September 13, 2015

Staying in a hotel for the Pope's visit? You'll get a special perk.

Visit Philadelphia is offering free tickets to a city landmark to encourage return visits

By Sharon Lurye
PhillyVoice Contributor

G. Widman /Visit Philadelphia™

The tower of One Liberty Place soars behind City Hall.

Pope Francis's visit is going to be a once-in-a-lifetime event, but Philadelphia's tourism industry is hoping that a trip to the city won't be a once-in-a-lifetime event for visitors.

So to encourage papal pilgrims to come back to Philly once the pope is gone, Visit Philadelphia announced that anyone staying in a hotel in the city for the Friday or Saturday of the pope's visit will get free tickets to visit the One Liberty Observation Deck in January, February or March.

Philadelphia's first-ever public observation deck is being built right now on the 57th floor of Philadelphia's iconic skyscraper One Liberty Place and is set to open in November. Tickets will be $14 for kids and $19 for adults, but anyone staying in a city hotel on September 26 or 27 will get two tickets for free.

Besides sweeping views of the city, the deck will also offer a cool virtual reality feature: a 360-degree touchscreen map where visitors can click on the landmarks before their eyes to learn more about the city's culture, sports and music scene.

For all the information you need about the pope's visit, check out PhillyVoice's complete guide to the World Meeting of Families week.

Sharon Lurye
PhillyVoice Contributor