🇺🇸Chicago

Millennium Park

Millennium Park is a civic park built over rail infrastructure at the northwest corner of Grant Park. Its visitor experience is defined by Cloud Gate, Crown Fountain, Lurie Garden, Jay Pritzker Pavilion, Great Lawn, and BP Bridge.

• Must see
• Nature site

Field Museum of Natural History

Field Museum

Field Museum is Chicago's major natural-history museum, developed from World's Columbian Exposition collections. Its visitor experience is defined by Stanley Field Hall, Máximo, SUE, dinosaurs, evolving life, ancient Americas, Egypt, gems, and cultural collections.

• Must see
• Museum

Kenneth C. Griffin Museum of Science and Industry

Griffin Museum of Science and Industry

Griffin Museum of Science and Industry is a hands-on science museum in Hyde Park's former Palace of Fine Arts. Its visitor experience is defined by U-505, the coal mine, Science Storms, transport halls, genetics, farming, and the model railway.

• Must see
• Museum

Shedd Aquarium

Shedd Aquarium is a public aquarium on Museum Campus joining freshwater and marine conservation. Its visitor experience is defined by Caribbean Reef, Wild Reef, Polar Play Zone, Abbott Oceanarium, sharks, rays, otters, penguins, and Great Lakes ecology.

• Must see
• Family attraction

Chicago Architecture Center

Chicago Architecture Center is an interpretation center devoted to Chicago's buildings, engineering, planning, and design. Its visitor experience is defined by the Chicago City Model Experience, skyscraper galleries, neighborhood design, exhibitions, and guided tours.

• Must see
• Museum

Skydeck Chicago

SkyDeck Chicago Willis Tower

Skydeck Chicago is the public observation experience high in Willis Tower, completed as Sears Tower in 1973. Its visitor experience is defined by Chicago interpretation, high-level views in four directions, elevators, and The Ledge glass boxes.

• Must see
• Historic monument

Wrigley Field

Wrigley Field is a Major League Baseball stadium on Chicago's North Side, serving as home to the Chicago Cubs since 1914. It holds designation as a National Historic Landmark, recognizing its century-long role in American sports architecture.

• Must see
• Entertainment venue

Navy Pier

Navy Pier is a 1916 public pier extending from Streeterville into Lake Michigan. Its visitor experience is defined by promenades, Centennial Wheel, Chicago Children's Museum, theatre, gardens, cruises, restaurants, and seasonal events.

• Must see
• Historic monument

Lincoln Park Zoo

Lincoln Park Zoo is a free public zoo founded in 1868 within landscaped Lincoln Park. Its visitor experience is defined by large mammals, primates, African habitats, farm animals, birds, indoor houses, gardens, and Nature Boardwalk.

• Must see
• Family attraction

Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago

Museum of Contemporary Art

Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago is a contemporary-art museum founded in 1967 near Water Tower Place. Its visitor experience is defined by changing exhibitions, installations, painting, sculpture, media art, performances, commissions, talks, and public spaces.

• Must see
• Museum

Adler Planetarium

The Adler Planetarium is a public museum dedicated to astronomy and astrophysics.

• Must see
• Museum

Garfield Park Conservatory

Garfield Park Conservatory is a large historic glasshouse complex on Chicago's West Side. Established in the early twentieth century, it ranks among the largest conservatories in the United States.

• Must see
• Nature site

Chicago Riverwalk

The Chicago Riverwalk is a central riverfront promenade in downtown Chicago. It extends along the south bank of the main stem of the Chicago River, connecting the Lake Michigan shoreline with the confluence of the river's branches.

• Must see
• Nature site

360 CHICAGO

360 Chicago

360 CHICAGO is an observation deck located in the former John Hancock Center, a prominent skyscraper in Chicago, Illinois. The deck occupies a high floor of this distinctive building, offering visitors elevated views across the city and Lake Michigan.

• Must see
• Viewpoint

Chicago Cultural Center

The Chicago Cultural Center is a landmark municipal building in downtown Chicago, Illinois. Opened in 1897 as the city's first central public library, it was converted to an arts and culture venue in 1977.

• Must see
• Art and culture venue

Lincoln Park Conservatory

The Lincoln Park Conservatory is a historic glasshouse greenhouse located within Lincoln Park on the North Side of Chicago, Illinois.

• Must see
• Nature site

Grant Park

Grant Park is a large urban park located in the central lakefront area of Chicago, Illinois. It serves as a major public green space connecting several significant cultural and recreational destinations along the shoreline of Lake Michigan.

