AT A GLANCE
Why go?
The Philadelphia Museum of Art Steps are better known around the world as the Rocky Steps: the broad granite stairway leading to the museum's East entrance, made famous by the training montage in the 1976 film Rocky. Every day, tens of thousands of visitors recreate Sylvester Stallone's underdog sprint up those 72 steps, arms raised in triumph at the top, in what has become one of America's most beloved free photo-ops and a true rite of passage in Philadelphia.↗↗↗
Climbing the steps pays off twice over: a selfie with the bronze Rocky statue now standing proudly at the summit, and a sweeping view down the Benjamin Franklin Parkway toward the Philadelphia skyline. The whole experience is open-air, free and right outside one of the country's great art museums, so it slots easily into any day in the city.↗↗
Run Up the Famous 72 Steps
The stairway is grouped into six sections—the lower five hold thirteen steps each and the final flight has seven—so the climb builds to a genuine finish-line feeling at the top. Most people walk it casually, but the real ritual is to jog the last stretch and throw both arms skyward at the landing, exactly as Rocky Balboa did when he completed his training. It is a small, democratic piece of theater, and you will almost certainly find yourself cheering (or being cheered) by strangers on the way up.
