How do I get from the airport to Philadelphia?

The SEPTA Airport Line is your best bet from Philadelphia International Airport (PHL) to Center City. Trains leave from platforms below Terminals A-West, B, C/D, and E every 30 minutes, starting around 5:10am with the last departure at 12:15am. The ride to 30th Street Station takes about 25 minutes. You can stay on to Suburban Station or Jefferson Station if your hotel is east of Broad Street. A one-way fare runs $6.75 on a SEPTA Key card, or $8 cash on board. The Key card kiosks sit right beside the platform entrance and take credit cards. That $1.25 difference matters less than the fact that the same Key card works on buses, the subway, and trolleys once you're in the city. Buy one. It takes 2 minutes, and the same card covers every SEPTA bus, subway, and trolley line in the city at $2.50 per ride.

After midnight, the trains stop running. Uber and Lyft pick up from the designated Commercial Ground Transportation curb at each terminal. A ride to Rittenhouse Square or Old City hotels typically runs $20-30 at normal hours, though Friday and Saturday surge pricing can push that to $40-50. The city-regulated taxi flat rate to Center City is $28.50, which is competitive enough that taxis are a reasonable choice here, unlike most US cities. That flat rate applies within Center City boundaries, roughly from the Schuylkill River to the Delaware and from South Street to Spring Garden. Outside those limits the meter runs, and a trip to University City or Northern Liberties could hit $35-40. One timing note. If you land between 4pm and 6:30pm on a weekday, I-76 eastbound backs up badly and can add 20-30 minutes to any car-based option. The train skips all of it.

PHL is a mid-sized airport. Terminals A through C cluster on the west side, D and E on the east, and the walk between the furthest gates takes about 15 minutes through a connecting hallway that smells permanently of warm pretzels from the Auntie Anne's stands. The train platforms sit below the terminals, well signed from baggage claim. If you're clearing customs on an international flight, you'll exit through Terminal A-West and reach the train platform in about 5 minutes. Your likely first stop, 30th Street Station, is itself a 1929 Beaux-Arts building with a 95-foot vaulted ceiling and cool marble floors that echo underfoot. It feels less like a commuter rail stop and more like arriving somewhere that takes itself seriously. From 30th Street, the walk east over the Schuylkill River into Center City takes about 12 minutes. On a warm June evening, the river path smells like cut grass and sun-heated asphalt, and you can see the full skyline open up ahead as you cross the Market Street Bridge.