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Things to do in Philly that hit different

The weird, the beautiful and the free. Stuff that's better with a clear plan, good shoes and somebody else driving.

Philly is a museum city that forgot to mention it's also a weird city. You can stand in a tiled maze of broken plates, look at medical specimens in jars and walk a prison that's been empty since 1971, all before dinner. Then watch twelve boathouses glow on the river.

This list is for people who'd rather stare at one strange thing for an hour than tick off ten landmarks. Have your sesh at home or wherever you're staying first, since smoking in parks, on piers or on the sidewalk is technically a ticket here. The where to smoke guide has the rules. Then go look at stuff.

Trippy and weird Philly

If you only do two things on this page, do these two. Both reward slowing way down.

  • South Street / Bella Vista

    Philadelphia's Magic Gardens

    1020 South Street, Philadelphia, PA

    Isaiah Zagar started working two empty lots next to his studio in 1994, and it turned into about half a city block of mosaic: tiled tunnels, sunken grottos, stairways, walls studded with mirror shards, cobalt and green bottles, bicycle wheels, broken dishes and little ceramic figures. It opened to the public in 2008.

    Zagar died in 2026 at 86, and the place now reads a little like a love letter he left the city. His mosaics cover more than 200 walls around Philly, so once your eyes are tuned you spot them all over South Street.

    TipBuy a timed ticket online. Slots sell out, and walk-up on a nice Saturday is a gamble.

  • Rittenhouse / Center City West

    Mütter Museum

    19 S 22nd Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103

    The medical history museum of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, and the single most famous answer to "weird Philadelphia." Skeletons, specimens, things in jars. It's quiet and serious, not a haunted house, which honestly makes it hit harder.

    In warmer months it has run late Tuesday hours with the medicinal plant garden open in the evening. Less crowded, moodier.

    TipGo on the early side, give it 90 minutes, and eat after. Not before.

  • Fairmount

    Eastern State Penitentiary

    2027 Fairmount Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19130

    A castle-looking prison that opened in 1829 and closed in 1971. They didn't restore it, they stabilized it, so you get peeling paint, collapsed cells and light coming through holes in the roof. The audio tour is good, and you can see the restored cell tied to Al Capone.

    In fall it becomes Halloween Nights, its big haunt with multiple houses, bars and live acts, with entry in timed windows.

    TipDaytime is the better visit for the actual history. Halloween Nights is a different, louder thing. Pick your mood.

Best museums in Philadelphia worth the trip

Three of the best museums in Philadelphia sit on the same stretch of the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. Do two max in a day. Museum legs are real.

  • Fairmount / Parkway

    Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Rocky Steps

    2600 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia, PA 19130

    Quick clear-up: the museum tried a new name, the Philadelphia Art Museum, and walked it back after people hated it. It's the Philadelphia Museum of Art. They kept the new griffin logo.

    The 72 steps out front are free and open, and yes, everybody runs them. The Rocky statue now stands at the top of the steps, and a statue of Joe Frazier stands where Rocky used to be at the bottom.

    TipRun the steps early in the morning. By noon it's a line of people doing the same arms-up photo.

  • Parkway

    Barnes Foundation

    2025 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia, PA 19130

    Dr. Albert Barnes, a chemist, bought art between 1912 and 1951 and hung it his own strange way. The rooms are "ensembles": a Van Gogh or a Matisse next to a door hinge, a spatula and some wrought iron, because he thought they looked good together.

    TipPick one room and actually stare at it for ten minutes. You'll see more than speed-walking all of them.

  • Parkway

    Rodin Museum

    2151 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia, PA 19130

    Small, calm and easy to skip, which is a mistake. It holds the largest collection of Rodin's work outside Paris. The Thinker and The Gates of Hell have stood in the same spots in the front garden since it opened in 1929.

    TipSpend real time with The Gates of Hell up close. Way more going on than the photos show.

  • Logan Square

    The Franklin Institute and Fels Planetarium

    222 N 20th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103

    It's a science museum full of school groups by day, sure. But the Fels Planetarium inside is the nation's second-oldest planetarium, and a show under that dome is a very good way to spend part of an afternoon.

    TipBook the planetarium show first, then plan the rest of the museum around it.

