Which Tour Fits Which Visit

By time available

• Under an hour inside, plus the line: the Liberty Bell Center alone, which the NPS lists at 15 to 55 minutes plus the wait; no booking is involved.
• About 90 minutes: the ghost tour, in the evening.
• 2 to 2.5 hours: the founders tour at 2 hours or the highlights walk at 2.5 hours, per their listings.
• Half a day or more: the Museum of the American Revolution, whose listing advises planning 3 or more hours and gives 2 consecutive days of admission.
• One to three days: the hop-on hop-off bus, with a ticket valid 1, 2 or 3 days.
• A day from New York: the 15-hour day trip, with 20 minutes at the bell in its itinerary.

By whether Independence Hall matters

The founders tour is the one product whose listing includes Independence Hall timed tickets. The highlights walk passes Independence Hall and Congress Hall on its listed route without stating entry, the bus lists the Independence Hall area as a stop, and the day trip lists a 10-minute pass-by. Without a tour, the NPS runs a morning open house from 9 to 10:30 am with no tickets, then timed tours reserved on recreation.gov. The Independence Hall tickets page has the schedule.

By who is travelling

Wheelchair users. The founders tour, the highlights walk, the museum and the ghost tour are each listed as wheelchair accessible. The bus listing and the day-trip listing each state that the product is not suitable for wheelchair users. The Liberty Bell Center is wheelchair accessible, per the NPS, as is the first floor of Independence Hall; the NPS notes that the 4:20 pm expanded tour, which includes the second floor, is not.

Children. The ghost tour’s listing calls it “appropriate for all ages”. The day trip’s listing requires under-18s to be accompanied by an adult and asks for a child seat brought from home for children under 8. For the other four, the individual listing is the place to check any age details.

By daytime or evening

The Liberty Bell Center is open daily from 9 am to 5 pm, per the NPS, and five of the six products run in the daytime: the founders tour, the highlights walk, the bus from 10:00 a.m., the museum and the day trip. The ghost tour is the evening option. Its listing does not mention the bell, but the bell stays visible through the large windows on Chestnut Street at any hour, per Visit Philadelphia. The best time to visit page covers the hours in more detail.

By whether a guide is wanted

The bell itself comes with self-guided exhibits along the hallway, a captioned video and written information in “a dozen languages”, per the NPS, so a guide is optional. For a live guide, the founders tour lists a historian, the highlights walk a local guide, the ghost tour a costumed guide and the day trip a bilingual guide in English and Spanish. The bus has a live guide in English and recorded audio in eight languages. The museum ticket includes an optional audio guide in English, Spanish and French, plus printed guides in more languages.

By weather

The founders tour’s listing states that it runs rain or shine. The museum is indoors. The Liberty Bell Center line waits outside in an uncovered area, and Visit Philadelphia suggests an umbrella if rain is forecast. Philadelphia summers are hot and muggy and winters cold, per the NPS.

Walk, bus or museum in one table

One on foot, one on wheels and one indoors, to show the range of what can be booked near the bell.

The six close up

• Revolution and Founders History Tour
• History, Highlights & Revolution Walking Tour
• Hop-on hop-off bus
• New York, Washington and Philadelphia day trip
• Museum of the American Revolution tickets
• Ghost Tour by Candlelight

The tours page has all six in two tables, and the walking tours, bus tours and day trip pages take each in turn.

Check dates for the founders tour

Two hours with a historian guide, Independence Hall timed tickets included per the listing.

Frequently asked questions