Philadelphia Mural Arts Program

We took the tour using an antique-​type trolley and regretted it. Although our tour guide was very knowledgable, the trolley wasn’t the proper vehicle to do it in, and the traffic was congested. These artworks are massive, and the bus windows are small and frustrating. Better to use an open air bus. Unfortunately for us, most of the murals were on the other side of the bus and we couldn’t see a thing. If this is the type of vehicle they are using, you will be missing most of the murals. We might do it again with the walking tour.

I went on the love letters tour … very knowledgeable staff, would reccomend for valentines day if its offered.

TLDR: Rich murals, see less touristy parts of city, download audio tour if you can, free (good for poor students, etc.), end at Magical Gardens recommended — enjoy!
Walking the Mural Mile (path on website) is a great (free!) way to explore the city on foot while enjoying the many murals it has to offer. The route took us to less touristy areas (just what we like) which were lovely in the fall. The murals were all so rich in color and symbolism, offering a great texture to the art that nicely complements the spirit of the city.
The website offers an audio tour download that we didn’t do (poor planning), but it sounds like a great way to get background information on the splendid pieces we saw. Some sites offer a phone number to call for information, but it didn’t go through for us. You can still enjoy the murals without the extra info, though.
After the mile, we ended by visiting the Magical Gardens (South Street, between 10^th &11^th) — a spectacular end to an art-​filled day.

Our family has a lot of fun helping out painting murals during the Philadelphia Mural Arts Program’s community paint days at The Gallery. The staff are very helpful and both kids and adults seem to have a lot of fun. What they have are big pieces of fabric that hang on dividers that you paint with corresponding colors, like paint-​by-​number. In the past we helped out paint a restorative justice mural that explores the impact of imprisonment on families and another mural that was about fishing. This last Saturday we helped paint a polar bear that will be part of the mural that will adorn the new parking garage at the zoo. Also, for the first time, I would up painting… myself! I wound up adding some nice gray hues to the black sleeve of my sweater. I discovered this a few hours later but the paint came off easily with water. So don’t worry, the whole process is idiot proof!

Philadelphia is a city of murals — enjoy them on a fun mural arts tour. They have ones with themes such as food, love, beer — well it doesn’t get much better. Another great reason to LOVE the city of brotherly love!

After a day of extensive walking, we decided to book the trolly tour to give ourselves a little break.
We were the only ones who weren’t senior citizens, and we felt the tour catered to that population. We were hoping that we would be getting outside of the trolly to view the murals, but we only were able to do that once during the entire tour. I don’t know if that was due to time limits or the fact that we ventured into some pretty sketchy neighborhoods. Unfortunately, due to staying in the trolly, we had mostly partially obstructed views of the murals. Additionally, while our tour guide was full of interesting tidbits of information, most of it was delivered a minute after we had already passed the mural. Imagine: «Oh and we just passed xxxx, painted by xxxx». Not very helpful at that point.
This tour got old pretty quickly. I’m guessing most of the able-​bodied persons opt for the self guided walking tour. I would do that if I were to do another mural tour in Philly.

Have done the Ale & Arts tour and the North trolley tour. Both were worth taking a couple hours of time to do whether you’re visiting the city or have lived here for years. Would say both tours included more area residents than visitors. These murals really do make the city unique, are a great expression of certain neighborhoods and have a healing effect to the underprivileged that those not in similar positions should be aware of.
Ale & Arts was a nice way to see some murals you walk past every day, get a good intro to the program in a relaxed setting. Guide was a bit disorganized with the whole thing, his explanations but we figured it out. Worth a try for sure.
The North trolley tour showed a wider range of murals in North Philly which as I understand is the epicenter of the mural world. Guide did a good job explaining everything, even though she was a huge b*tch to the bus driver. We ventured into some realllly sketchy neighborhoods (think people yelling at our open-​air bus «I know you ain’t tourin’ the hood, ain’t nothin’ to see here» or «Helloooo white people!») but… yeah it’s part of the experience I guess.

The Love Letter tour was a great part of my recent visit to Philadelphia. While the starting location (inside The Gallery) was hard to find, my guide was personable and engaging, and really knew a lot about not only the signs on the tour, but the history of the Mural Arts program. The signs on the Love Letter tour are gorgeous – but having the additional information about them from the guide really made for a great experience.
I ended up being the only person on what is usually a popular & busy tour, and at first I thought it would be really weird, but it ended up being pleasant, engaging, and conversational. I was a little surprised that the tour still ran. I guess I would have thought that with one registrant, the program would have called me or something? But I’m really glad I took the tour – I learned a lot.
I did go back up on the subway line afterwards to get some photographs of a few signs we missed the first time. If you take this tour in a large group, I would go in with the knowledge that you won’t see everything. But the tour gave me a solid introduction, so when I went back for my photographs, I knew exactly what shots I wanted to capture.

