1.5 hours with CAC with CFL
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See Chicago's skyline from the water on a 1.5-hour cruise narrated by a Chicago Architecture Center docent. The tour runs in partnership with Chicago's First Lady Cruises and has been a city staple since 1983.
Most Chicago boat tours rely on crew commentary. This one is different. Since 1983, the Chicago Architecture Center, formerly the Chicago Architecture Foundation, has run this cruise with volunteer docents trained specifically to explain the buildings along the river, and it operates in partnership with Chicago's First Lady Cruises. As you pass more than a century of architectural styles, your guide connects the skyline to the engineering story underneath it, including the 1900 reversal of the Chicago River. That project, completed with the opening of the Sanitary and Ship Canal on January 2, 1900, sent the river's flow toward the Mississippi basin instead of Lake Michigan, protecting the city's drinking water from typhoid and cholera outbreaks. The locks and controlling works built to manage that flow are what keep the river navigable for tour boats today. Current pricing and departure times are shown on the live booking page.
The cruise lasts 1.5 hours. Narration comes from a Chicago Architecture Center-trained volunteer docent rather than the boat's crew, which is the format the CAC has used since it launched the tour in 1983 with Chicago's First Lady Cruises. For what to expect once you're on deck for that hour and a half, including drink service and restroom access, our rundown of onboard amenities covers the details.
1-1.5 hours · Top rated · Shoreline Sightseeing
Chicago: Architecture River Cruise Skip-the-Ticket Line. Operated by Shoreline Sightseeing. Runs about 1-1.5 hours.
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45 minutes
Chicago River 45-Minute Architecture Tour from Magnificent Mile. Runs about 45 minutes.
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