Home (desktop)

With its tree-lined streets and quaint neighborhoods, Philadelphia is a wonderful city to explore on foot. Public transit is an available option including the Philly PHLASH Downtown Loop, as well as the city's first ever bike sharing program, Ride Indego. Seeing all that Philadelphia has to offer is a breeze and how to get there by visiting our Directions and Transportation page. 

Located at 599 Market Street, the Independence Visitor Center is open daily, 8:30 a.m. -  6:00 p.m.

The Visitor Center has extended operating hours between Memorial Day and Labor Day, from 8:30 a.m. - 7:00 p.m.

The Visitor Center is closed on Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day.

A secure fully enclosed 24-hour indoor parking garage operated by the Philadelphia Parking Authority is located beneath the Independence Visitor Center with entrances on 5th and 6th streets between Market and Arch Streets.  For more information about getting around, click here.

The Independence Visitor Center offers many amenities including a cell phone charging station, cafés, free WIFi, gift shop, historic films, and so much more. Click here to view our full list of amenities.   

For day trippers or people on the go who want to leave their bags behind while sightseeing in Philadelphia, your options are as follows: Many museums do offer bag checks including the National Constitution Center, Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts with the cost of admission. Travelers arriving from 30th Street Station also have the option of checking their bags for $4.00 apiece with a valid Amtrak ticket. Bag storage is not offered at the Independence Visitor Center or its satellite locations. 

The world famous LOVE statue by Robert Indiana can usually be found directly outside of our Fairmount Park Welcome Center location at 1599 John F. Kennedy Boulevard. With a gorgeous fountain as the backdrop, this is the perfect spot to share pictures showing your L-O-V-E for Philadelphia and stop in the LOVE Gift Shop inside the Welcome Center for souvenirs. 

However, as of February 2016, the LOVE statue has a temporary new home while LOVE Park undergoes renovations. The statue now resides in the northwest corner of Dilworth Park, outside of City Hall, which is across the street from its usual home.

From the world-famous corner rivalry between Pat's King of Steaks and Geno's Steaks, to the elusive (closes when rolls run out) John's Roast Pork, to the late-night favorite Sonny’s Famous Steaks,"authentic" Philly cheesesteak options abound in the city that invented them!

Choosing a favorite would be like choosing a favorite child for us--impossible! You can always stop in and chat about the unique characteristics of each offering with our Visitor Services Representatives, or use this handy interactive guide by Visit Philly to find the closest cheesesteak to you!

The “Rocky Steps” are located at the front, or East, entrance of the Philadelphia Museum of Art on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. These famous steps, 99 in all, are part of the iconic Rocky film series, featured when Sylvester Stallone's character, Rocky Balboa, makes an epic run through the streets of Philadelphia that culminates with a famous dash to the top of the Art Museum steps. To this day, visitors who come to recreate this legendary run can see his footprints on the 72nd step forever emblazed in bronze, along with a statue of the boxer himself, now a permanent fixture at the bottom of the steps.  

Free timed-tickets to tour Independence Hall are available on the day of your visit at the Independence Visitor Center on a first come, first-served basis. Tickets can also be reserved in advance at 1-877-444-6777 or recreation.gov (there is a $1.50 reservation fee per ticket for tickets reserved in advance).  The first tour starts at 9:00 a.m. For free, walk-up tickets, you may request tickets for any available time on the day of the visit only.

A limited number of tickets are distributed to tour Independence Hall each day; therefore, ticket availability is best during the first two hours of the day (8:30 - 10:30 a.m.). If all tickets have been distributed by the time you arrive for pick up, please return to the Visitor Center the next morning at 8:30 a.m.

During the summer season, between Memorial Day and Labor Day, Independence Hall has extended hours, from 5:00 - 7:00 p.m. During this time frame, no timed tickets are needed.

The Liberty Bell is located inside the Liberty Bell Center on Independence Mall, one block south of the Visitor Center at 526 Market Street.  No tickets are required to visit the Bell and it is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., but closed on Christmas Day.  A security check is required for entry.