Free & Cheap Things to Do in Camden

Parks & Nature

Camden's 51-acre riverfront park rolls a brick promenade 1.3 miles along the Delaware from the Ben Franklin Bridge to the Battleship New Jersey, with the Philadelphia skyline posing across the water the entire way. Free concerts hit the Riverstage amphitheater in summer.

Address: 2 Riverside Dr, Camden, NJ 08103

Tip: Sunset turns the Philly skyline gold — the promenade benches are the cheapest waterfront show in the region. The aquarium, children's garden, and battleship all sit along the same walk, so park once and do the whole strip.

Museums

The most decorated battleship in U.S. Navy history — Guadalcanal to the Gulf — moored as a museum you can crawl through: gun turrets, berthing decks, the bridge, and the Combat Engagement Center. Self-guided tickets stay valid a full year, and kids under 8 board for $5.

Address: 62 Battleship Pl, Camden, NJ 08103

Tip: Active military board free and veterans save $10. Youth and scout groups get guided tours at $12 a head — homeschool co-ops included. Budget two-plus hours; the engine room and turret evening tours are the enthusiast upgrades.

Family & Kids

Two million gallons holding the Northeast's largest shark collection, the only hippos exhibited in any U.S. aquarium, and the world's longest V-shaped rope suspension bridge strung inches above Shark Realm. A blockbuster splurge on the Camden waterfront — watch for its discount weeks.

Address: 1 Riverside Dr, Camden, NJ 08103

Tip: Buy online — advance pricing runs cheaper than walk-up. The annual Homeschool Week (early September) has run about half-price; Hippo Haven and Shark Bridge are the can't-skips with kids.

Family & Kids

A four-acre interactive garden next to the aquarium built purely for kids — storybook gardens, a butterfly house in season, a carousel and train, and hands-on horticulture run by the nonprofit Camden City Garden Club. Six dollars flat for everyone over age one.

Address: 3 Riverside Dr, Camden, NJ 08103

Tip: Open seasonally April through December and hours shift — call or check the site before making the trip. Ride tickets are $2 each; the garden alone fills a happy hour or two after the aquarium.

History

The only home Walt Whitman ever owned — the modest 1848 row house where America's poet spent his last eight years and finished the deathbed edition of Leaves of Grass. A New Jersey state historic site with free guided tours, currently mid-restoration with a new visitor center coming.

Address: 330 Dr Martin Luther King Jr Blvd, Camden, NJ 08103

Tip: Closed until fall 2026 while the restoration and new visitor center wrap up — check the state parks page before planning. Whitman's granite tomb at nearby Harleigh Cemetery is visitable free year-round in the meantime.

History

A campus anchored by 1726 Pomona Hall — one of South Jersey's finest Georgian mansions — plus a regional history museum and research library covering everything from Lenape life to Campbell's Soup, which was born in Camden. Self-guided visits run Wednesday through Friday and first Sundays.

Address: 1900 Park Blvd, Camden, NJ 08103

Tip: Admission isn't posted online — call ahead to confirm hours and any fees, and book Pomona Hall guided tours by appointment. First-Sunday afternoons are the easiest walk-in window.

Landmarks

Walk or bike 1.3 miles across the Delaware on the 1926 suspension bridge's south walkway — Camden to Philadelphia's Old City, with river panoramas and the best free aerial view of both skylines. Access at 4th and Pearl in Camden; exit across from the U.S. Mint.

Address: 4th St & Pearl St, Camden, NJ 08102

Tip: Open 6am to 8 or 9pm depending on season, weather permitting. Crossing to Philly turns Camden into a two-city budget day — Independence Hall's free historic district starts blocks from the far ramp.

Parks & Nature

A 346-acre county park stretching along the Cooper River just east of downtown — one of the country's premier rowing venues, ringed by a flat 3.8-mile loop trail, playgrounds, and picnic groves. Regatta weekends turn the river into a free spectator sport.

Address: N Park Dr, Pennsauken, NJ 08109

Tip: Check the regatta calendar — collegiate and Olympic-trial crews race here spring and fall, free to watch from the banks. The loop is the local running circuit; Whitman's tomb at Harleigh Cemetery borders the west end.