Architecture Boat Tour – Chicago, IL
| Date: | 9-25-2025 |
| Location: | Chicago, IL |
| Cost: | $80 |
| Parking: | Public Parking |
We decided to end our first night in Chicago with the Architecture River Boat Tour on the First Lady. We chose to go during sunset so that we could see the buildings in the day time and all lit up at night. This proved to be a very good choice.
During the day we saw the boats were fully packed with people. When we got on our ship there was plenty of room around for people to sit and a lot extra seats.
We had an awesome docent who gave us some great history and how Chicago mingles the old and modern styles of architecture. The tour itself takes about 90 minutes and cost us around $80 per person and was worth every penny.
We took off from the First Lady pier along the Riverwalk. This took us all the way up the river in two directions before bringing us back and out to Lake Michigan so we could see the city lit up before bringing us back to doc.
The tour was excellent, and it was interesting to hear how newer architects would give “nods” to older buildings by incorporating some older elements into the new designs. They also did a great job talking about Chicago’s meat packing history and giant catalog companies like Sears and Montgomery Ward.
This was the highlight of the Chicago portion of our trip and was a great way to end a long day of traveling and sight-seeing.
