Choose Chicago
Chicago is our laboratory, our playground, and our muse. While visiting the Forum, we encourage you to spend some time exploring the city. To learn more about the city that feels like home, visit ChooseChicago.com and discover your “Chicago Style”.
Chicago Tours
Tour Chicago
There are many ways to explore the City of Chicago. You may want to ride a boat or a Segway; focus on the food, beer, or architecture; see the famous points of interest or learn about Chicagoan life.
Arts abound in and around the University. We invite you to visit UChicago Arts to get an overview of the vibrant culture here and access a list of the cultural organizations in the area. If you already have your UCID, the Arts Pass program offers you many ways to explore downtown.
Foot Tours of Chicago | FREE
Free Tours by Foot is the only company that offers pay-what-you-like Chicago walking tours. These interesting and informative sightseeing tours will take you through many of the Windy City’s most famous neighborhoods with walking, biking, food, and architectural tours.
Chicago Cultural Center Tours | FREE
Visit the Chicago Cultural Center to see the world’s largest Tiffany stained-glass dome, ornate mosaics, and learn more about Chicago from the Visitor Center. Free public tours are every Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, at 1:15 pm, but are limited to the first 20 people.
Kid's Audio Tours | FREE
If your children are too excited to see Chicago to wait, or enjoy history, games, and challenges, listen to this free audio tour with them. It features 8 destinations, with many fun tangents along the way. The tour is availible in English as well as Mandarin, German, Japanese, and Spanish.
Chicago Detours
Chicago Detours, founded by a UChicago Alum, shares stories and places even locals don’t know through guided tours of Chicago architecture, history and culture. Walking tours of interior architecture, historic bars, food history and Chicago neighborhoods are available seven days a week, all year.
Chicago Food Tours
If the plethora of Chicago’s downtown and neighborhood restaurants delight your taste buds, you may want to go on a tour focusing on food. Chicago Food Planet offers a number of filling 3-hour culture and food-tasting walking tours. Prices range from $45-$60. Bike Chicago offers Bike & Food tours, which allow you to explore the foods that made Chicago famous or taste the city’s sweets. Prices range from $50-$60, including bike rental.
Chicago Neighborhood Tours
Explore a few of Chicago’s 77 diverse neighborhoods with Explore Chicago’s neighborhood tours. Tours are on Thursday, Fridays, and Saturdays at 10:00 am, and focus on a different area each time. You might want to learn more about the pubs, historic parks, art in the public transportation systems, or the foods of a certain culture in the area. Tour tickets range from $30- $55. You can also venture to these neighborhoods on a self-led tour: see the Neighborhoods section for more information.
Chicago Architecture Foundation Tours (Boat, Walking, Bus, etc)
The Chicago Architecture Foundation offers a variety of ways to explore the history and architecture of downtown Chicago and some surrounding neighborhoods. CAF’s popular boat tour provides information about more than 50 buildings along the river, while the walking and bus tours are themed to describe certain groups of architecture. Bike and Segway tours are also offered. Tickets range from $15 for some walking tours, to $44 for boat tours.
Segway & Bike Tours
Walking around downtown Chicago or Hyde Park, you might notice a number of people on segway tours. Bike and Roll andAbsolutely Segway Tours are two of many companies that offer tours of the lakefront, Navy Pier, Museum Campus, or Millenium Park. Prices range from $55-$65. Bike and Roll also offers longer bike tours to the Lincoln Park Zoo and the Playboy mansion, as well as nightly tours.