I did the 10:30 AM Independence Mall Tour Philly Tour with them on a Monday in late June 2022. I walked to the Betsy Ross House, the meeting place, from the place I was staying. If you need to use the restroom before the Tour, use the one in the Betsy Ross House because the one in the Starbucks across the street didn't have any toilet paper. We had a very big group but Toni kept us all together. She is such a gem - a much better storyteller than the Tour guide from the Independence Hall. This tour with Toni made up for the anticlimactic one from the Independence Hall. She was very thoughtful and made sure we always stopped in the shade since it was a very hot day. Her stories were entertaining and engaging. I loved all the historical snippets she'd give us about the timeperiod of the founding fathers. We got so lucky because Benjamin Franklin's printing press was finally opened after a 10-year closure. Such a great addition to The Tour. You donate whatever you want at the end and I would highly recommend it if you're in Philly. read more

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Was running late as our train into Philly was delayed about 10 minutes. We met Glenn and were lucky enough to have a private tour as nobody else showed up. We started at the Betsy Ross house where we stayed outside for about 15 minutes. We went to elfreth's alley where we spent close to 30 minutes learning about the Trinity style architecture and lots more. We walked to the courtyard of the Ben Franklin museum. He also gave us the lowdown on where to go for the best cheesesteaks. It's pay what you wish and overall gives a great introduction to the city. read more

Free Tours By Foot - Food Tours Near Me - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

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After a red eye flight from SoCal we dropped off our luggage and grabbed some La Colombe before heading to our Independence Mall tour! Richard was a great guide- it was clear he is passionate about the history of his city and loves sharing about it with others. He knows his stuff and really made the history come alive. This is exactly why I like walking tours- when done right (as this was!) it's so much more engaging than doing a self-guided tour reading facts off your phone and trying to get yourself from a to b. He welcomed any and all questions and was just a delight! We really loved the tour and I'd highly recommend to anyone visiting Philly- especially to get yourself better acquainted with the city and its history before you continue exploring! read more

We took a 2.5 hour tour of Philly on July 4th with Josh. The communication on time and meeting place was great. He gave us an amazing historical walking tour. He was very knowledgeable about Philadelphia history and answered all our questions in depth. We definitely recommend this tour. read more

These folks are doing this out of their love and passion for history and you can see it! Did two tours in Philly and loved them both. Both tour guides were so informative and grasped our attention the whole time. They work on tips so give them a hand if you can! read more

I had a fantastic tour with Toni! She was enthusiastic and insightful and went out of her way to make it a personal experience for our group. She even gave everyone their own postcard so we could send mail from the first post office! I learned a lot about the creation of America. read more

We did 2 tours from tours on foot and we had a great experience with both of them. Our tour guides Jennifer and Joseph were wonderful. Would highly recommended this company for tours of Philadelphia!!! read more

Fantastic tour with Toni. She is a wealth of information and made the tour fun. Also had great recommendations for things to see and do in Philly. Thank you Toni! read more

Free Tours By Foot - Food Tours Near Me - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Jennifer was amazing! She was friendly, funny, and very passionate about her work as she is a native Philly resident. The tour will start promptly at the designated time so shoot her a notice if you're running late bc you're apparently put on a blacklist where you cannot participate in other Free Tours By Foot events. The tour the significant other and I participated in lasted closer to the 3 hr mark -- where it's usually 2 1/2 hrs long. It was well worth it bc you get this rich history and background info without having to read a plague or go dig on the Internet. There were many stops. It was around a dozen spots where Jennifer will tell you the history and significance of the landmark (and all by memory too). Her enthusiasm is what made the tour special. The price is whatever you're willing to pay; no set price. There will be two or so bathroom breaks so don't fret about that. read more

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We did a tour in Philadelphia and our tour guide, Toni, was fantastic. Knowledgeable, indefatigable and, above all else, very funny.

We are big fans of Free Tours by Foot, having done them in New York and Boston, as well as our recent tour in Philadelphia. The tours are always led by interesting, knowledgeable people who are passionate about their city. It is a great activity for tourists (we live in Philly, so this was a way to get to know our new city). I highly recommend! read more

Our tour guide Rich (look for the guy in orange shirt)was extremely knowledgeable as he took us around & pointed out murals, historic houses, areas & places. The Independence hall tour that Free Tours by Foot does not include a tour of the inside of the famous Independence hall. You will have to go to the Independence hall visitor center in the morning to request the Free timed tickets in order to visit the Independence Hall. Or you can go online to request tickets but there's a processing fee. This 2.5 hour long tour was very informative & gave us a nice overview of the historical points of this area. If you had any extra questions of places to visit, the tour guide would be happy to help you out. I will definitely try out the other tours which Free tours by Foot offers in other cities. TIp: You can book their tours online on their website / thru the yelp app. Pro tip: bring: comfy walking shoes, water, hat, sunscreen & a good attitude. read more

Free Tours By Foot - Rich the your guide - Food Tours Near Me - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

The Independence Mall Tour in Philadelphia with Richard was awesome! I will totally recommend for anyone visiting the city. Thank you!

