Explore the Neighborhoods of South Philly from the East of Broad ☀️
Walk along the East Passyunk Ave, Italian Market and Bella Vista 🚶♂️
Note: A collab with Roy Belzer Fitness’s Philadelphia Retreat.
Some neighborhoods are destinations, but between East Passyunk Ave, Italian Market and Bella Vista, they are three different ways of living.
Stretching across South Philadelphia’s most storied blocks, East Passyunk Ave, Italian Market, and Bella Vista form an overlapping patchwork of red-sauce tradition, culinary ambition, and tight-knit street culture that has defined the city’s soul for well over a century.
Dinning:
Mighty Bread Company (4.8 ⭐️ 🏳️🌈 $$)
1211 Gerritt Street, Philadelphia, PA 19147 (Bakery and Cafe)
Mighty Bread is a local bakery based in the East Passyunk neighborhood of Philadelphia. It serves delicious pastries from Tahini Blondie to Spinach Artichoke Danish and Orange Ricotta Teacake to Jalapeño Cheddar Sourdough. Other than pastries, the cafe also serves classic sandwiches, quiches, and salads dine-in or to-go.
Activities & Landmarks:
East Passyunk Avenue cuts diagonally through the South Philly neighborhoods. A diagonal street lined with some of the city's most celebrated and diverse restaurants, independent boutiques, and a cocktail bars that punches well above its zip code. James Beard–recognized chefs have staked their names here. So have cheesesteak counters that have been feeding the city since before food critics existed.
Bakeries:
Restaurants:
Perlas (Filipino) $$$ BYOB
Los Caballitos Cantina (Mexican) $$
The Victor Cafe (Italian) $$$
Triangle Tavern (Vegan Bar) 🏳️🌈 $$
Ricci’s Hoagies (Sandwich) $$
River Twice (Contemporary) 🚺
Italian Market is the oldest and largest open-air market in the United States. Vendors have been calling out from beneath their awnings along 9th Street since the late 1800s, when Italian immigrants built a commercial corridor that still sells fresh pasta, whole fish on ice, aged provolone, and hand-cut meat the old way. It's loud, fragrant, and entirely itself.
Today it's joined by Vietnamese grocers, Mexican bakeries, and specialty food shops, making it one of the most genuinely multicultural blocks in Philadelphia without ever losing its South Philly DNA.
Restaurants:
South Philly Barbacoa (Mexican) 🚺 $$
RIM Cafe (Cafe) $$
Villa di Roma (Italian) $$$
Stores:
Bella Vista is a dense, walkable residential neighborhood of rowhouses, corner cafés, and the kind of block parties that close the street for an entire Saturday. It's unpretentious in the best sense: a neighborhood where third-generation families and young transplants share a stoop, a BYO, and an opinion about where to get the best hoagie.
Restaurant:
Morning Glory Diner (Diner) $$ Cash-only
Alice (American) 🏳️🌈 $$$
Mawn (Noddles) $$
Chase Sapphire Reserve Exclusive Tables, eligible for the dining credit.
Coffee & Desserts:
Rally Coffee (4.6 ⭐️ 🏳️🌈 🚺)
Function Coffee Labs (4.7 ⭐️ 🏳️🌈 🚺)
John’s Water Ice (4.7 ⭐️)
Things to do:
Philadelphia Magic Garden (4.6 ⭐️ 🚺)