• Must see
• Nature site

Soldier Field

Soldier Field is a historic stadium located on Chicago's lakefront. The venue opened in 1924 and serves as a memorial to American soldiers who have died in wars.

• Must see
• Entertainment venue

Chicago Theatre

The Chicago Theatre is an iconic movie palace and live-performance landmark in Chicago's Loop district. Opened in 1921, it was originally a flagship venue for the Balaban and Katz theatre chain.

• Must see
• Historic monument

Chicago History Museum

The Chicago History Museum is the principal museum dedicated to the social and civic history of Chicago. Located in the Lincoln Park neighborhood, it serves as the city's primary institution for preserving and interpreting its past.

• Must see
• Museum

DuSable Museum of African American History

DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center

The DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center is a museum in Chicago dedicated to the history, art, and culture of African Americans. Founded in 1961, it is the oldest independent institution of its kind in the United States.

• Must see
• Museum

National Museum of Mexican Art

The National Museum of Mexican Art is a nationally important cultural institution located in Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood.

• Must see
• Museum

Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures

Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures Museum

The Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures is a museum operated by the University of Chicago. It houses major archaeological collections from West Asia and North Africa.

• Must see
• Museum

Robie House

Frederick C. Robie House

Robie House is a residential building designed by architect Frank Lloyd Wright in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood.

• Must see
• Historic monument

Cloud Gate

Cloud Gate is a public sculpture by British artist Anish Kapoor, installed in Millennium Park in Chicago.

• Must see
• Art and culture venue

Buckingham Fountain

Buckingham Fountain is a major Beaux-Arts fountain located in Grant Park, Chicago. It serves as one of the city's most recognizable landmarks and represents a significant example of early 20th-century American fountain design.

• Must see
• Historic monument

Humboldt Park

Humboldt (Alexander Von) Park

Humboldt Park is a 207-acre historic public park on Chicago's West Side and the centerpiece of the surrounding neighborhood. The park combines designed landscape, recreation, and Puerto Rican cultural importance.

• Must see
• Nature site

Promontory Point

Promontory Point is a man-made peninsula extending into Lake Michigan within Burnham Park on Chicago's South Side. Designed by Alfred Caldwell and completed in 1937, it was constructed with limestone blocks as part of the Works Progress Administration.

• Must see
• Historic monument

North Avenue Beach

North Avenue Beach is Chicago's most prominent central beach and an active lakefront hub. Located along Lake Michigan, it serves as a major recreational destination for residents and visitors.

• Must see
• Nature site

Montrose Avenue Beach

Montrose Beach

Montrose Beach is a public beach on the North Side of Chicago. It sits along Lake Michigan with adjacent natural areas that serve as bird habitat.

• Must see
• Nature site

Oak Street Beach

Oak Street Beach is a public beach on the Lake Michigan shoreline in Chicago's Near North Side. It sits directly below the Gold Coast neighborhood, one of the city's most affluent residential districts.

• Must see
• Nature site

Museum of Illusions

Museum of Illusions Chicago is an interactive attraction located in the Loop district, positioned among the city's established museum row. The venue specializes in perceptual and sensory exhibits designed to challenge visitor understanding of visual reality.

• Must see
• Museum

American Writers Museum

The American Writers Museum is a Chicago museum devoted to American writers and literary history. Located on the second floor of a building on Michigan Avenue, it uses interactive exhibits to introduce authors, movements, and works that shaped American literature.

• Must see
• Museum

Driehaus Museum

Richard H. Driehaus Museum

The Richard H. Driehaus Museum occupies the historic Samuel M. Nickerson House in Chicago's River North neighborhood. Built in 1883, this Gilded Age mansion exemplifies elaborate Victorian architecture and design.

• Must see
• Museum

John J. Glessner House

Glessner House Museum

Glessner House is a historic house museum located on Prairie Avenue in Chicago. It exemplifies the Richardsonian Romanesque architectural style and holds significant importance in the history of this once-prominent residential district.

• Must see
• Museum

Hull House

Jane Addams Hull-House Museum

The Jane Addams Hull-House Museum is a settlement-house museum located in Chicago, Illinois. It preserves and interprets the history of Hull House, founded in 1889 by Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr.

• Must see
• Museum

Henry B. Clarke House

Clarke House Museum is Chicago's oldest surviving house and a historic house museum in the Prairie Avenue Historic District. Built for Henry B. Clarke, the Greek Revival home preserves an early chapter of Chicago residential architecture.

