Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The sunny Butterfly Cafe offers fresh, healthful meals cafeteria-style. In sum-
mer get there early to enjoy coffee and a muffin—and the lovely surroundings—
with joggers and other locals. Allow 1 hour.
Fullerton Ave. and Cannon Dr.
&
773/755-5100.
www.chias.org. Admission $7 adults, $5 seniors and stu-
dents, $4 children ages 3-12, children under 3 free. Free admission Thurs. Mon-Fri 9am-4:30pm; Sat-Sun
10am-5pm. Closed Thanksgiving, Dec 25, and Jan 1. Free trolley service from area CTA stations and parking
garages on Sat-Sun and holidays 10am-6pm Memorial Day to Labor Day; visit the museum website for route
information and schedule.
10 Kid-Friendly Tours
If you want someone else to organize your sightseeing, by bus or by boat, you're
in luck: Chicago has a number of experienced companies that provide just about
any kind of itinerary you can imagine.
ORIENTATION TOURS
Chicago Trolley & Double Decker Company
All ages.
Chicago Trolley
Company offers guided tours on a fleet of rubber-wheeled “San Francisco-style”
trolleys that stop at a number of popular spots around the city, including Navy
Pier, the Grant Park museums, the Museum of Science and Industry, Lincoln
Park Zoo, and the cluster of theme restaurants in River North. If you can bear
the touristy-ness of it all, you'll find that the tours are fun and informative, espe-
cially if you get a good driver. You can stay on for the full 1
1
⁄
2
-hour ride or get on
and off at each stop. The trolleys operate year-round, but in the winter you won't
need to bundle the kids in snowsuits: The vehicles are enclosed and heated in the
chilliest months. The same company also operates the Chicago Double Decker
Company, which has a fleet of London-style, red, two-story buses. The buses fol-
low the same route as the trolleys; if you buy an all-day pass, you can hop from
bus to trolley at any point. You can buy tickets online or at any of the stops.
&
773/648-5000.
www.chicagotrolley.com. All-day hop-on, hop-off pass $20 adults, $17 seniors, $10 chil-
dren 3-10. Family package (2 adults, 2 children) $54. Daily 9am-5pm (until 6:30 Apr-Oct).
Gray Line
Ages 8 & up.
Part of a company that offers bus tours worldwide,
Gray Line Chicago offers professional tours in well-appointed buses. Most tours
run 3 to 4 hours, so this is recommended only for kids who will sit for that long.
Tours include lunch and feature highlights of downtown or various neighbor-
hoods; some tours also include a cruise on Lake Michigan or a visit to the Sears
Tower Skydeck. You'll also find some more intellectual offerings, including
Chicago and the Civil War and Literary Chicago.
27 E. Monroe St., Suite 515.
&
800/621-4153
or 312/251-3107. www.grayline.com. Tours cost $35-$60.
CHICAGO ARCHITECTURE FOUNDATION TOURS
Chicago is the first city of architecture, and the
Chicago Architecture Founda-
tion (CAF),
224 S. Michigan Ave. (
&
312/922-3432,
or 312/922-TOUR for
recorded information; www.architecture.org), offers first-rate guided programs,
led by nearly 400 trained and enthusiastic docents. The foundation offers walk-
ing, bike, boat, and bus tours to more than 60 architectural sites and environ-
ments in and around Chicago. The foundation also has another tour center in
the John Hancock Center, 875 N. Michigan Ave. Below is a sampling of the
tours the foundation offers.
BY BOAT
Perhaps the CAF's most popular tour is its 1
1
⁄
2
-hour
Architecture River Cruise,
which glides along both the north and the south branches of the Chicago River.