Highly, highly, highly recommend. This past weekend, we enjoyed a 3 hour visit to Chinatown with the highly competent Kim as our guide. The only negative was that we were emailed instructions to look for someone in an orange shirt and a sign, and Kim had neither, so we were a little confused at the meeting place. But it all worked out well and she was terrific. She worked for THOMAS KELLER OMG OMG OMG and there is nothing better than spending a few hours yakking with fellow foodies. We stopped at quite a few various spots in Chinatown. We gave her carte blanche to order just about anything on the menu at different places. What a treat! We were able to try all sorts of different foods and spent anywhere from $1 to $8 splitting plates among the four of us plus Kim at each place we stopped at. Bring great walking shoes and at least $20 in small bills to make going Dutch easier. A lot of places don't take cards. We tipped Kim $20 each because she was so friendly, intelligent and really helpful in sharing her knowledge. The Italian Market tour is next on our list! read more

amazing tour. Jennifer was really knowledgeable and had a great sense of humor! highly recommend as it's a great way to see the city read more

Free Tours By Foot has done it again! I've been on several tours across North America and am always impressed by the level of detail that the storytelling of the guides provide. This time around, Joseph was personable, and great at answering the questions that we had of him. I'm from the Boston area, so he was able to speak to what was happening where I'm from at the same time as what was going on in Philly. The tour was the Independence Mall Tour, based on a recommendation from a friend. It covers all the must-sees from early Philadelphia history. read more

Glenn was our tour guide and he was awesome! I highly recommend a walking tour of Philly with him. He was super friendly and knowledgeable, answered all our questions and was passionate about American History. read more

This was the first time that I signed up for Free Tours by Foot. I did the Independence Mall Tour of Philly 4/4/23 and Toni was our tour guide. She was extremely knowledgeable about the history of colonial Philadelphia and the American Revolution. Our tour took us to Elfreth's Alley and Toni was able to give us vivid descriptions of what life was like in colonial times. Toni kept the groups attention with many facts and stories for the 2.5 hour tour. read more

Philly Chinatown Food Tour Our tour guide, Jen, was knowledgeable and friendly. The tour was well thought out and fun, and it was an immersive learning experience about the history of Chinatown in Philly and its culture. My family enjoyed the food and the company. read more

Great tour. I went on the tour that covered Philly for 4.5 hours. Well informed guide... it met my expectation. Only issue is that it went over time due to a lunch break. My advice keep it under 4 hrs... inform the tourist they should bring snacks and water. It limits the chances you will have tourist "dip out" on the tour and it operates efficiently. read more

1) I did the Philly tour (not the Independence one). It is too long and drawn out with lots of dead space in between sights. The sights themselves weren't that much to speak of and the tour guide wasn't that informative, entertaining and engaging between stops. 2) I tried for the Independence Mall one, which showed space the night before but I wanted to just join on the day of (which their website said you can do). I went to the wrong meeting place the day of, and called to confirm the tour was going. The employee was adamant I could not join the tour on the fly (said it was full and due to contract tracing --- we're outside, a bit of overkill if you ask me). I showed up at the starting point anyway and only 15 people showed up (out of 20 possible) so I could have joined (but didn't). These two experiences left a bad taste for the Philly part of Free Tours. I've done multiple tours with this organization in other cities but this was my first BAD experience, twice in two days. read more

I had Joe for "The Good, The Bad" tour and Jenn for the "Independence Mall" Tour as well as the "Real Philly" Tour. Joe was a great tour guide. He was the first intro I had into the city and gave a great overview on the history, mainly focusing on sights around Logan Square. He was informative and hilarious and also accommodated for us, making sure we weren't covered in rain since it was raining our tour day. Jenn has to receive extra points. She toured myself and around 20 other people for over 5 hours. We walked for miles and she was so knowledgable and enthusiastic about Philly. She also engaged with the group a lot which kept the tour very intriguing. On the Independence Mall Tour she continued to show her great tour guide skills as she delved into the history of Philly. I would have loved to do more tours from Philly by Foot by simply didn't have the time. I highly recommend doing these tours, and any more available if you're looking to do something in Philly!! read more

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Stellar tours of Philly. The guides were fun, knowledgeable, and covered a lot of ground in a short amount of time. Highly recommend!

Great guide! She gave a great tour of the Chinatown neighborhood through food and cultural learning.

