelphia's Magic Gardens, an immersive installation of indoor and outdoor art covering half a block of bohemian South St. The themes of Zagar's zany, free-flowing murals are heavily influenced by his relationships with his family, his travels and folk art. The eagle-eyed will also be able to spot references to other rule-breaking artists including Antoni Gaudí, Kurt Schwitters, Picasso and Marcel Duchamp.