Tours not being offered on the day you’re in town? No worries! If you have a group of five or more, just give us a call or send us an e-mail and we can schedule in a tour for your group at our regular rate of free (tips only)!
Frank Furness
Frank Furness sported wild red hair, an underbite and loud plaids. He looked like a bulldog and snarled like one too. And in the process, he designed some of the most distinctive buildings in America, like this here Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. See it on the Billy Penn Tour!
South Street
Do you hear that groovy beat? Don’t it make you stomp your feet? Where do all the hippies meet? South Street. South Street. Ok, maybe not so many hippies these days, but there are elaborate mosaics, giant murals, great places to eat, drink, and see a show, anarchist book shops, comic book stores, and, of course, cheesesteaks. See it on the Colonial Cheesesteak Tour!
Clare and Bobby
Recognize this guy, with his goofy hockey-player grin? That’s my mom next to him, back in 1974, and as she said, he was pretty cute back when he had teeth. Hear how he got from the icy reaches of Flin Flon, Manitoba to Old City, Philadelphia, and why he’s never going to eat that ice cream cake, on the Colonial Cheesesteak Tour!
A Friendly Tour
You can watch the image rotation on the website for as long as you like, but let me tell you, it doesn’t compare to being there. We hope to see you soon in person!
Ben Franklin
He may not have “invented” electricity, but when Franklin was in France, the British were afraid he was harnessing giant mirrors to shoot a beam of light across the English Channel and burn up the British fleet in harbor. Franklin may not have invented the laser either, but hear about all the amazing things he did do on the Colonial Cheesesteak Tour!
Lifters in the Gloom
“…and in murky corridors that look as if they ought to lead to prisons hidden from the light of day, ugly, twisted forms writhe in unseemly attitudes, as if struggling to break free from such depressing and melancholy gloom.” See these twisted forms (and I promise we won’t lead you to prison) on the Billy Penn Tour!
Our Tours
Come take a Free and Friendly walking tour of Philadelphia with us!
It’s free, which means you tip us what you want. It’s friendly because we’re friendly folks. And it’s Philadelphia because we love it, and we want you to love it too.
We’re a Philly company with Philly guides and we’ll show you the whole Philadelphia, its historical monuments and its present-day city life – or the whole of what’s in walking distance at least. Come on a Philadelphia walking tour to Ben Franklin’s home, where we’ll tell you about all the Parisian ladies he cavorted with during all those years he wasn’t living there. Come see a line out the door for cheesesteaks and we’ll show you some other great Philly eats that don’t require you to wait so long.
We offer morning and afternoon tours, and we are happy to plan a custom Philadelphia walking tour for groups of any size and any interest – just ask! Groups of ten or more, please contact us in advance. Kids, pets, and anyone else with a sense of adventure are very welcome.
We lend our friendship freely, on the tour and off, and we’ll gladly recommend a place to eat or drink or go out dancing after the tour, no matter your budget, or recommend a book to learn more about this or that bit of Philadelphia’s three-hundred-year-long (and going strong!) story.
freeandfriendlytours@gmail.com
1-877-558-9671
…So how does it work?
Free and Friendly Tours runs entirely on tips. You may have come across tours like this in a number of European cities, but even if our Philadelphia walking tour is the first you’re hearing about this concept, it’s quite simple really. When you come on a tour, we ask that before you leave you tip what you can and what you feel your time with us has been worth.
We don’t recommend a particular amount to tip, we just ask you to consider how much a morning or afternoon with a knowledgeable, enthusiastic guide has added to your day out in Philadelphia. And if what you have isn’t very much – a shout-out to Michael, an eighth-grade guest of ours who had only a 1943 steel penny on him and was unwilling to part with it – you’re still welcome to come by.
Reservations must be made in order to come on our tours. Check out the various links at our tour pages, or call us to book your tour now!
What else to do in Philly?
So you’re planning a trip to the City of Brotherly Love. What’s there to do here, anyway? (Besides coming on a Free and Friendly Tour, of course.) Well, we’ve compiled a list of our favorite places to make sure you’ve got plenty of options. Need a place to get a nice dinner? Want to go out dancing? Want to try some local beer? Don’t have any money? No problem! Check out our favorite places
