Philadelphia in One Day

Morning: the bell at opening

The Liberty Bell Center at 526 Market Street opens daily from 9 am to 5 pm, according to the NPS, and entry is first come, first served, behind a security screening. The NPS lists a visit at 15 to 55 minutes, plus the wait. A local visitor guide reports waits of up to two hours from May to mid-June, when school groups visit, and suggests arriving before the 9 am opening. The line waits outside in an uncovered area, so Visit Philadelphia advises an umbrella when rain is forecast. The wait times page covers the line in more detail. There are no restrooms inside the Liberty Bell Center (NPS); the nearest are at the Independence Visitor Center, 6th and Market Streets.

Late morning: Independence Hall

Independence Hall stands on Chestnut Street between 5th and 6th Streets, directly south of the bell, and visitors leave the Liberty Bell Center at its south end, near Chestnut Street. Per the NPS hours page, the building holds an open house from 9 to 10:30 am without tickets, then guided tours every 20 minutes from 10:40 am to 4 pm with a timed ticket. Tickets are reserved on recreation.gov up to 30 days ahead, with a small reservation fee per ticket shown on that site, and the NPS asks visitors to arrive 30 minutes before the tour for screening. Booking the first slot after the bell keeps the morning together. The Independence Hall tickets page explains the system and the one walk on this site whose listing includes Independence Hall timed tickets.

Midday: Old City on foot

East of the mall, Old City holds several short stops. The Museum of the American Revolution is at 101 South 3rd Street, at 3rd and Chestnut. Elfreth’s Alley, off 2nd Street, is often described as one of the oldest residential streets in the country. The Betsy Ross House is at 239 Arch Street, and Benjamin Franklin’s grave is in the Christ Church burial ground at 5th and Arch. A visitor who wants a guide for this stretch can look at the 2.5-hour history walk, whose listing includes the Liberty Bell as a stop, Elfreth’s Alley, the Betsy Ross House and a live demonstration inside the Museum of the American Revolution.

Afternoon: a museum or the bus

The afternoon can go one of two ways. The first is the Museum of the American Revolution, whose ticket listing advises planning three hours or more; its hours are on amrevmuseum.org. The museum page sets out what the ticket covers. The second is the double-decker hop-on hop-off bus, which starts at the Philadelphia Bourse, 111 S Independence Mall E. Its listing gives 90-minute tours departing every 30 minutes from 10:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., with 26 stops over 16 miles, among them Reading Terminal Market at 12th and Arch, the Philadelphia Museum of Art and its steps (the “Rocky Steps”, from the film), the Rocky statue, Love Park and Eastern State Penitentiary. The bus tours page covers the ticket options.

Fitting it together

The bell, an Independence Hall tour and a walk through Old City can fill a morning and early afternoon. Adding a three-hour museum visit and a bus loop to the Art Museum steps makes a long day, and something usually has to give: a visitor who chooses the museum may see the steps from the bus without getting off, and one who rides the full loop may leave the museum for another day. The bell can still be seen after 5 pm through the large windows on Chestnut Street, at any hour, without queueing. The how many days page sets out what a second day adds.

Frequently asked questions