Philadelphia Segway Tour: A Unique Way To See The City Of Brotherly Love

You guys know that I love tours. Food tours, walking tours, bus tours, I love ’em all and while we were in the City of Brotherly Love we did something unique by taking a Philadelphia Segway tour. It’s something that we’ve never done before but we’ll definitely do it again. The tour took us through the Old City with Philly By Segway. Take a great city, add a very knowledgeable guide, toss in a unique way of seeing the city and you have one very memorable tour that everyone thoroughly enjoyed.

But I don’t know how to ride a segway!

Never been on a Segway? Not a problem. I rode one a long time ago for about 10 minutes, but I think a Segway is like a bike: If you do it once you don’t ever forget. The rest of my family had never been on one before but our guide, Deshon, was really patient and took the time to give each one of us some individual training in their indoor training area. Riding a Segway is all about shifting your weight to your toes to go forward and back on your heels to slow down. Turning left and right involves leaning and turning the handle. Easy peasy!!

Deshon made sure we were comfortable getting on and off, navigating over obstacles and basically operating the Segway in a safe manner.  Once he felt that we were ready, we headed out. The good thing about this training is that it doesn’t eat into your tour time. The folks at Philly By Seqway want to make sure that anyone who participates in their tours are safe so make sure you arrive early for training. You don’t want to be that person who has never ridden a Segway before but shows up two minutes before the tour starts.

What did we see on our Segway tour?

Philadelphia is a big city filled with many unique neighbourhoods and our guide took us through quite a few explaining each one’s unique charm. We rode through Fabric Row which is on South 4th Street. At one time this was a bustling textile and garment district where where people would come to find the latest fabrics. Sadly a lot of the fabric shops are gone now but the few that remain share the street with new restaurants and art galleries. You can still see remnants of it’s past life in the signs as you explore the area.

We also rode through the Italian Market. If you love food, then this open air market is the place for you. The market itself runs for about ten city blocks along  Ninth Street.  Vendors line the street selling all sorts of fresh fruits and vegetables. Many gourmet shops and and restaurants also call this stretch home but since we were on the move we had to come back to explore them on another day.

Philadelphia is also known for having art on almost every corner and Deshon made sure to point out some interesting pieces as we rode along. He also took us to the Magic Gardens. This is a space on the famous South Street that artist Isaiah Zagar has completely covered with mosaics. He used handmade tiles, bottles, bicycle wheels, mirror, and tons of other materials to chronicle his life and influences.

We also got the opportunity to see Pennsylvania Hospital, which is America’s first hospital and the nation’s very first bank. While we were riding along we noticed that a lot of houses had plaques on them. These plaques weren’t for decorative purposes but rather to identify who had paid up their fire insurance. The monies collected by the city for this went towards the upkeep of the fire station and salary for the firemen.  No plaque meant that the firemen might not be in such a rush to save your house!

Types of Tours Offered

We were on the ‘1 Hour City Segway Adventure’ which turned out to be one of their most popular ones. I thought it was the perfect length because we saw quite a lot, and if it were any longer my feet would have started to hurt; riding a Segway uses muscles in your feet that you don’t normally use!

If you’re into food (and who isn’t?) they offer one of their specialty tours which is their ‘2 Hour Cheesesteak Tour’ , or, if street art is more your thing then the ‘2 Hour Mural Tour’ might be the one for you. I’m all about the food so next time I’m definitely signing up for the cheesesteak tour!

Final Thoughts

Would I recommend this Philadelphia Segway tour with this company? You’re damn right I will. From the minute we arrived at the offices, to our last handshake, the folks at Philly Tour Hub were extremely friendly and helpful. Our guide knew his Philadelphia history and was to answer every question we threw at him. During the tour he even took photos for us and then emailed me a link so that I could download them. This allowed me to focus on sightseeing and not on trying to juggle my camera while operating the Segway.

Disclaimer: This cost of this tour was covered by Visit Philadelphia but all thoughts and opinions expressed are 100% my own.