• Must see
• Museum

Chicago Maritime Museum

Chicago Maritime Museum is a Bridgeport museum devoted to the waterways that shaped Chicago. Its story joins the Chicago River, Lake Michigan, and the Illinois and Michigan Canal, showing how water supported commerce, transport, work, recreation, and naval activity.

• Must see
• Museum

Chicago Children's Museum

The Chicago Children's Museum is Navy Pier's principal hands-on museum for children. Located on Chicago's lakefront at one of the city's most visited destinations, this institution serves young visitors through interactive exhibits designed for play-based learning.

• Must see
• Museum

Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum

The Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum

The Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum is a natural history museum in Chicago operated by the Chicago Academy of Sciences. It focuses on the nature and ecology of the Midwest region.

• Must see
• Museum

Pritzker Military Museum & Library

Pritzker Military Museum & Library is a Chicago museum and research library devoted to military history, the citizen soldier, and the relationship between military service and democratic society.

• Must see
• Museum

National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture

National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts & Culture

The National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture is a cultural institution located in Chicago's Humboldt Park neighborhood. It occupies the historic Humboldt Park stables and receptory, a building dating to 1895.

• Must see
• Museum

Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art

The Intuit Art Museum is a specialist museum in Chicago dedicated to intuitive and outsider art. It occupies a distinctive position in the city's cultural landscape by focusing on work created by self-taught artists operating outside the mainstream art world.

• Must see
• Museum

Smart Museum of Art

David and Alfred Smart Museum of Art

Smart Museum of Art is the University of Chicago’s art museum in Hyde Park. Opened in 1974, it was named for brothers David and Alfred Smart and developed as a teaching museum.

• Must see
• Museum

Renaissance Society

The Renaissance Society

The Renaissance Society is a long-running contemporary art centre at the University of Chicago. Founded in 1915, it is one of the oldest venues for contemporary art in the United States.

• Must see
• Museum

Hyde Park Art Center

Hyde Park Art Center is an independent nonprofit contemporary-art space and community arts hub in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. Founded in 1939, the center is one of the city's oldest alternative exhibition spaces.

• Must see
• Nature site

Michigan Avenue Bridge

McCormick Bridgehouse & Chicago River Museum

McCormick Bridgehouse & Chicago River Museum occupies the historic bridgehouse at the Michigan Avenue Bridge, now known as the DuSable Bridge, over the Chicago River.

• Must see
• Museum

Chicago Sports Museum

Chicago Sports Museum is an interactive downtown attraction devoted to the sporting life of Chicago. It brings together stories from the city’s professional and amateur teams and presents them in a format that invites participation rather than quiet gallery viewing.

• Must see
• Museum

Newberry Library

Newberry Library is an independent research library in Chicago, founded in 1887 and dedicated to rare books, manuscripts, maps, and other humanities materials.

• Must see
• Activity

Harold Washington Library Center

The Harold Washington Library Center is the main branch of the Chicago Public Library system. Named after Chicago's first African American mayor, it opened in 1991 and serves as the central library for the city.

• Must see
• Activity

Rookery Building

The Rookery

The Rookery Building is a historic commercial structure in Chicago's Loop district, designated a Chicago Landmark and listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

• Must see
• Historic monument

Monadnock Building

The Monadnock Building stands as a landmark commercial structure in Chicago's Loop district, recognized as an essential exemplar of the Chicago School architectural movement.

• Must see
• Historic monument

Chicago Board of Trade Building

The Chicago Board of Trade Building is a landmark skyscraper in Chicago's Loop district. Completed in 1930, it stands as one of the city's most recognizable Art Deco structures.

• Must see
• Activity

Tribune Tower

Tribune Tower is a historic neo-Gothic skyscraper located on Michigan Avenue in Chicago, Illinois. It served as the headquarters for the Chicago Tribune newspaper from 1925 until 2018.

• Must see
• Viewpoint

Wrigley Building

The Wrigley Building is a prominent office building and Chicago landmark located on the Near North Side, directly across Michigan Avenue from the Tribune Tower.

• High
• Activity

Marina City

Marina City is a mixed-use residential complex in downtown Chicago, Illinois, notable for its distinctive corncob-shaped twin towers.

• High
• Activity

Merchandise Mart

The Merchandise Mart is a massive Art Deco commercial landmark situated on the Chicago River. Completed in 1930, it was once the largest building in the world by floor area.

