The 15 Best Chicago Tours | Travel

Word: Some tour suppliers on this checklist could have restricted or ceased operations on account of COVID-19. Examine together with your tour operator about availability earlier than you guide.

Among the best methods to sightsee your method by way of a brand new metropolis is with the assistance of a neighborhood. With this in thoughts, U.S. Information rounded up 15 of Chicago’s greatest guided excursions. Whether or not you are crusing previous Willis Tower on a river cruise or sampling a few of Chicago’s greatest deep-dish pizza on a foodie tour, you may acquire a cultural and historic understanding of town throughout these excursions.

Chicago Meals Planet – Best in Chow Meals Tour

Chicago Meals Planet’s Best in Chow Meals Tour spotlights a number of dishes related to town – particularly deep-dish pizza, sizzling canines, Italian beef sandwiches, brownies and popcorn. The three-hour tour facilities on the River North and Streeterville neighborhoods and offers insider insights to the historical past, structure and tradition of those areas. Guides repeatedly win reward from vacationers for his or her data and enthusiasm. Ticket costs begin at $60 for adults (or $80 for a VIP bundle, which incorporates three drinks) and $35 for kids ages 12 and youthful. Reviewers discover the tour definitely worth the value for the beneficiant quantities of meals offered. What’s extra, group sizes are restricted to 16 individuals and excursions don’t contain in depth strolling. Chicago Meals Planet additionally affords excursions of different neighborhoods, together with Chinatown and the West Loop.

Completely Chicago Segway Tours – Chicago Lakefront/Museum Campus

The Chicago Lakefront/Museum Campus tour provided by Completely Chicago Segway Tours showcases lots of the metropolis’s hottest points of interest, together with Millennium Park (the start line), Grant Park, Monroe Harbor, the Area Museum, Shedd Aquarium, Soldier Area and the Adler Planetarium. The 8-mile journey on easy-to-ride, two-wheeled, battery-powered autos lasts roughly 2 1/2 hours. Members reward tour guides for his or her data and professionalism. Tickets price roughly $65, relying on date and time. Word that riders have to be at the least 12 years previous. Completely Chicago Segway Tours affords a number of different excursions, some centered round different elements of town or with particular themes like structure, crime and ghosts.

Inside Chicago Strolling Tours – Dazzling Interiors of the Loop

Inside Chicago Strolling Tours’ The World Inside: Contained in the Dazzling Interiors of the Loop tour reveals inside architectural particulars that guests may in any other case have missed. Highlights of the two-hour tour embody a gilded 80-foot-high ceiling, artwork deco lobbies, early Frank Lloyd Wright designs and rooms with stained-glass mosaics. Reviewers describe this tour, which includes about 1 1/2 miles of strolling, as an informative and entertaining technique to be taught in regards to the historical past of Chicago and its various, distinctive buildings. Tickets begin at $30 for adults 11 and older and $25 for kids ages 6 to 10 and patrons 65 and older. Youngsters ages 5 and youthful tour free of charge. Inside Chicago additionally affords different architecture-oriented excursions in addition to non-public excursions.

Bobby’s Bike Hike Chicago – Bikes, Bites & Brews Tour – Signature Dishes

Bobby’s Bike Hike Chicago’s Bikes, Bites & Brews Tour – Signature Dishes, as its identify signifies, combines bicycling, meals and beer. The four-hour, 13-mile journey traverses the Streeterville, Gold Coast, Lakeview, Wrigleyville and Lincoln Park neighborhoods with stops for pizza, beer, cupcakes and sizzling canines. Reviewers discover the tour offers an awesome introduction to town and price the guides extremely. Tickets for adults, which embody the bike rental in addition to meals and drinks, begin at $66.75. There are additionally reductions for college kids, navy members and senior residents. Bobby’s Bike Hike Chicago affords further bike, strolling and meals excursions that take vacationers to different elements of town, together with Chinatown.