History you can actually walk into

Old City is the history zone. It's flat and compact, and the good stuff is a few blocks apart. Full rundown on the area in the Old City guide.

  • Old City / Independence Mall

    Liberty Bell Center

    526 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106

    Free, no ticket needed, first come first served. There's airport-style security screening on the way in, and open food or drinks aren't allowed.

    TipGo right at opening or late afternoon. Midday in summer is tour bus central.

  • Old City / Independence Mall

    Independence Hall

    Entry is by free timed ticket, with a small booking fee. Tickets drop on a rolling 30-day window, and a second batch is released at 5 p.m. the day before.

    No ticket? You can see it from across Chestnut Street any time, free.

    TipIf advance slots are gone, set an alarm for that 5 p.m. day-before release.

  • Old City

    Elfreth's Alley

    124 Elfreth's Alley, Philadelphia, PA (museum)

    One of the oldest continuously inhabited residential streets in the country, dating to 1703. Old brick houses, people still living in them. The museum at 124 and 126 tells who lived there. Walking the alley costs nothing and takes ten minutes.

    TipThese are real homes. No sitting on stoops, no loud phone calls.

  • Citywide / West Philly

    Mural Arts tours and the Love Letter murals

    Mural Arts started in 1984 as an anti-graffiti program and has put up thousands of murals since. They run walking and trolley tours in season, with routes from Center City out to Germantown.

    The free way to do it: ride the Market-Frankford El west. A Love Letter series of 50 rooftop murals runs along Market Street from 45th to 63rd, painted to be read from the train window. More on that side of town in the West Philly guide.

    TipGrab a window seat on the El between 45th and 63rd and keep your eyes on the rooftops.

Parks, trails and the river

Philly's park system is huge, and some of the best walking in the city is right along the Schuylkill.

  • Northwest Philly

    Wissahickon Valley Park

    About 2,000 acres of forest gorge inside city limits, with over 50 miles of trails. The spine is Forbidden Drive, a car-free gravel road a little over five miles long. The name comes from a 1920 protest by riders who fought a plan to let cars in.

    Valley Green Inn, an 1850 tavern right on Forbidden Drive, makes a good halfway stop. Skip Devil's Pool. Swimming in the creek is prohibited, and people have drowned there.

    TipWalk the flat gravel of Forbidden Drive first. Save the steep side trails for another day.

  • Center City to Manayunk

    Schuylkill River Trail and Boathouse Row

    The trail follows the Schuylkill from Center City up to Manayunk. The best slow walk is the Schuylkill Banks Boardwalk, 2,000 feet out over the water between Locust and South Streets.

    Boathouse Row is twelve rowing clubs on the east bank along Kelly Drive. The lights first went up in 1979, went LED in 2005 and got fully relit in 2024. The classic view is from across the river on Martin Luther King Jr. Drive.

    TipCatch the boathouses right after sunset, while there's still some blue in the sky behind them.

  • Southwest Philly

    Bartram's Garden

    North America's oldest surviving botanical garden, nearly 50 acres on the Schuylkill around John Bartram's 18th-century homestead. A free public park, open sunrise to sunset, with free Saturday kayaking off the dock in season. The 36 trolley gets you there.

    TipWalk the riverside trail to the end and sit by the water. Most visitors never get that far.

  • West Fairmount Park

    Shofuso Japanese House and Garden

    Horticultural Drive and Lansdowne Drive, Philadelphia, PA 19131

    A traditional Japanese house built in 1953, shown at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, then moved to Fairmount Park in 1958. Out back: a koi pond, a tiered waterfall, a tea house.

    Inside are 20 murals of waterfalls by Hiroshi Senju, donated in 2007. Sitting on the veranda staring at the pond is about as close to meditation as a tourist stop gets.

    TipShoes come off inside. Wear socks you're not embarrassed by.

  • East Falls

    Laurel Hill Cemetery

    3822 Ridge Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19132

    Laid out in 1836 on winding paths above the Schuylkill, and considered the first architecturally designed cemetery in the country. General George Meade of Gettysburg is buried here. The self-guided walk is free for adults, and it's gorgeous in fall.

    TipIt's a working cemetery. Be respectful and stay on the paths.

