Philadelphia on a budget

Best free attractions

Philadelphia gives away a lot of its best material: for free. Squares planned into Center City's grid, gardens with historic houses on their grounds, a stone waterworks, arboretum land outside a well-known institution, and neighborhood parks that still function as neighborhoods. The 12 that follow all cost nothing to walk into: Rittenhouse Square and Washington Square and Logan Circle in Center City, the historic house at Bartram's Garden, the arboretum grounds around the Barnes Foundation in Merion, Pennsylvania, and the traditional garden inside Fairmount Park. Skip the ticketed attractions on your first afternoon and walk the free ones. This list is ordered for a visitor with a day or two, not by acreage or photo value; treat it as a shortlist, not a checklist. Bring water in July, gloves in January, and don't try to see all 12 in one pass. Pick 3, sit in each for an hour, and let the city do the talking.