Chicago Pizza Tours – Unique Chicago Pizza Tour

Expertise one in every of Chicago’s distinctive culinary phenomena with the Unique Chicago Pizza Tour. On this 3 1/2-hour tour, you may go to 4 independently run neighborhood pizzerias and pattern six or extra slices. Many reviewers reward the informative and entertaining tour guides. Others insist that the tour is about extra than simply pizza and encompasses Chicago historical past, structure and tradition. Tickets begin at $60 for adults and $36 for kids. Should you’re focused on exploring town’s pizza from different angles, you’ll be able to take one of many firm’s different meals excursions, which mix pizza and cocktails or give attention to town’s largest slices.

Metropolis Segway Tours takes vacationers to a few of Chicago’s best-known and hottest locations, together with Adler Planetarium, the Area Museum, Grant Park, Monroe Harbor, Millennium Park, the Shedd Aquarium and Soldier Area. Reviewers repeatedly reward the guides as informative, useful and entertaining. Tickets for the roughly three-hour excursions begin at $70 and embody using a two-wheeled Segway automobile and a helmet. Riders have to be at the least 12 years previous. Teams are restricted to eight individuals. Metropolis Segway Tours additionally affords non-public excursions of Chicago in addition to excursions lower than three hours.

Huge Bus Chicago Hop-On Hop-Off Tour

Huge Bus Chicago’s Hop-On Hop-Off Tours allow company to tailor excursions to their preferences by permitting them to spend as a lot time as they need at any of the 13 stops inside the eight hours of the usual bundle. Tour-takers can “hop off” a bus and spend time at common locations like Skydeck Chicago, Navy Pier, Soldier Area or Millennium Park after which “hop on” a later bus. Buses run each 30 to 45 minutes and embody guides that present commentary. Vacationers steadily describe guides as entertaining and informative. One ache level for riders is the signage: some discovered it tough to find the bus stops at sure points of interest. Ticket costs begin at $46 for adults and $30 for kids (with a ten% low cost when bought on-line). Along with its traditional ticket, Huge Bus Chicago affords a premium ticket legitimate for 2 days and consists of admission to the Chicago Structure Heart.

Tastebud Tours – Style Chicago

Tastebud Tours’ Style Chicago explores town’s downtown Loop space. The three-hour tour consists of stops at a number of eating places and retailers for distinctive Chicago deep-dish pizza, popcorn, sandwiches and sweets. The tour additionally highlights non-food-related landmarks just like the Chicago Cultural Heart, the Artwork Institute of Chicago and the Marshall Area and Firm Constructing, which guests have a tendency to understand. Guides persistently win reward for his or her data of and enthusiasm for Chicago historical past. Tickets, which begin at $59.50, embody all meals. (Grownup drinks will be bought individually the place obtainable.) Teams are restricted to 18 individuals. Tastebud Tours additionally affords different food-centric excursions in addition to non-public excursions.

Chicago Structure Basis River Cruise

The Chicago Structure Basis’s River Cruise ferries company alongside the Chicago River as docents from the Chicago Structure Heart regale them with the tales behind greater than 50 notable buildings. The volunteer docents repeatedly win excessive reward from reviewers for his or her in-depth data of town’s historical past and its buildings. The cruising vessels, a part of the Chicago’s First Girl Cruises fleet, can carry as much as 250 individuals and boast full-service bars and open-air higher decks. Tickets for the 90-minute excursions price round $45 for daytime cruises. Twilight outings are a number of {dollars} extra. For a further $5, you may also acquire admittance to the Chicago Structure Heart (which often prices $12 by itself).

Chicago Prohibition Tours discover a notoriously eventful second within the metropolis’s historical past. Tours go to the websites of 4 former speakeasies through bus over the course of three 1/2 hours. Guides present historic info and share what sorts of drinks could be consultant of these consumed illicitly through the Prohibition period. Reviewers rave in regards to the fast-talking information and say that is an expertise each locals and guests will take pleasure in. Others respect that every bar on the tour is exclusive. Tickets, which begin at $45, don’t embody meals or drinks, which will be ordered individually at tour-takers’ discretion.

