"Top 10-Architectural River Cruises" Top 5 Page for this destination The Chicago River Tip by Dabs

There are several companies in addition to the Chicago Architecture Foundation (Wendella, Mercury and Sea Dog are a few others) that offer tours on the Chicago River, I have tried two others (Mercury and Wendella) and I think the CAF has the best narration if architecture is one of your passions. If you are just looking for a nice boat ride and a little bit of Chicago history, you'll find better deals on some of the others during the week. Cruises are either on Chicago's First Lady or Chicago's Little Lady.

The guide from the Architecture Foundation provided a lot of information on the architectural signifigance of the buildings along the river, interesting even for someone who lives in Chicago.

**Updated for 2009 **Tickets are $28 (M-F) or $32 (Sat-Sun, holidays). The cruise lasts for 1 1/2 hours and travels the River south to River City, north to past the East Bank Club and out almost to Lake Michigan. The season runs from May 2-November 22, 2009, although there is some covered seating much of it is outdoors and that is where the best view is from so they don't run it in Chicago's brutally cold winter.

In my opinion, it's best to do a cruise just of the Chicago River or just of Lake Michigan. In order to do both on the same cruise, you have to go through the locks between the lake and river which can take 10 or so minutes each direction.

See my next tip for other options on seeing Chicago by boat

Address: SE corner of Michigan and Wacker
Directions: Across the Chicago River from Michigan Avenue shopping district
Website: http://www.architecture.org