Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
175
Value
Museum Free Days
If you time y our visit right, y ou can sa ve yourself some admission f ees—but
not during prime tourist season. While some major museums offer free admis-
sion at specific times y ear-round, others schedule fr ee days only during the
slowest times of the y ear (usually lat e fall and the dead of wint er); keep in
mind that y ou will still ha ve to pay for special exhibitions and films on fr ee
days. The good new s? Some smaller museums nev er charge admission.
Monday:
Adler Planetarium (Oct-Nov and Jan-Feb); Chicago History Museum;
Museum of S cience and I ndustry (mid-S ept through Nov and Jan-F eb); and
Shedd Aquarium (Oct-Nov and Jan-F eb; Oceanarium admission ex tra).
Tuesday:
Adler Planetarium ( Oct-Nov and Jan-F eb); Museum of C ontempo-
rary Ar t; Museum of S cience and I ndustry (mid-S ept through No v and Jan-
Feb); Shedd A quarium (Oct-Nov and Jan-F eb; Oceanarium admission ex tra);
and Spertus Museum (10am-noon).
Thursday:
Art Institute of Chicago (5-8pm only, until 9pm Memorial Day to Labor
Day); Chicago Childr en's Museum (5-8pm only); and Sper tus Museum (3-7pm).
Sunday:
DuSable Museum of A frican-American History.
Always Free:
Chicago C ultural Center, Garfield Park Conservatory, David and
Alfred Smart Museum of Ar t, Jane Addams Hull-House Museum, Linc oln Park
Conservatory, Lincoln Park Zoo, National Museum of M exican Art, Museum of
Contemporary Photography, and Newberr y Library.
6
600 E. Grand A ve. (at Lake M ichigan).
&
800/595-PIER
(800/595-7437, outside the 312 ar ea code) or
312/595-PIER. www.navypier.com. Free admission. Summer Sun-Thurs 10am-10pm, Fri-Sat 10am-mid-
night; fall-spring Mon-Thurs 10am-8pm, Fri-Sat 10am-10pm, Sun 10am-7pm. P arking $19/day week-
days; $23/day weekends. Parking lots fill quickly. Bus: 29, 65, 66, 120, or 121. Free trolley buses make stops
on Grand Ave. and I llinois St. from State St. Subway/El: Red Line to Grand/State; transfer to city bus or
board a free pier trolley bus.
3
BEST VIEWS
Sweeping views of the city fr om north to south ar e one of the main attractions of the
many
boat tours
that leave from Navy Pier. Hop aboard and get the lay of the land from
a waterborne v antage point. It's the best way to see ho w the city sw eeps from Museum
Campus in the south, to the Loop , across the Chicago Riv er, and up thr ough the Mag-
nificent Mile, then on to the condo buildings that populate the lakefr ont moving north
to the suburbs. S ee “Kid-Friendly Tours,” later in this chapter , for a full listing of boat-
tour options.
The Hancock Observatory
All ages.
Kids can play “count the rooftop pools”
from the 1,000-foot-high obser vation deck as they look do wn (way do wn) on the r esi-
dential neighborhoods below. For my money, the Hancock Center offers the best vie ws
in town. Why? It offers an excellent panorama of the city and an intimate view of nearby
