New hotels in Fishtown, Philadelphia

Fishtown sits on the Delaware River a few stops north of Old City, and for most of the last decade it has been where Philadelphians go to eat dinner. Hotels were slow to follow. Three we track have opened since November 2023: Switch House Hotel, Riversuites and Hotel Anna & Bel. Two share a former power station on the waterfront, the third occupies a group of old buildings in the neighborhood proper.

A fishing village that became a sugar town

The name is older than most of the legends attached to it. For years the story was that Charles Dickens christened the place on a visit in 1842, but the word turns up in records decades earlier. What it refers to is shad. Each spring the fish ran up the Delaware, and a handful of families, the Bennetts, Cramps, Faunces, Gossers and Rices among them, worked the riverbank with nets. Many of them are buried in Palmer Cemetery, a short walk from the avenue.

Industry arrived and the fishery went. Cohocksink Creek, which drained the area, turned into a polluted sewer, and the shad dwindled. Shad did come back after the river was cleaned up in the 1980s, though never in the millions that once made a commercial catch, and the neighborhood now holds a small Shad Fest in Penn Treaty Park to mark the return.

The twentieth-century Fishtown was a rowhouse district of factory and dock workers. The Jack Frost sugar refinery stood on the waterfront, and the bar on the corner of Frankford and Girard avenues that is now Johnny Brenda's was first run by a former boxer of that name, who opened early for refinery workers coming off a shift. That corner is still the easiest way to orient yourself: Frankford Avenue runs north-east from it, Girard Avenue runs east to west across it, and almost everything in this guide lies within a mile.

Getting there and getting around

The Market-Frankford Line, which SEPTA now labels the L, stops at Girard Station, on Front Street at Girard Avenue. From there the next two stops are Spring Garden and 2nd Street, the latter being the usual exit for Old City. Berks Station, one stop north, serves the upper end of the avenue. The Route 15 trolley runs along Girard Avenue itself, and buses 57, 43 and 39 also cross the neighborhood.

Walking works inside Fishtown, less so between its edges. Girard Station to the Fillmore Philadelphia, at 29 E Allen Street, takes about ten minutes, the venue's own directions say, and five from Girard Avenue. The riverfront and The Battery are further east, a longer walk across Delaware Avenue's traffic, and many visitors take a rideshare for that last leg after dark.

Front Street is the western edge, separating Fishtown from Olde Kensington. The northern boundary is argued over, and local sources do not agree.

Eating and drinking

Frankford Avenue is the spine. The restaurants are not planned as a cluster, they just accumulated, and the density now is high enough that a visit without a reservation plan can end in a long wait on a Friday.

Pizzeria Beddia began as a one-man shop with no seats, no phone and about forty pies a night, and was named best pizza in America by Bon Appétit in 2015. It has since moved into a larger room with a horseshoe bar and long communal tables. Suraya, a Middle Eastern restaurant, is regularly compared with Zahav and appears on most local best-of lists. Kensington Quarters started as a butcher shop with a bar and has shifted toward coastal cooking and a raw bar; it also runs classes in pasta and butchery.

For drinking, Frankford Hall is a German-style beer garden with picnic tables and a large pretzel that arrives with cheese dip. Johnny Brenda's, upstairs, holds roughly 250 people for touring indie bands, while downstairs it works as a gastropub.

Café culture is stronger than you might expect for a former factory district. La Colombe has its flagship here, and a number of small roasters and bakeries fill the side streets between Frankford and the river.

Music, art and the river

The Fillmore Philadelphia, on E Allen Street, is the largest room in the neighborhood and books national touring acts. Smaller venues cluster along Frankford and Girard, so a weeknight with no ticket still usually turns up a band within a few blocks.

On the first Friday of each month the Frankford Avenue Arts Corridor opens its galleries, many run by artists who work in the converted storefronts above or behind them. It is a modest affair next to Old City's equivalent, which is part of the point.

Penn Treaty Park is the quiet counterweight. The tradition holds that William Penn met the Lenape leader Tamanend under an elm at Shackamaxon, on this stretch of river, and negotiated a treaty. No written record of it survives. The elm itself blew down in 1810, and in 1827 the Penn Society put up an obelisk in its place. Renovated in 2016, the park looks across to the Benjamin Franklin Bridge and the Center City skyline, and it sits beside the power station that two of the hotels now occupy.

