Best Architecture Tour, Reader's Choice and readers' choice: Chicago Architecture Foundation river cruise

Courtesy of Chicago's First Lady

Reader’s Choice

Chicago Architecture Foundation river cruise

The Chicago Architecture Foundation offers more than 80 tours, but the granddaddy of them all—and still flat out the Best architectural tour in any city anywhere—is the famous CAF river cruise. If you’ve only got 90 minutes in Chicago, or 90 minutes to live, and especially if it’s summer and the sky’s blue, this is where you want to spend them. Board at the southeast corner of the Michigan Avenue Bridge (at Wacker, look for the blue awning) and grab a seat on the top deck. The river’s a Y-shaped gallery, with the spectacular results of more than two centuries of building and design frenzy—from Fulton House to Trump Tower—on display. Volunteer guides, survivors of a docent boot camp as rigorous as some graduate programs, provide an engaging nonstop account of how a swamp on the prairie became the birthplace of the skyscraper and a canvas for many of the world’s greatest architects. It runs from May to late November; book in advance (it regularly sells out) and don’t confuse the CAF boat with commercial competitors.  Tickets at the dock; at CAF’s ArchiCenter, 224 S. Michigan; or through Ticketmaster, 312-902-1500; $28 weekdays, $30 weekends and holidays, 312-922-3432, architecture.org. —Deanna Isaacs

Readers’ Choice

Chicago Architecture Foundation river cruise

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