Nearly every year or even a few times a year my husband has to travel to Chicago and I’m always a little envious when he goes-Chicago is such a fun city to visit and my favorite trip there was right at the end of 2019. Recently I had the chance to tag along again and CityPASS provided me with a couple passes for sightseeing Chicago. CityPASSes are great because they provide discounted admission if you are going to visit a few attractions in a city and we’ve used them in places like Toronto and New York and currently they are valid for 9 days after the first attraction entry. I’ve given my parents a Chicago C3 CityPASS as a gift too (They are a fun experience gift for the travelers in your family) and this one is my favorite for if you have limited time in a place and have specific attractions you want to see.
Chicago Art Institute with the CityPASS
For our Chicago CityPASS I knew I really wanted to see the Chicago Art Institute again. I am so glad we checked the opening times because it was only open one of the days we were in Chicago and it was the day we checked (and not the day I had initially planned to go). So we had limited time to see the museum. Fortunately the Art Institute of Chicago has a guide for seeing the main parts of the Chicago Art Insitute in an hour. And it was really easy just to go in and show our CityPASS- we didn’t need to make any reservations.
Shoreline Sightseeing Architecture River tour
My husband and I also really wanted to do an Archictecture Boat tour (he had never been on one) and this is one Chicago sightseeing thing that everyone always says to do. Booking our Shoreline Sightseeing Architecture River Tour was really easy with CityPASS app (And I don’t think this used to be on the CityPASS before when we went in 2019 so this was such a great bonus). We timed our trip with sunset and it was such a stunning way to learn about the architecture in the city. I think this was about 90 minutes long and the pictures I took from the boat are some of my favorites from the whole trip.
Skydeck Chicago
We also visited the Skydeck (which you might also know as the Willis Tower) and this was one of the two mandatory choices on the CityPASS and I think it should be a must see if you visit the city, it’s such a cool attraction. (The other mandatory choice on the Chicago CityPASS is the Shedd Aquarium and we didn’t make it here this time but even without visiting the Aquarium we still saved money and time by using the CityPASS for the other 4 attractions we went to) I remember being so scared of the glass floor last time I visited but this time I knew what I was getting into. The elevator up the tower is also fascinating because it shows how the city gets built over time and we were coincidentally there for the anniversary of the Great Fire. The CityPASS has skip-the-line features which are really helpful for days everyone wants to go to the SkyDeck at once. It wasn’t very crowded so it didn’t save a lot of time this visit but on a busier day it would have been invaluable.
We also saw a sign for Second City Chicago while we were at the Skydeck and it’s the reason why we booked a comedy show on our trip. I didn’t know Second City was in Chicago so it’s nice that the Skydeck highlighted other popular attractions in the area too.
And what happens if you don’t do all the activities?
And even just doing these three activities alone, the Chicago CityPASS seems a good choice for Chicago sightseeing-we saved money and everything was easy to book and arrange. We made the last reservation possible for the 360 CHICAGO Observation Deck one night (I think it was 9pm) and this attraction also has skip the line features (we didn’t need this for the time we went but in the summer I think it would be really necessary). This activity felt a little more dated than it did when we went in 2019, but it still has amazing views and it’s very cool to be in such a historical building. (The elevator just seemed a little rickety and we had too recently gone on the new fancy one at the Skydeck). I think I would have liked to visit the Adler Planetarium too if we had more time in Chicago. I’m really glad we used a Chicago CityPASS for this trip. It really helped us see a lot of the city and it made our trip memorable.
Terumi Pong is a Seattle-based family travel writer and mom of twin teenage boys. She loves coffee and pastries, shopping local and looking for greener ways to live. She is also known as Scout’s mom (Scout is a 5ish pound little black yorkie-poo)