What a Chicago architecture walk costs

Twelve tours in one table

Here you see the six walks on our home page and the six extras from these guides, each at its regular "from" price per adult on the cheaper of the two booking sites. Your date can move a price a little.

Four two-hour walks at one price

Four of the main tours cost almost the same, so compare what each does with your time. Inside Chicago's Dazzling Interiors walk, from ~$35, is our pick because so much of it happens indoors. The route usually begins in the Art Deco lobby of the Chicago Board of Trade and ends under the Tiffany dome of the Chicago Cultural Center. Entrance fees are included. The catch is that it runs one way, from a metal horse sculpture at 425 S. Financial Place to a finish near Millennium Park, and the surprise stops in between can change.

The Chicago Architecture Center charges the same for Historic Treasures of Chicago, from ~$35, yet adds something the others cannot. Your ticket includes the CAC's exhibits at 111 E Wacker Drive, home to a scale model of Chicago with about 4,000 buildings. A CAC-trained docent then leads you through the Golden Age, usually past the Palmer House lobby and the Reliance Building. Large bags are not allowed, and nobody will store them for you.

Inside Chicago's Underground Pedway and the Loop, from ~$35, sometimes shows about $32 on GetYourGuide. Groups stay at 15 or fewer and most of the route runs below the streets, where a few staircases rule out wheelchairs. The shortest of the four is the CAC's Must-See Chicago walk, from ~$35, at 90 minutes with the CAC exhibits thrown in. It loops back to its start, but most of what you see is from the sidewalk.

The cheapest and the priciest main walks

Empire Tours' Secret Interiors walk, from ~$30, is the lowest price among the six, at least on GetYourGuide; Viator lists it at about $35. It starts in Union Station's Great Hall and usually goes into the Rookery, which is closed on Sundays, when another stop takes its place. Groups can reach 30 on Viator, and some reviewers felt hurried or found the walk ran short of two hours.

At the other end, Urban Adventures' Chicago in a Day, from ~$99, costs about $101 on Viator and lasts 4.5 hours. The price covers tastings that add up to a full meal. Expect deep-dish pizza and Italian beef, plus a Chicago-style hot dog and popcorn, though the line-up varies by season. Groups stop at 12. The catch is less pure architecture than the two-hour walks give you, and Viator bookers reserve about 39 days ahead on average.

What an hour of walking costs

At equal prices, Dazzling Interiors at ~$35 gives you a third more time than the CAC's 90-minute walk at ~$35, so each hour on the shorter CAC walk costs more. Chicago in a Day costs a little more per hour again, but lunch is folded in, so weigh it against a walk plus a meal you would buy anyway.

Two extras show how far the range stretches. Urban Adventures' private Prohibition and architecture walk, from ~$178, is the top line in the table, and that figure is per person for a party of one. The price per head drops as your group grows, but its 2.5 hours give as much time to Prohibition history as to buildings. The CAC's river cruise aboard Chicago's First Lady, from ~$57, buys about 90 minutes of skyline with a docent. It is a boat, though, so you go inside nothing.

What costs nothing

Some of the finest rooms in the Loop charge no admission. The Chicago Cultural Center, with its Tiffany dome, is free to enter when it is open. So are the lobbies of the Rookery and the Board of Trade, during the hours their buildings let visitors in. None of that is guaranteed, since lobbies close for events or security, and the Rookery shuts on Sundays. Our self-guided Loop route strings the free stops together, and the Loop interiors you can walk into explains which doors tend to open.

What the ticket leaves out

• Tips. None of the walks include them, and US guides expect them. A few dollars a head is common, more for a guide who spent two hours with you;
• Getting downtown. Parking in the Loop is expensive, and so are cabs at rush hour. The "L" stops a short walk from most start points;
• Food. Only Chicago in a Day feeds you, and extra drinks cost more;
• Bags. CAC walks offer no luggage or stroller storage and no coat check, so plan where the suitcase goes on a travel day.

A family of four, added up

Take two adults and two children aged 6 and 10. On the Dazzling Interiors walk they pay at most four times ~$35 plus tips. Viator shows child and senior discounts that bring the total down. Chicago in a Day costs the most, up to four times ~$99 before Viator's child price for ages 4–11 (under-4s go free), but lunch is covered and nobody needs a meal afterward.

The private walk's ~$178 is the price for one person and falls per head for a group, so enter four people to see the real total. Private and small-group architecture walks sets that total against four shared seats, and architecture walks with kids covers ages and strollers tour by tour.

Refunds and the weather

All six main walks refund in full up to 24 hours ahead, and both sites let you hold a seat now and pay later. Inside that last day, you are committed. CAC walks go ahead rain or shine, and their GetYourGuide listing rules out weather refunds, so pack a layer. The best time for an architecture walk covers how far ahead to book in summer. If the budget runs to only one outing, our comparison of the river cruise or walking tour weighs the boat against the sidewalk.