Staying in King of Prussia -- how to get around?

I%26#39;m going to be going to a conference that is in King of Prussia, PA, in September. I will be flying into the Philadelphia airport, of course. I know I can take a shuttle to my hotel in King of Prussia from there, but once I do that, am I stuck in King of Prussia? Is there any reasonable way to get to Valley Forge, Philadelphia, or other places in the area without a rental car? I have no idea what the public transportation system is like there.

I ask because this will be my first time in the Philly area, and my flight times will leave me with a little bit of time both coming and going to do something fun. I don%26#39;t think I want to see the main Philly attractions (Liberty Bell and all that) because I%26#39;d rather save that for a visit with my husband, who has also never been. But I am interested in going to an IKEA (we don%26#39;t have any here in NC!) or possibly the King of Prussia mall. :-)

I can rent a car if I absolutely have to and decide that I want to go certain places, but if I can avoid the expense without too much hassle, that%26#39;s the preference. Thanks for any advice you can provide.

Zoe

Staying in King of Prussia -- how to get around?

Zoe, You should be able to get to VF park and the King of Prussia mall without any problem from most hotels in the KoP area. Larger hotels most likely have shuttles, since both attractions are very close. Call your hotel before your trip to see what transport they offer to the Park... If they don%26#39;t have a shuttle, they should be able to direct you to the correct Bus route. The ride from Phila Airport to KoP will be 45 min or so depending on the time of day. If I can provide any other information please feel free to contact me. Enjoy the trip!!

Dan

Staying in King of Prussia -- how to get around?

Zoe ~ some of the larger chains do have shuttles that will take you over to the mall and VF. Two hotels are actually located on the Mall grounds ( not sure which one you are staying at). The Mall is so large that you can easily spend a fair amount of time walking around.

IMHO, I don%26#39;t know if IKEA would be worth the hassle of getting to. The upper levels are neat with all of the design concepts, the rest of the store is pretty much like a warehouse ( again this is just my own opinion, someone else might have a totally different perspective).

I think the IKEA store is neat to go to. Granted you won%26#39;t be able to take any big items home with you, but it%26#39;s still an experience.

The public transportation system in the Philadelphia region is mainly designed to get you from the suburbs to the city center. Going from suburb area to suburb area is a big hassle, with infrequent bus stops (so you%26#39;d have to walk further to get to one), and long wait/transportation times from point A to B.

All the hotels in the area thrive with the expectation that visitors will want to go to the king of prussia mall, and the valley forge convention center, they should have shuttles to both. I%26#39;ve never been to the convention center, but google maps shows it%26#39;s right next to the park, maybe you can ask the hotel to drop you off at the main entrance (assuming they don%26#39;t already make a stop there) So I would rely on the hotel shuttles when possible, and take a cab to Ikea, it%26#39;s about a 15 minute drive from the king of prussia mall and shouldn%26#39;t cost more than $15-$20. Better than putting out the money for a rental, but whether it%26#39;s worth putting out ~ $30 to go to ikea is your call.

If you do make it to the park, print out this map and bring with with you:

www.nps.gov/archive/vafo/map_download.html while the trail is a giant circle, it%26#39;s real easy to become overwhelmed by how long it takes to walk it, (about 3 hours for the whole loop) It%26#39;s good to know how much longer you have (or when you think it%26#39;s a time to turn around and back track.)

The hiking trail around mount joy is a pleasant isolated walk, and I was amazed at all the deer and how green and thick the grass was . Worth checking out.

You can also rent bicycles at the visitors center, another thing to think about.

Thanks for the info everyone.

I called the hotel (which is the Dolce Valley Forge) and they have a free shuttle anywhere within a 3 mile radius, and runs on no set schedule -- as long as its between 6am and 11pm they will leave when someone wants to go somewhere. So that can definitely get me to the mall, and possibly Valley Forge National Park. That%26#39;s probably plenty for the limited amount of free time I will have. Oh -- any restaurant recommendations within a 3 mile radius of Dolce Valley Forge? ;-)

Re: the park, thanks very much for the map! That kind of stinks that Washington%26#39;s headquarters is clear on the other side of the park from the visitor%26#39;s center. Do you have to walk the circle trail -- is there no other path to cut across?

