Reading Terminal Market

Reading Terminal Market is Philadelphia's dining room, and it has been since 1893, when the Reading Railroad opened it beneath its new train shed so the city's farmers and butchers would have a roof. The trains are long gone — the shed is now part of the Pennsylvania Convention Center — but the market never closed, and today nearly 80 mostly family-owned businesses fill its grid of aisles, open daily from 8am to 6pm and drawing more than five million visitors in 2025. USA Today's 10Best readers named it the best public market in America for 2026, its third time at the top. The format is a choose-your-own lunch: you graze. The canon starts with the roast pork sandwich with sharp provolone and broccoli rabe at DiNic's, which many locals will tell you is the city's real signature sandwich; continues through the Pennsylvania Dutch stands, where Amish and Mennonite bakers turn out apple dumplings, whoopie pies and hand-rolled soft pretzels; and ends with a scoop at Bassetts, the ice cream maker whose counter has been here almost as long as the market. In between: butchers, fishmongers, cheese counters, produce stands, a market-run demonstration kitchen, and every cuisine from Thai to soul food. Weekday breakfasts are calm; weekend lunch is a scrum where the seats are the hard part. Free to enter, it is the most efficient food tour in the city.

The market's history explains its mix. It was a working wholesale-and-retail market for generations, survived the railroad's decline and a near-collapse in the 1970s, and was revived in the 1990s alongside the convention center that now wraps it. Two of its businesses date back more than 125 years. Pennsylvania Dutch merchants from Lancaster County have been part of the market for decades, and they keep their own schedule — most are closed Sundays — so the full market experience is a Monday-to-Saturday thing. The center court's seating is shared and first-come; the trick at lunch is for one person to hold seats while the others forage.

A route for first-timers: start at a Pennsylvania Dutch stand for breakfast or a fresh pretzel, walk the whole grid once without buying anything to see what tempts you, then commit to a roast pork at DiNic's (lines move fast) and split it, because the market rewards sharing. Add a cheesesteak from one of the counters if you are collecting, a cannoli or a doughnut, and finish with Bassetts. The market also works for a picnic or hotel-room provisions — cheese, charcuterie and bread for the train. Watch the clock: stands start closing before the 6pm close, and Sunday has fewer vendors.

Where it fits: the market fills a block at 12th and Arch, steps from City Hall, the Convention Center and Chinatown, and a short walk from the Loews and the hotels around Market East. It is a natural first stop on arrival, a lunch break between Independence Mall and the Parkway museums, and a rainy-day refuge. Families can let everyone pick their own lunch, which is half the reason it never fails with kids. If you eat only one meal at a market in Philadelphia, eat it here.