Chicago is the third largest city in the United States and offers a lot of options for things to see and do. The city’s storied history spans its beginnings in the fur trade, becoming a manufacturing center and the largest inland port, reversing the flow of the Chicago River, surviving the Great Chicago Fire, as well as Prohibition and its gangsters. While you could easily spend several days exploring Chicago, below are our recommendations for how to spend one day in Chicago.
Architecture Tour via Chicago River
Seeing Chicago’s varied architecture via boat is the number one tour to schedule. It gives you a brief history of Chicago. You will learn all about the different types of architecture along the river and you see the buildings from a unique perspective. The tour lasts about 90 minutes. You will sail along both the north and south branches, before sailing back up the river to the lock at Lake Michigan.
The Bean
You cannot visit Chicago without seeing the Cloud Gate sculpture at Millennium Park. The sculpture is affectionately referred to as “The Bean.” It was designed by Sir Anish Kapoor, completed in 2006, and inspired by liquid mercury. It is a stunning art piece and definitely worth visiting. It can be very crowded as you can see in the photos below.
Field Museum
There are many amazing museums in Chicago like the Art Institute of Chicago, the Museum of Science and Industry, the Field Museum, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Adler Planetarium, and Shedd Aquarium. We decided to visit the Field Museum because it has a variety of exhibits about dinosaurs, Africa, birds, the Pacific, Ancient Egypt, and more.
The Field Museum is massive with 3 floors and 47 exhibits. We like to walk about the museum and skim the information. It took us about 4 hours to walk around the museum and we only visited the permanent exhibits. So, if you like to read every piece of information you could spend days there! Also, there are free public tours of different exhibits.
To plan your day effectively, check out the times and which exhibits are being toured by checking the Field Museum web site. If you don’t buy your tickets online we recommend entering the museum via the north entrance as the line was shorter.
Signature Lounge on the 95th floor
There are two main places to see the skyline of Chicago: Willis Skydeck or the Hancock 360 Chicago. Both locations are observation decks on two of Chicago’s tallest buildings respectively. However, if you would rather pay for a cocktail than an admission fee, visit the Signature Lounge on the 95th floor of Hancock Center. Note the best view is from the ladies restroom but there are great Chicago views available throughout the lounge.
Are you thinking about exploring Chicago? The city features many amazing Virtuoso hotels. Contact us today to plan your trip!