Also, if I fly out Saturday afternoon at 3:45, will I have time to go to the park that morning? I would need to be back to the hotel to get on the shuttle to the airport by 1:30 at the latest. I guess that gives me several hours at the park, if I get up early enough to go. :-)

Re: IKEA, the reason I%26#39;m interested is not because I%26#39;ve never been to one (I have in CA), but because I%26#39;m wanting to redo some stuff in my kitchen and I%26#39;m interested in some of their things I%26#39;ve seen online. Thought it would be nice to see them in person to judge if they will really work for me. But it%26#39;s not a big deal -- I just like home stores. :-)

There are lots of restaurants in at or in the King of Prussia Mall. Restaurants include ~

Legal Seafood

Ruth Cris

Mortons

Cheesecake Factory

Bahama Breeze

Maggianos

Corner Bakery

Multiple Food Courts

Here is the website for a complete listing.

http://www.kingofprussiamall.com/

The hotel is about 5 minutes away from where I work, but I tend to be unobservant of hotels... What type of food are you into? The King of Prussia mall has a lot of restaurants, all the generic chains. I enjoy the cheesecake factory for a homecooked type meal. For drinks/good food in the KOP mall there is the Rock Bottom Brew pub, and Kildare%26#39;s Irish Pub (authentic tasting irish fare). Across the street/down the block from the hotel are my two favorite places to go for lunch: Bear Rock Cafe (for sandwiches) and Wild Rice (pan asian food--fantastic) My parent%26#39;s rave about a restaurant %26#39;peppers%26#39; that is on that stretch as well, but I haven%26#39;t tried it myself. A google search will list it all.

The King of Prussia Mall complex is HUGE with most restaurants outside of the mall surrounding it (with the exception of the cheesecake and rock bottom) So wear comfortable shoes - I don%26#39;t think there is a shuttle that drives from one side to the other.

At VF park they make a stink about staying on the trails and not cutting a cross the park (the mountain has trees, the rest of the park is wide open, so you can see the across to the other side of the trail) They don%26#39;t cut the grass- -well, it wasn%26#39;t the last time I was there, making it difficult to cross-- and probably frowned upon. I%26#39;m 25, and after I reached the halfway point was slightly regretting the decision to do a whole loop (I was with someone, we sorta lost track of time). So I wore myself out doing the whole loop. If you have the ability to chose where you get dropped off, I would skip the welcome center, get dropped off at washington%26#39;s headquarters, walk the mountain trail to the national memorial arch, then turn around, choosing the other paths by Mount Joy on the map. If you can only be dropped off at the welcome center, see what they have there, walk to the national memorial arch, then head back (it%26#39;s about a mile walk 1 way) --I believe they have podcast walking tours on itunes?

The park is popular with joggers/bicyclists at all hours of the day, so you would have plenty of time for an early rise and make your flight.

As to heather%26#39;s posting...

Legal Seafood -%26gt; food didn%26#39;t look good when I went by.

Ruth Cris

Mortons

Cheesecake Factory -%26gt; good food, sometimes a long wait (if you like cheesecake, you can get it %26#39;to go%26#39;. Their strawberry shortcake is phenomenal)

Bahama Breeze -%26gt; ok food, staff always seem to be unpleasant.

Maggianos -%26gt; good Italian restaurant. If you want Italian, someone could probably recommend a better one.

Corner Bakery -%26gt; attached to Maggianos, it%26#39;s a bakery that has fantastic desserts.

Multiple Food Courts

Actually, Legal Seafood is one of the better places in the mall. It is the same Legal Seafood that is up in Boston. Lobster Rolls are especially good!

That%26#39;s the thing -- when I travel I hate to eat at chains. It%26#39;s almost sacrilege to me. The exception to this is chains that are local and awesome (case in point: In N Out Burger, which I will most definitely be visiting when I go out to California next week! Used to live in CA, and always go to In N Out when back for a visit).

I like to go to small, locally owned, interesting food places when I can. I like all types of food, except seafood. Favorites are steak, pizza, Cuban, Mediterranean. And I love cookies. :-) I%26#39;m always on the lookout for awesome bakeries (sadly absent in NC, at least according to my standards).

The Wild Rice place sounds interesting -- definitely into pan Asian food. And Mortons sounds familiar, since I%26#39;m from Chicago, but I can%26#39;t think of what it is.

Does King of Prussia have a downtown, or is it one of those spread out suburbs with no particular center?

Oppss.. forgot to include the website....

http://www.legalseafoods.com/