Went with a very large group on the trolley. Our tour guide came across un-​prepared, even though she had notes. However, once she found her thoughts, her explanations were quite thorough.
They offer a variety of tours, with various themes. Good stuff to do with native Philadelphians or out-​of-​town visitors.

I did the self guided walking tour in the fall with a friend. The map that’s online was clear and gave us a good route. It covers only a small area of Center City and there are definitely some gorgeous murals outside that area, but the walking tour route starts you off with a lovely afternoon’s stroll. The phone recordings are a bit lengthy (maybe 5 or more minutes each) and it would be nice if there was a shorter recording summarizing the key parts of the mural or its creation or themes or a brief writing on it instead. But I definitely recommend the walking tour for those interested in learning about a bunch of the murals rather than walking by them obliviously as I had previously.

This was the one thing I really wanted to do in Philly, and I’m so glad we booked it from the airport to the Independence Visitor Center to make catch the tour on time!
Margaret was our tour guide on the Mural Mile Walk and she was fantastic. Very knowledgeable about the area and the art and friendly, yet kept us moving along. We went over the 1.5 hour time allotted, but we still saw every mural on the tour.
I love how up close and personal the walking tour is… way better, in my opinion, than sitting on a trolley. A great way to experience the different neighborhoods of Philly, too. I would put the mural tour on your must-​do list if you are ever in the area.

My fiancé and I took the mural arts Love tour in July. We take SEPTA everyday to and from work, but never noticed that the paintings on buildings we passed were actually beautiful pieces of art. Each one had a story and riding the El for fun was a great experience. Also worth noting was the make-​up of our tour group– only 2 of the 15 people were from out of town so it was wonderful to know that Philadelphians are supporting the Arts in this way. The only downside for me was the heat– I recommend a Spring or Fall day for the tour.

I did the Ale & Arts walking tour and would highly recommend it. Our tour guide, Jim, was very knowledgeable and personable. This is not necessarily a touristy activity, since I live in Philly myself and really enjoyed learning more about my city (did you know there are over 3,000 murals here?).
Oh, and the beer was great!

Great tour, would recommend it to anyone (you don’t have to be an out-​of-​towner to enjoy this)! I’ve lived in the Philadelphia area all of my life and would have never learned of the stories behind the murals if it weren’t for this tour. Jim O’Conner (I think) was an excellent tour guide – great personality and very knowledgeable. Keep up the good work Philadelphia Mural Arts Program!
Cheers,
Alex

Great tour, great murals, great program.
The Mural Arts Program of Philadelphia takes the mission of public art to the next level and really has made the worlds largest outdoor art gallery. Giving a voice to communities and peoples that didn’t have one before, and beautifying Philly all at the same time. The tour really gave me a chance to see the history behind the program and it’s mission, as well as many individual murals in depth. These things really are massive at times, and at an artistic level beyond any murals I’ve seen in other parts of the world.
If your in philly visiting, or even a resident like me, skip the hokey colonial stuff in old city (it doesn’t give the city justice) and get on a mural tour to really get a look at the living, breathing neighborhoods that make Philadelphia the great city it is.

As a pre-Valetine’s day treat, the missus and I took the Love Letter Train Tour. The experience was simply wonderful. From the elevated Septa, we discovered Philadelphia anew. Bring your camera so you can capture the excellent art before it fades back into the neighborhood from which it spawned.

A Philly highlight. Took the Love Train on Valentines Day + it was awesome.

Was in Philly and did the Love Tour… so awesome! It was great because I got to see awesome murals done by a person who grew up in the city. The number of murals is a little overwhelming but that’s a good thing.
I also saw parts of Philly that I otherwise would not have ventured into on my own. The only reason it didn’t get 5 stars is because everything I read prior to going on the tour made me think I’d get to see a specific set of murals and in actuality there are many that are impossible to see from the tour route because they pass by so quickly in different directions when you’re on the train.
Overall great experience and I would highly suggest it to both locals and visitors. Our tour guide was awesome and very informative as well!
I’d suggest that they make a book of the Love Tour Murals because I’d buy it.

Loved the love letter tour! not lucky enough to get there on valentines day but still great. I HIGHLY recommend this tour for lovers and friends alike!

I just took the West neighborhood tour and it was spectacular! Our guide was full of knowledge and spread a contagious calmness through the trolley while she offered up unique bits of manageable information on the murals. The highlight was when the whole trolley got off to see a gorgeous mural that featured the residents of the neighborhood — including the local barber, artists, children, grandparents and alternative rockers. I can’t wait to take the other four tours the Mural Arts program offers. I’m glad I made my reservation in advance because the tour was sold out… I guess they are becoming VERY popular and it’s a hard ticket to come by, so my advice is to go early or call them up and buy your ticket before the tour!