Holiday Inn Express Philadelphia-Penn's Landing — Delaware River Waterfront, Best Value in the Group with Free Breakfast

Picture opening your curtains on a higher floor to a wide stretch of the Delaware River — freight and passenger vessels moving past, morning light catching the water — before heading downstairs for a free breakfast and walking ten minutes to Independence Hall. That is the actual everyday experience at Holiday Inn Express Penn's Landing. Over 3,000 guests on Booking.com have left it with 8.0/10, which for a three-star on a budget is a solid, consistent number. The IHG brand runs a tight operation: rooms are clean, beds are comfortable, air-con works. No surprises, no let-downs — which is precisely what many travellers need from a base hotel.

The rooms follow the standard Holiday Inn Express template: not designed to impress, built to be functional and comfortable. Good-sized beds, strong air-con, free Wi-Fi in every room, clean bathrooms. A Standard Room runs $105–175/night and a King Room $120–195/night — these are rates that other Center City properties at the same quality tier cannot match. The river-facing rooms on higher floors are worth asking for at check-in; there is usually no surcharge, and the Delaware view is one of the hotel's genuine selling points. The free breakfast — eggs, toast, cereal, coffee, juice — is not a five-star spread but it is filling enough that most guests skip paying for breakfast elsewhere, saving $15–25 per person per day.

The location deserves an honest explanation, because this is what trips people up. The hotel sits at 100 N Columbus Blvd on the waterfront — Columbus Boulevard runs along the river, which means it is not the same as being on Market Street or Broad Street in the heart of Center City. That said: Old City and Independence Hall are a 10-minute walk west, and the 2nd Street station on the Market-Frankford Line (MFL) is a 7-minute walk from the front door. Once you are on the MFL you can reach virtually any part of the city in under 20 minutes. The tradeoff is real — if you want to roll out of the hotel and be in the middle of everything within 90 seconds, this is not that hotel. But if you are willing to walk 7 minutes to a train, the city opens up completely.

Penn's Landing itself is worth factoring in. During summer — which overlaps with World Cup 2026 in June–July — the waterfront comes alive with outdoor events: RiverRink Summerfest, Spruce Street Harbor Park, festival weekends, food trucks, and evening performances, most of them free or low-cost. The Benjamin Franklin Bridge is a 5-minute walk and lit up at night. If you run in the mornings, the waterfront path is one of the better routes in Philadelphia. The hotel's position is less convenient than Center City, but it is not without its own appeal.

A few things to say plainly: the walk to Center City is genuinely longer than from other hotels in this roundup. Guests who expect to walk everywhere without thinking about it may find Columbus Blvd adds friction to their day. The hotel has no pool, no spa, no evening restaurant — just breakfast and a front desk. Amenities are limited by design, and that is fine as long as you know it before you book. On match days at Lincoln Financial Field, you will need to take the MFL from 2nd Street and connect from there — allow extra time on game days as the whole transit network is under pressure.

To put it plainly: Holiday Inn Express Penn's Landing is the best pure-value option in Philadelphia for travellers who want a private room with free breakfast and river views at the lowest price in the group. Three thousand reviews say the standard holds. It is well suited for World Cup visitors on a tight budget, couples who spend most of their day out, or anyone who already knows that a hotel is primarily a place to sleep and refuel — not a destination in itself. If you need to be in the very centre of things, or need a pool, look at the other options in our Philadelphia list. But if the numbers matter, this one is hard to argue with.