Where to stay in Fishtown

The Battery, on the waterfront

The Battery is the former PECO Delaware Generating Station at 1325 N. Beach Street, built in 1921 and decommissioned in 2008. A 2015 plan by Bart Blatstein and Joe Volpe to turn it into a boutique hotel and entertainment district did not go ahead, and Lubert-Adler Real Estate Funds took over the 11-acre site, backed by federal historic tax credits and designed by the Philadelphia studio Strada. The finished complex, which opened in stages from 2023, includes apartments, offices, event space and a roof deck with a pool set among the original smokestacks. Our file puts the investment at $154 million.

Two hotels share the building. Switch House Hotel opened in November 2023 in the old switch house, with 45 residential-style suites that have full kitchens and in-unit laundry. It is run by the event company Cescaphe, which also operates the wedding and events venue next door, so weekends can be busy with guests in formal dress. Rates start from $280, according to our listing.

Riversuites followed in December 2023 in the boiler house's south wing, with 62 apartment-style suites. KOO handled the interiors. It is operated by Rivers Casino Philadelphia, and the hotel runs a shuttle to the casino's restaurants. Full kitchens make it suited to a week more than a night, and rates start from $170, the lower of the two.

What the two share is the setting: industrial scale, river views, and distance. The Battery is not on Frankford Avenue. Expect a walk of some length, or a short drive, to reach the restaurants.

The historic core

Hotel Anna & Bel opened in August 2024 across a cluster of historic Fishtown structures, among them an 18th-century building that began as a women's asylum and later became one of the city's earliest retirement homes. It is the neighborhood's first full-service boutique hotel. There are 50 apartment-style rooms, designed by Foyer Project with B-March, and the hotel is operated by Life House. Rates start from $280.

Being inside the residential grid rather than on the riverfront changes the stay. You are among rowhouses and corner bars, and the avenue is closer. It has neither a pool nor a casino shuttle, and its appeal lies in the buildings themselves.

Which hotel for which trip

For a stay of several nights, with cooking and laundry in the unit, Riversuites and Switch House Hotel both fit, and Riversuites costs less.

Anyone attending a wedding at Cescaphe's venue, Switch House Hotel is the obvious pick, since it is attached to the event space and run by the same company.

A weekend built around dinners on Frankford Avenue and a show is better served by Hotel Anna & Bel, which puts you nearest the action. It is also the newest of the three.

All three are apartment-style, which tells you what Fishtown is: a neighborhood people move into, not a conventional hotel district. If you want a lobby, a concierge and a bar on the ground floor, Center City is a few subway stops south.

Beyond Fishtown

Old City is the nearest alternative, reachable in two stops on the L, and it holds Independence Hall and the historic sites most first-time visitors come for; see Old City for what has opened there. Rittenhouse Square is the longer-established hotel and restaurant district. For the full picture of the city, start at Philadelphia, and for other American markets we cover, the United States page lists them.

Frequently asked questions

What is the newest hotel in Fishtown?

Hotel Anna & Bel, which opened in August 2024. It has 50 rooms across a cluster of historic buildings, and rates start from $280. Switch House Hotel (November 2023) and Riversuites (December 2023) are older, both inside The Battery.

Are there hotels inside The Battery?

Yes, two. Switch House Hotel has 45 suites and Riversuites has 62, both at 1325 N. Beach Street in the converted 1921 power station.

How do I get from Fishtown to Old City?

Take the L from Girard Station to 2nd Street, two stops south. The ride is short, and the Route 15 trolley along Girard Avenue is the other public option.

Which Fishtown hotel is cheapest?

Riversuites, from $170, against $280 for both Switch House Hotel and Hotel Anna & Bel. All figures are starting rates and move with season and demand.

Is Fishtown a good neighborhood for nightlife?

Yes, for dining, bars and live music, concentrated around Frankford and Girard avenues and the Fillmore on E Allen Street. It is more a place for dinner and a gig than for late clubs.