  • University City / West Philly

    The Woodlands

    4000 Woodland Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19104

    Fifty-four acres that started as an 18th-century pleasure garden and became a cemetery. A National Historic Landmark District with the Hamilton Mansion and over 1,000 trees. Free, no tickets, open every day dawn to dusk.

    TipPair it with a food run around University City. See the eat guide.

Things to do in Philly at night and the best views

One heads-up first: the One Liberty Observation Deck closed for good back in 2021, so ignore old lists that still send you there.

  • Center City

    City Hall Tower

    1400 John F. Kennedy Boulevard, Philadelphia, PA 19107

    The observation deck sits about 548 feet up, with a 37-foot William Penn statue crowning the tower. The building took from 1871 to 1901 to finish and is still the largest municipal building in the U.S.

    The tower has had maintenance closures, so check with the City Hall Visitor Center before you plan around it. Building tours run regularly.

    TipBook ahead and go on a clear day. Haze kills the view.

  • Old City waterfront

    Race Street Pier

    Race Street and N. Columbus Boulevard, Philadelphia, PA 19106

    A two-level public pier tucked right under the Ben Franklin Bridge, with a sloped lawn, tiered seating and lit rails. It's open late, and sitting there at night with the bridge lit up overhead is one of the best free things in the city.

    TipGrab the top of the tiered seating for the straight-up bridge view.

  • Old City waterfront

    Cherry Street Pier

    121 N. Columbus Boulevard, Philadelphia, PA 19106

    An old shipping pier turned arts space. Resident artists work in studios built out of shipping containers, and the river end is an open-air garden under the old steel trusses. Open late on weekends.

    TipWalk all the way to the end. The garden under the trusses is the point.

  • Penn's Landing

    Spruce Street Harbor Park

    301 S. Columbus Boulevard, Philadelphia, PA 19106

    Summer only, through September. Free to get in, with hammocks in the trees and hundreds of colored LEDs lighting the canopy after dark.

    TipShow up right around sunset on a weeknight and you might actually land a hammock.

  • Center City

    LOVE Park

    16th Street and JFK Boulevard, Philadelphia, PA 19102

    Officially JFK Plaza. Robert Indiana's LOVE sculpture has been here almost continuously since 1976. The 2018 redo added a fountain with programmable jets and lights.

    TipShoot the sculpture with City Hall behind it. That's the shot.

Free things to do in Philly

A whole day here can cost nothing beyond food. Everything marked free above stacks up: the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall with a timed ticket, the Rocky Steps, Elfreth's Alley, Bartram's Garden, The Woodlands and Laurel Hill's self-guided walk.

Our free day: Liberty Bell at opening, Elfreth's Alley, Race Street Pier, then up to the Parkway for the steps, and the Boardwalk at sunset. Feed yourself at the Italian Market on South 9th Street in South Philly, one of the oldest open-air markets in America, or off our eat list.

Questions people ask

What are some free things to do in Philly?

The Liberty Bell is free with no tickets. Independence Hall uses free timed tickets with a small booking fee. Bartram's Garden, The Woodlands, the Rocky Steps and the Schuylkill Banks Boardwalk cost nothing.

What are the weirdest places in Philadelphia?

The Mütter Museum, a medical history museum full of anatomical specimens, is the classic answer. Philadelphia's Magic Gardens, Isaiah Zagar's mosaic maze on South Street, is the trippiest. Eastern State Penitentiary, a ruined 1829 prison, rounds out the top three.

What is there to do in Philly at night?

Watch the Boathouse Row lights from Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, sit on Race Street Pier under the lit-up Ben Franklin Bridge, or wander Cherry Street Pier on a weekend night. In summer, Spruce Street Harbor Park's hammocks and tree lights are the spot.

Is the One Liberty Observation Deck still open?

No. It closed permanently in 2021. For a high view, City Hall's tower deck sits about 548 feet up, but check with the City Hall Visitor Center first since the tower has had maintenance closures.

Did the Philadelphia Museum of Art change its name?

Briefly. It rebranded as the Philadelphia Art Museum, then went back to Philadelphia Museum of Art after the backlash. It kept the new logo.

Can you smoke weed in Philly parks?

No. Smoking in public, including parks, piers and trails, is a ticket in Philadelphia, and state law still applies. Handle it in private before you head out. Our where to smoke page has the details.

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