This is such an unconventional and fun group event. Always a good tint. Yes we've gone back…read moremultiple times :) whenever someone is visiting, this is the perfect way to show them the city

I have fond memories of bar hopping from college. Where I was a history major. With a…read morespecialization in Early America & the British Colonies. So Tippler's Tour was a perfect chance for me to combine those two loves into one evening. I was in Philadelphia alone that night, waiting for my husband to get into town, so it was something social AND historical I could do alone. I'm only just reviewing this a year and change later, so here's what I remember: 1) The bars we went to were a mix of old and new. Mostly old, but one was a very new place where they made the beer in house (and we were taken to see the silos where it matures). It was nice to see the newer places where Philadelphians hang out after work, but it was amazing to be in the places where Philadelphians had been hanging out since colonial times. 2) The guides were extremely lovely and vivacious. One was a modern-era tourguide, and the other was a colonial-era tourguide. The modern guy described the fries at one bar as "so good, it'll make you wanna slap yo mama", and the colonial guy explained what a "tippler" is, and had us all yelling "hip hip HUZZAH!" in between bars. 3) City Tavern was the end of the tour, and drinking in the same place as the Founding Fathers? Awesome. The tour overall is a great deal - you get a historical tour, plus you get drinks and snacks in four Old City locations. I'm from L.A., so it worked out to L.A. prices with a free tour thrown in. Plus, you get buzzed, but not so drunk that you can't remember basic high school US history. If you're in Philadelphia with a free night, take this tour. You'll enjoy it,.

Cool way to see the city in an electric vehicle buzzing around town…read more Highlights: - Philly native guide shared lots of info with us - Saw a lot of different parts of the city in just 90 minutes - Lots of hidden art I wouldn't have known about like the glass mosaics all around town and the plethora of murals - Got to get into smaller spots would've been harder for a car - We were the only ones in the cart and the driver arrived early and offered to pick us up. Saved us a hot and humid 15 minute walk in July so greatly appreciated Lowlights: - They to change dates few days prior due to a 4th of July parade but figured that's something they knew ahead - No aircon so bit toasty in heat wave even with no windows

Caroline was an amazing tour guide! Me and my girlfriend had a private tour with her and she was…read moresuper personal, attentive and informative. Very relaxing and chill experience and would gladly recommend a tour from them cause of our experience.

A 2 1/2 hour sailing trip on the Delaware on Labor Day afternoon sounded wonderful, peaceful and…read morecalming. I imagined sails unfurled taking us in the replica sailing vessel under the Delaware Memorial Bridge towards Philadelphia or perhaps southward towards the merge with the ocean. Two and one half hours sailing ... 150 minutes of sails billowing perhaps music playing and history being shared. Casual entertainment on the Delaware. We pulled out of New Castle under the ships motors at 3pm and were back unloading at 5pm. By my calculations that was exactly TWO HOURS not the promised 2 1/2 hours and no sailor, the seas were not rough nor the skies stormy. Two hours ... shortchanged by 30 full minutes of "sailing" time. Oh wait, we actually did not sail but several of us were called to duty to pull up the sails only to watch them billow for a couple of minutes before they were brought back down. And, those of us who helped really had to put our muscles and our backs to work to pull those sails upwards. We we're motorized for these 2 hours and actually we sat almost still for about 15 minutes. We never reached the Delaware Memorial Bridge (we headed north for this trip) and actually we did not cover much of the Delaware River on this 2-hour experience. The ship itself is awesome but perhaps some music or entertainment other than having to help the amazing volunteer crew with the sails would have made the cost/trip more worthwhile. We were handed a sheet with a scavenger hunt hinting that we and our shipmates should start searching for the answers but they never provided the answers to the scavenger hunt and there were no winners nor losers. It was as if it was an afterthought. The history narration was interesting but most on board either missed the announcement or couldn't find the docent providing us with insight on the Kalmar Nyckel. The extremely excessively large American flag kept hitting people on the foredeck wrapping itself around them, which was not a pleasant experience (You would think by now they would have purchased a smaller flag ). I felt worse for people with children because there was no energy in this TWO HOUR cruise ... it was calm and peaceful and I burned a few calories pulling ropes. Yelp asks ... "What could improve?" ... MUSIC, MORE INTERACTION by crew leaders, being truthful about how long the trip is, actually using the sails to move the boat, and travelling up or down more of the Delaware, which might lead the trip to last the advertised 2 1/2 hours.