City Kayak Chicago Riverwalk – Historic Chicago Tour

For a “duck’s-eye,” up-close view of town, take City Kayak’s Historic Chicago Tour. Beginning on the Riverwalk, tour-takers paddle their kayaks on the primary department of the Chicago River with periodic stops at factors of historic curiosity, the place guides present info relating to town’s famed structure. Reviewers say this can be a nice expertise, even for inexperienced persons. In the meantime, others notice that the skilled guides are skillful at navigating boat visitors. Tickets price roughly $70 for a single kayak or $140 for a tandem (two-person) kayak for the 90-minute tour. City Kayak additionally affords cheaper one-hour outings in addition to 90-minute excursions beginning at Monroe Harbor.

Shoreline Sightseeing Basic Lake Tours

Shoreline Sightseeing Basic Lake Tours supply unequalled views of Chicago’s skyline, and lots of picture alternatives, through cruises alongside the Lake Michigan shoreline. The 6-mile journey offers views of notable landmarks, such because the John Hancock Heart, the Willis Tower (aka the Sears Tower), Adler Planetarium and the Area Museum. In keeping with reviewers, these iconic buildings are far more seen from the water than they’re on the road. Many say this tour was the spotlight of their Chicago journey. Tickets for the 40-minute, narrated boat rides begin at $23 for adults and $8 for kids ages 3 to 12. Children 2 and youthful journey free. Vacationers should purchase drinks on the onboard money bar. Shoreline Sightseeing additionally affords architecture-focused excursions alongside the Chicago River.

Tall Ship Windy – Lakeside Structure Sail

Tall Ship Windy’s Lakeside Structure Sail options views of Chicago’s skyline from the deck of a 148-foot, four-masted schooner. Reviewers tout the exceptional views of town’s spectacular buildings and, weather-permitting, the particular expertise of with the ability to truly sail and never depend on the boat’s motor. What’s extra, tour individuals commend the crew members for his or her professionalism. Tickets for the summer season and fall excursions begin at $37 for adults and $14 for kids ages 12 and youthful. Tall Ship Windy has a full bar on board (drinks usually are not included within the ticket value.) Along with the day by day 75-minute excursions, Tall Ship Windy affords fireworks cruises on choose dates in addition to pirate-themed outings.

Chicago Crime Tours discover well-known crime scenes in a wide range of Chicago neighborhoods, together with the Gold Coast, Lincoln Park, the Loop, the Magnificent Mile, Outdated City and River North. The bus tour, which lasts about two hours, consists of stops on the spots the place gangsters like Hymie Weiss had been killed in addition to the positioning of the St. Valentine’s Day Bloodbath. It additionally visits locales related to Al Capone, Frank “the Enforcer” Nitti and Leopold and Loeb, amongst others. Reviewers laud the excursions for offering a novel angle on Chicago’s colourful historical past. Tickets price roughly $40 and will be bought upfront (suggested) or on the bus. A nighttime crime tour and a pizza and crime strolling tour are additionally obtainable.

Seadog Lakefront Speedboat Tour

Seadog Lakefront Speedboat Tours function high-speed, musically enhanced 30-minute excursions of the Lake Michigan shoreline and afford putting views of the Chicago skyline. Onboard guides supply historic and architectural details about among the sights, which embody Navy Pier (the departure level), Buckingham Fountain, Grant Park and the Museum Campus. Guests reward the crew’s data and charisma. Tour-takers are allowed to carry their very own grownup drinks on board. Ticket costs begin at $27.95 for adults and $20.95 for youths ages 12 and youthful. Children ages 2 and youthful journey free, however do require a ticket. The boat is open-air, which suggests vacationers may get moist. Seadog Cruises additionally supply an extended 75-minute journey and a quicker “Excessive Thrill Trip.”