Chicago, Illinois

An independent guide to Chicago, checked against the source.

Almost everything worth doing here is written up by the people selling the ticket. This site does not. Every figure comes from the company that charges it, read on a date printed under the table.

8operators priced at source

0figures copied

0free tickets taken

Oct 2026last checked

Compare the four cruises Skydeck or 360

Start here

The site is new and deliberately narrow: we publish a page when the numbers behind it have been checked, not before. These four are the ones to read first, and the rest are listed below.

The Chicago River at night with tour boats moored along both banks and the riverwalk lit up.

01 · The one that matters

Which architecture cruise to book

Four companies, four docks and a spread that runs from $39 to $57. The cheapest is not the shortest, and one of them charges a dollar less for fifteen minutes more. What actually separates them is who is talking.

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Prices read September 2026

Looking straight down at the street grid from the John Hancock observatory, with a white tower in the foreground.

02 · Pick one, not both

Skydeck or 360 Chicago

One looks cheaper until you notice what is included. The glass floor is part of the ticket at one of them and a $15 upgrade at the other, which turns a $2 gap into a $13 one.

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Both visited July 2025

Photo: Ken Lund from Reno, Nevada, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Two CTA Blue Line trains at the O'Hare terminus platform, with travellers boarding with suitcases.

03 · Before anything else

O'Hare to downtown, and what it costs

The train is $5. So is a whole day of unlimited travel, which is the same five dollars, which is the part worth knowing. And the taxi meter went up in July for the first time since 2016, which is why the $40 everyone repeats is now closer to $60.

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Rates read September 2026

Photo: Pokemonprime, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Cloud Gate in Millennium Park at midday, with the Crain Communications Building behind it.

04 · Decide this first

When to go, and what is shut when you get there

Everyone says spring or autumn. May is the wettest month of the year, wetter than July, and the river cruise is shut for 112 days. The month you pick decides what is open, and no guide puts that next to the weather.

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Climate normals and published seasons

Everything else we have checked

Fifteen more guides, each built the same way: the figures read from the company or the institution that charges them, on a date printed under the table.

Chicago in winter

Nine things that only exist between November and January, with the dates and prices each organiser publishes, or admits it does not.

The Thanksgiving parade, an hour earlierIt steps off at 7:40 on 26 November. Its organiser says that is one hour earlier than recent years.
New Year's Eve, free and ten minutes longThe fireworks start at 11:59 and cost nothing. Getting there costs $5 or $41, depending.
The Holiday Train, and its missing scheduleThe CTA has not published a single 2026 date. Riding it costs a normal $2.50 fare.
Christmas lights, and who will tell you the priceNine displays get listed everywhere. Two of the nine publish what they cost. We counted.
The city Christmas tree, and the day everything startsLit 20 November. So are the rink, the market, both Christkindlmarkets and ZooLights. They end on six different dates.
The Walnut Room and the Great TreeBookings open 1 October for a table the restaurant says twice it cannot place by the tree.
Christkindlmarket, and which of the threeThe organiser's FAQ says the dates are not out. Its own location pages published them in August.
ZooLights at Lincoln Park ZooThe zoo is free 365 days a year. This costs $7 booked ahead and $20 on the night.
Ice skating at Millennium ParkAdmission is free and no official source publishes the skate hire price. We say so instead of guessing.

What costs nothing, and what only looks like it

Two pages about free Chicago, both of which started as a list and ended as a correction.

What is actually freeThe Garfield Park Conservatory is on every free list and charges $10 if you live outside the city.
Free museum days, and who they are forAll five famous free days are for Illinois residents only. The Shedd says so in writing.

The architecture cruise, operator by operator

Four companies sell what looks like the same trip. One page each, because the differences are not in the price.

Shoreline SightseeingThe cheapest ticket of the four at $39, and the most expensive water at 65 cents a minute.
Wendella Boat ToursNinety minutes for $45 is 50 cents a minute, the best value measured, and under-4s go free.
Chicago Architecture Center cruiseThe only trained docents, the only outright no on refunds, and it charges for infants.
Seadog, through the locksThe only one that leaves the river for Lake Michigan, and the only price with the fees already in it.

Eating, tickets and time

Transit passes, and the one that saves nothingA 3-Day pass is $15 and three 1-Day passes are $15. And landing at O'Hare the day pass is free.
Navy Pier, and what the car costsWalking on is free. Its own garage is $41 for four hours, and twelve hours off site with a validation is $14.
Shedd Aquarium ticketsIts page called Ticket Prices has one adult price, $19.95, and it is for residents. We opened the booking and got $41.45.
Art Institute ticketsGeneral admission is $32. Google shows $40 under the museum's own link, because it is quoting the Fast Pass.
Best deep dish, and how far it isTwo of the five never use the words on their own menus, and the two Google crowns are an hour away on foot.
Is the CityPASS worth itAll eight gate prices it quotes are higher than the venues charge, by $151.45. It still saves money, just not half.
Midway to downtown31 minutes and $2.50, half what O'Hare charges. And no train at all between 1.05 and 3.30 a.m.
Three days, with the walking measuredEvery leg routed through real streets. Day one as everyone writes it does not fit.

How this site works

Primary sources only

Every figure comes from the operator that charges it, read on its own booking page on a date we print. No reseller is ever used as a price source: their prices drift and go stale.

The disagreements get printed

When two official pages give different numbers for the same thing, both appear with their date. Quietly picking one is how guides get copied into being wrong.

Nothing unverified is asserted

No tours we have not taken, no queue times we have not measured, no best of anything. The author box on each page says what was checked, when, and what was not.