We visited the Kalmar Nyckel Foundation Museum and Shipyard yesterday, and it exceeded my pretty…read morehigh expectations. We are visiting Sweden later this month on vacation, and (somehow - I don't remember how), I learned about the Kalmar Nyckel and thought: "Now that is the perfect thing to do leading out to our vacation in Sweden!" So off we went. We booked a sail on the boat - 9:30 a.m. on their opening day of the season. We arrived a few minutes before 9:00 to check in (as instructed when we purchased the tickets). That was great, because the Foundation's building is also home to a surprisingly great museum. The museum is on the upper floor of the building, and you can learn about navigation, sailing, the original Kalmar Nyckel, the replica of the Kalmar Nyckel, the colony of New Sweden (founded just a few minutes walk away from where you stand), and more. I knew nothing about the Kalmar Nyckel (had never even heard of it) and almost nothing about the colony of New Sweden. I got so much out of my visit. The Kalmar Nyckel was built in 1625 and eventually came to be owned by the Swedish city of Kalmar. When Sweden decided to establish a trading colony in the New World, the Kalmar Nyckel was one of two vessels selected to make the journey. The colony of New Sweden was founded in what is now Wilmington when the Kalmar Nyckel and the ship that accompanied it landed at the rocks just next to where the Kalmar Nyckel is docked now in 1638. The ship was sunk in 1652 off the coast of Scotland, but it made three more journeys to New Sweden and so was instrumental in the founding of the colony. In 1986, a group of Wilmington citizens established the Kalmar Nyckel Foundation, which designed, built, and launched the replica that you can see or sail on if you visit. After learning as much as we could in half an hour, we boarded the Kalmar Nyckel with around 50 others (lots of children and families) and went out for a sail on the Christina River on the ship. The ship is beautiful, and I spent a lot of time taking in the details (see my many pictures). The sail was lots of fun. The staff volunteers were amazing, answering lots of questions and providing lots of information throughout (there was a pirate story for the kids and a history talk for everyone during our 1 1/2 hour sail). There are opportunities to help the volunteer staff pull some ropes (sorry I can't provide technical language for what we did; not a sailor!). Important info: The Kalmar's sailing season is May-October, but it docks at some other East Coast locations throughout the season. So definitely take a look at their schedule on the website to ensure you're visiting on a day you can see and sail on the Kalmar! This was a wonderful experience. I learned a lot and had tons of fun. And it just felt so unique to this region and to Wilmington. Where else can you go for a sail on a 17th century replica of a Swedish vessel?! Definitely an activity to add to your to do list if you live in or are planning a visit to Wilmington. I was really glad we made this day trip up for our sail.

Living part time in NYC where I'm reliant on public transportation, it's kind of a treat to ride in…read morethe car when I'm back in PA. I was game when my husband suggested visiting Hagley Museum in Wilmington, DE. Hagley is the DuPont family's first U.S. "home," though I'd describe it more as an estate. The property encompasses 235 acres along the banks of the Brandywine with historic buildings, a research library and black powder mills. The gardens and grounds are spectacular. There's shuttle service between the visitors' center, powder yard and DuPont residence. What particularly impressed me are the friendly and knowledgeable docents leading tours at key sites. Demonstrations are pretty cool, including a blast -- a literal blast! -- at the black powder mill. (As I learned, gunpowder is made from black powder, so not exactly synonymous.) Wear comfortable shoes. Some paths are rocky. And if you can, avoid visiting on a broiling hot day. (I should've taken my own advice!)

Hagley is a little hard to describe, but I spent hours there this past weekend, so I'll do my best!…read moreHagley is one of many properties in the area associated with the du Pont family. Hagley is where Éleuthère Irénée du Pont founded his black powder mills in 1802. For more than 100 years (the factory was the largest in the world but then closed in 1921), it was the center of the du Pont family's work, wealth, and success. The reason it's hard to explain? Hagley has multiple areas and attractions - it's not just one place or one thing. There's the Powder Yard, Workers' Hill, the historic home and gardens, and the Nation of Inventors (a museum/exhibit exploring inventors/patents in 19th century America). When you arrive at the visitor center, a friendly staff members hands over a map, which you'll need during your visit. You can walk around most of the property, but you do have to take their shuttle to get to and from the historic home and gardens. Since I was already at the visitors center, I explored the Nation of Inventors first and found it interesting and fun (with some interactive aspects). Then I walked along the Brandywine River and the mill race to the Powder Yard. There, I visited the Powder Yard Orientation Gallery (for some context), explored the roll mills (historic structures where the black powder was produced), and visited the millwright shop. At the millwright shop, the friendly staff turned on some of the 19th century machines in the machine room, explained about the work that happened at the factory, and demonstrated a small, contained black powder explosion. From there, I took the shuttle to the historic home and gardens. I visited the barn (where you can see carriages and antique vehicles), the pollinator garden, and the restored French kitchen garden, before taking a tour of the house and the First Office (a structure next to the house that served as DuPont Company headquarters). After all this, I looked at my phone to realize I had spent about 2 hours longer than I had intended to at Hagley and I was starving. It says a lot that I had intended to spend about 2 hours at the museum and then go grab lunch in Wilmington and instead spent at least 4 hours at the museum. And I didn't even make it to Workers' Hill (where you can visit another house, the Sunday school, a picnic pavilion, and the workers' garden)! There is so much to do at Hagley. I learned a ton (big thanks to the docents that helped me to learn at Hagley - Pete, John, and Jonathan), and I had a great time. Visiting Hagley is easy - most sites have tours or demonstrations on the half hour, so you're never waiting for long for something new to begin. The shuttle makes it easy to get around, but the property was also beautiful to walk around. Hagley would be great for anyone interested in history, science, or the Brandywine region. Definitely plan to spend a long time here to fully experience what it has to offer!