Marianne was WONDERFUL! She was so kind, funny, and informative! I really loved all of her stories and anecdotes about the city and history of Philadelphia. I didn't expect to learn so much on this tour, but it truly made my trip to Philly so so much better. I would highly recommend this to anyone! read more

Toni's tour was a terrific overview of notable Philadelphia sites in the area. It was also chock full of interesting tidbits of information and helpful tips on other sights to see. She even cleverly engaged a resident expert at the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul to share his special knowledge of that truly spectacular space). read more

Overall I enjoyed the tour that I had (The Good, The Bad, The Philly Tour), however there were a few things that kept it from getting a higher score for me. There were way too many political comments made on the tour. Some honestly did make me uncomfortable to where I did think about just leaving. The guide was a nice enough guy, and knew his history, but a number of comments were personal views and should have been left out. The tour was short and I did find that something was missing. Still worth doing, I just thought it would have been better. read more

We did the 2.5 hour tour that started at Betsy Ross's house and zig and zag thru the highlights of the independence war historical sites. Our guide was Toni, and we were a big group, 35, on a hot Saturday in July. Toni did a great job with the size of the group and keeping us entertain and informed. She was a real pro. This is the 3rd city we have done these tours and we haven;t been disappointed, we will be back. read more

Friend and I did the independence mall tour on the first weekend of December with Joseph. Absolutely amazing tour guide - knowledgable, personable, fun, and shared some fantastic bits of history in a few hours. Highly recommend for everyone! read more

High quality tour that I would highly recommend when visiting Philadelphia. To be honest, there was a "paid" tour I was planning to sign up for but since it was 100% booked I defaulted to this one. I'm glad I did. Not too long and not too short. Good way to start a trip in Philadelphia to get an idea where everything is at. Thank you again! read more

We went on Historical walking tour led by Glenn. It was sooooo good! He was knowledgeable and funny and made the tour very informative and engaging. Highly recommend. read more

What a wonderful tour from Marianne! Our Independence Mall Tour provided a great overview of the city to start our Philly trip off on the right "foot." Thank you got an amazing tour! read more

Loved our tour in Philly - what made it particularly good was Toni, our tour guide. She was knowledgeable, entertaining and funny. So glad we did this tour -highly recommend! read more

I've been doing a lot of free tours lately and always with the Free Tours by Foot. DC, NY and now Philadelphia! And, I'm sure, more to come. I met the free walking tour when I was in Spain and they gave me a great impression. Free Tours by Foot has been a great companion in this trip! Great tour guides, really nice tips of places or what to do. I really recommend them! read more

This was the worst tour I've ever been on in my entire life. Our guide was extremely knowledgeable, but lacked the ability to execute stories the entire night. This is a huge problem because it makes the entire experience a drag and feels unprofessional. Not to mention, we were expecting a ghost tour and most of the experience had nothing to do with ghosts, haunts, or anything the least bit paranormal. Trying to help you, do not waste your time. read more

I am a HUGE fan of walking tours. I think you get a great glimpse of a city as well as a bit of local flavor and even some personality. I moved to Philly 9 months ago, but have been taking my time with exploring the city and learning about the historical landmarks. Since the weather was so beautiful, I decided to sign up for this tour. The tour guide Rich was so nice and extremely knowledgeable. He really took the time to get to know everyone that was on the tour and make sure that any question did not go unanswered. The tour took about 2.5 hours, and I really felt like I got a better understanding of the city as well as the people who built this country. The tour itself was well put-together where everything flowed, sites were seen and even people that were exploring on their own would stand close to our group in order to gain some knowledge. This tour was amazing, and once again, huge shout out to Rich who also said he would keep our emails in case he gets additional information to some of our questions that came up along the tour. Tips are encouraged but not a requirement, although I feel like it is since the guides are so pleasant and you are learning so much that you wouldn't know without their help and assistance. The best part is that he incorporated his experiences as a local and told us about other restaurants and bars around the area that would be cool to check out. Next will be a food/walking tour! read more

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Having just a few hours in Philly - literally - I wanted to get the most out of my visit in one of America's most historic city. I found this on the web and signed right up for it only after hesitating when I saw that there was no fees for the tour. I mean, you get what you pay for, right? Well, since there really wasn't any other tours on our day of arrival that would work, I went with it. Boy, am I glad that I did! We were late and I texted the tour guide. She told me where to meet her within the tour and we picked up with her as agreed. Our tour guide was rich with details and back stories that I am convinced we would have not had otherwise. Her passion for the city, history, and the sites were obvious. It was energizing and exciting! We learned in just a couple of hours that I'm sure locals couldn't have even told us in years of living in Philadelphia! If you are looking for a tour of the city with details that you're bound not even to get from history books, then THIS is your tour. While the tour is technically free, donations are accepted. I paid $40 for my party of three and would have gone to $60 had I any more money. read more

My brother and his girlfriend were in town visiting, and I decided to sign up up for a walking tour around Old City. Turned out that on this particular day we were the only group who had signed up. Toni was a very excellent, knowledgeable, and fun tour guide who made the whole experience very unique and personable. I really think this is the perfect thing to do when family/friends are visiting for a weekend or if you just want to learn a little more about the city you walk around in everyday. read more

loved the tour!! My guide Joseph knew so much and is a great storyteller. Highly recommend.

Two weeks ago we had a morning tour with Josh. It was the historical walking tour starting at the Betsy Ross house. From start to finish the tour was well thought out, presented in a professional/historical/interesting and personal way. Josh has an unique way of stating the obvious while totally surprising the group with the "lesser known" facts/history. This last piece made the tour so fun, memorable and comfortable. I highly recommend this tour with Josh. read more