Excellent experience. Got to see all the biggest and most interesting buildings (except the Water Tower and 875 North Michigan [John Hancock] which are not near the river.) The docent knew detailed info on the buildings, the river itself, and history of the city. Highly recommended
Visiting from Portland, OR and signed up for architectural cruise. Our guide was fabulous and amazingly knowledgeable. Great vantage point to see many styles of Chicago’s building architecture. Very comfortable boat with great amenities.
Definitely start your day in Chicago here… very informative tour that really gave you your bearings to explore the city!
We took the architectural river tour with Wayne. This was my third time taking this tour, and each time really is different. Wayne had a great sense of humor, as well as a deep knowledge of the city and her (mostly) beautiful buildings. The time flew by, but it was a great time!
The architecture boat tour by the Chicago Architecture Foundation is by far the best of all the options. The docents are SO knowledgeable!! I learn something new every time I go. I always try to take my out of town guests and they love it!
We expected a simple boat ride down the river. What we received was a floating history of Chicago, with a course in its economic past and present. The architectural information was the underscoring content but through it all, it gave us a great picture of a very special city. Worth the trip at twice the price. The docent from the Chicago Architecture Foundation was outstanding.
There are many choices of river cruise architectural tours, but the Chicago Architectural Foundation’s is the one to take. It costs a bit more but the quality of the docents, who clearly love what they do, makes it absolutely worth the price. This is a fantastic tour and a “must do” for visitors to the city.
This tour was recommended highly and did not disappoint. The docent provided tons of great factual information with humorous asides. We learned about all the buildings in the brochure plus about three times as many buildings and structures along the way and the development of the River Walk. The boat itself was comfortable and clean (bathrooms too!), and the selection of snacks and beverages was great. My whole family loved this experience and would highly recommend the visit to the architecture center afterwards as well.
When our friends knew we were heading to Chicago each of the. Said you have to do an architectural tour on the River! We chose CAF as this organization is the architectural foundation of Chicago. Our guide was very knowledgeable, did not miss one building had a great sense of humor and provided understandable insight into the structures we were seeing
Sylvia “knocked it out of the park” with her well-researched commentary and sense of humor. The views are simply breathtaking from the boat and my my —it’s makes me very proud to live here.
This is the best way to start a trip in chicago to get you bearings. The knowledge shared by the volunteers is incredible but our volunteer was soft spoken and it was hard to hear her even when we sat beside a speaker.
This cruise is FAR superior to the other river cruise. The docents really know their architecture information. On our cruise, Linda was able to identify the history, architects, and design language of over a hundred different buildings in the 90 minutes of the cruise. Sure it’s a bit pricy, but WOW what a great experience. We left with lots of knowledge and enough excitement to want to explore more.
Great way to view some of Chicago's iconic buildings. Very knowledgeable, entertaining docent. Wonderful weather certainly helped.
Narrator from society was fabulous and very well informed with a sneaky bit of humour - would highly recommend this tour to start your visit to chicago
The docent was quite knowledgeable and relaxed. She helped make the trip entertaining and informative. I have lived in Chicago for 40 years, worked in a large building downtown, and thought I had a relatively good understanding of the area around the river. I was educated about the history, the breadth of businesses, residences, and most interesting -- the history of this river.
Our tour director, 'Mike the mapmaker', did a great job of highlighting all of the architectural works on the tour. As an architect, I found the tour to be wonderfully informative and my college age daughter (not studying architecture) appreciated the narrative that unfolded during the tour. I highly recommend this tour to Chicagoans and visitors alike. I'll definitely do it again during a future visit to Chicago.
I first took this tour in 2002. After twenty years and a dozen more times on First Lady, I am still in awe of Chicago and it’s beautiful architecture. I have learned something new from every tour I took. The guides are experts of architecture and provide a wonderful historical perspective of Chicago’s buildings. I cannot speak on other tour boats because I’ve only taken First Lady but it is hard to believe that other tours would the same level of expertise as the First Lady team. One recommendation, take this tour on your first day in Chicago. It will enrich the rest of your Chicago visit as you walk the streets and recall the significance of each building you pass by.
This was our favorite experience in Chicago! It was amazing see just how far the city has come, and excited to see what they have planned for the future!
Nice boat, lovely river, but most important, a trained docent who will tell you everything about the many, many buildings you will see. This is not “teachy” but fascinating information in very user-friendly terms. Great fun, educational, and fascinating in Chicago take THIS your.
My boyfriend and I absolutely loved this tour. In fact, it was our favorite thing we did in Chicago! The tour guide was knowledgeable and gave us so much information about the architecture of the buildings. I loved riding down the river and under the bridges, it was so much fun to see people waving above us while on the tour as well. The weather was perfect and the boat ride was smooth. Would definitely recommend this tour.