Tim was a great host. Very knowledgeable and easy to talk to. Philly Brew Tours is a perfect way…read moreto visit multiple breweries and learn about each craft beer. The pace of the tour didn't make you feel rushed. The amount for sampling was very reasonable. Do something different with a group when in Philly. Tim does not disappoint.

My boyfriend and I had the pleasure of doing City Brew Tours this afternoon with our awesome tour…read moreguide Sam. What I felt stood out and made Sam's tour above all of the other various brewery tours that I've been on, is his complete understanding of the chemistry aspect of the brewing process. It's one thing to be able to understand and recite the step by step process of brewing and some of the biological and chemical reactions, but Sam said he went to school in those fields so his knowledge of this fields of study was truly outstanding (and he also had some great stories about beer as well). We visited Flying Fish (the largest and oldest brewery in New Jersey), Lunacy (a cult favorite brewery that I've actually never heard of that only brews at night given the lunar root of their name) and then Roy-Pitz (their main brewing location in not in Philadelphia, but their sours were brewed on site, which if you know anything about beer, sours and all other types of beer need to be kept separated) and Love City Brew Co (this was the last stop on our tour and was PACKED) in the Spring Garden Arts section of Philadelphia. All of the breweries we visited we got a sort of "backstage" look at their specific brewing process as well as tasted four of their beers. On the third stop we had a late lunch/early dinner of sandwiches or burgers (which I didn't even finish because I was so full). Overall based on things learned, new breweries visited, food portion size, and overall tour guiding, I'd give City Brew Tours a 10/10 if it were possible on Yelp. By the end I couldn't even drink anymore beer (I'm tiny, sue me) and left with some new appreciation of some pretty cool breweries that I had never been too. I understand that not every tour goes to the same brewery, seeing as not all will have the same availability week to week, so I'd defs be interested to do another Brew Tour and get to explore some other breweries as well. City Brew Tours was a full day of fun, facts and brews, would highly recommend!

Both the historic and haunted tours are very interesting. Highly recommend! Sister tours are also…read moregreat! You'll find them on their website.

Mark is a knowledgeable and affable tour guide, with a passion for local history, and a skill for…read moreweaving local lore into the broader historical perspective. I look forward to taking more of his tours soon!

Lots of great history and stories. The staff love and believe in their mission to restore the…read moremansion. The ghost hunting tour is a must do-very well planned and an unforgettable experience.

We went on a haunted tour this evening and it was definitely more authentic than we ever expected…read more Upon entering the main foyer, you immediately & instinctively know that it's history is very much alive in spirit. We had a few very weird occurrences happen throughout the night, most notably in the attic and basement, both of which gave off insanely heavy vibes. The staff is amazing as is the old mansion itself, which has been through a myriad of architectural changes throughout the decades. We will definitely be back for a day tour! I'm too chicken to go back for a night tour! Highly recommend!

John L. is one of the best tour guides out there. He is someone who is truly passionate about…read morehistory and geography and enjoys sharing his knowledge with others. If you would like to learn more about Philadelphia and surrounding areas while also getting some exercise and making new friends, I can not recommend his tours highly enough!.

John was a fantastic guide! We did the History @ Night tour, and his storytelling really made this…read moretour. As Philly natives, we knew a lot of the smaller facts. To be able to hear and see these facts in a complete story was very valuable. In addition to his immense history knowledge, John's wit and humor made this experience extraordinary! I'd highly recommend his tours to others and I will likely be returning for more.