Philadelphia's Best Food Tours

Soft Pretzels Before Donuts: A Philadelphia Food Tour From Reading Terminal to Society Hill

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It starts at the market

Our first stop isn't a donut shop. It's Reading Terminal Market, the grand old railroad market hall that has been feeding Philadelphia since the 1890s, and we meet right across the street. Inside, Pennsylvania Dutch bakers turn out donuts alongside hand-twisted soft pretzels. Farm country baking, served in the middle of Center City.

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From there the walking tour cuts through Midtown Village to Mochiatsu. Chewy, colorful mochi donuts are a much newer Philly habit, and they've caught on fast.

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Down Walnut, then south on 6th

Then the route bends toward the oldest part of town. You'll walk down Walnut Street into Washington Square Park, one of William Penn's original five squares and home to the Tomb of the Unknown Revolutionary War Soldier. Our guides like to pause here. It's worth it.

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Heading south on 6th Street you pass Mother Bethel A.M.E. Church, founded by Richard Allen in the 1790s. The land it stands on is the oldest parcel in the country continuously owned by African Americans, and that's the kind of fact you'll want to repeat at dinner. A little farther on, near South Street, Dottie's Donuts finishes the donut tour with a case full of creative flavors.

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The whole route is flat and stroller friendly, which is why families and even school groups book it.

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Lights in December

Come the holidays, the Philadelphia Holiday Donut Tour sets the history aside for a while and goes looking for cheer instead, with seasonal sweets, the Christmas Village in Center City and the light show at the Comcast Center. The rest of the year it's the Philadelphia Donut Tour: pretzels, mochi donuts and a few hundred years of history between Reading Terminal Market and Washington Square.