• High
• Market

Chicago Water Tower

The Chicago Water Tower is a historic water tower on Michigan Avenue in Chicago, Illinois. Built in 1869, it is one of the few structures to survive the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.

• High
• Historic monument

Holy Name Cathedral

Holy Name Cathedral is Chicago’s principal Roman Catholic cathedral and the seat of the Archdiocese of Chicago. It is an active place of worship as well as a significant Gothic Revival landmark in the city’s Near North Side.

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• Place of worship

Fourth Presbyterian Church of Chicago

Fourth Presbyterian Church

Fourth Presbyterian Church stands on North Michigan Avenue beside the Magnificent Mile, where Gothic Revival architecture meets one of Chicago’s busiest commercial corridors.

• High
• Place of worship

Old St. Patrick's Church

Old Saint Patrick's Church

Old St. Patrick's Church is a Roman Catholic parish in Chicago and one of the city's oldest surviving churches.

• High
• Place of worship

Second Presbyterian Church

Second Presbyterian Church is a historic landmark church in Chicago, Illinois. It was built following the destruction of the congregation's previous building in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.

• High
• Place of worship

Pilgrim Baptist Church

Pilgrim Baptist Church is a historic church building in Chicago’s Bronzeville neighbourhood, on the city’s South Side. The building joins two important stories: the architecture of Louis Sullivan and Dankmar Adler, and the development of African American gospel music.

• High
• Historic monument

Chicago Union Station

Chicago Union Station is a major intercity rail terminal in Chicago, Illinois. It serves as the primary hub for Amtrak long-distance and Midwest corridor trains, as well as Metra commuter rail services.

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• Historic monument

Auditorium Theatre

The Auditorium Theatre is a historic performance venue located within the Auditorium Building in Chicago, Illinois. It was designed by the renowned architectural firm Adler and Sullivan, with Louis Sullivan as the lead architect and Dankmar Adler handling the engineering.

• High
• Art and culture venue

Chicago Picasso

The Chicago Picasso is an untitled monumental sculpture by Pablo Picasso, installed in 1967 in Daley Plaza.

• High
• Art and culture venue

Crown Fountain

Crown Fountain is an interactive public art installation located in Chicago's Millennium Park.

• High
• Historic monument

Jay Pritzker Pavilion

Jay Pritzker Pavilion is a Frank Gehry-designed outdoor concert venue located in Chicago's Millennium Park. It serves as the park's principal performing arts space and is recognized for its distinctive architectural character.

• High
• Art and culture venue

Lurie Garden

Lurie Garden is a public garden within Millennium Park in downtown Chicago. Named for philanthropist Ann Lurie, it occupies the park’s northwest section and creates a planted refuge among the city’s buildings, public art, and busy pedestrian routes.

• High
• Nature site

BP Pedestrian Bridge

BP Pedestrian Bridge is a sculptural pedestrian crossing in Chicago’s Millennium Park, designed by architect Frank Gehry. The bridge spans Columbus Drive and links Millennium Park with Daley Bicentennial Plaza.

• High
• Activity

Maggie Daley Park

Maggie Daley Park is a large downtown recreation park in Chicago, Illinois. It adjoins Millennium Park and is named in honour of Maggie Daley, the former first lady of Chicago.

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• Nature site

Jackson Park

Jackson Park is a large public park on Chicago's South Side lakefront. Its landscape is closely associated with the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition, whose planning and legacy shaped this part of the city.

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• Nature site

Museum Campus

Museum Campus is a 57-acre park in Chicago along Lake Michigan, created in 1998. It connects three major natural history and science museums: the Field Museum, the Shedd Aquarium, and the Adler Planetarium.

• High
• Museum

Northerly Island

Northerly Island is a 91-acre peninsula and former airport site on Chicago's lakefront, converted into a public park and natural area. It extends into Lake Michigan south of the Museum Campus.

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• Nature site

Ping Tom Memorial Park

Ping Tom Memorial Park is a riverfront public park in Chicago's Chinatown. It brings open space, walking paths, lawns, trees, seating, and water views into a dense urban neighborhood.

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• Nature site

Bloomingdale Trail Park

The 606 is an elevated linear park and trail system on Chicago's Northwest Side. Built on a former railway embankment, it runs through several neighborhoods.

• High
• Nature site

Chicago Lakefront Trail

The Chicago Lakefront Trail is an extensive multi-use path running along the western shore of Lake Michigan. It stretches through Chicago's lakefront park system, connecting numerous neighborhoods and recreational areas.

• High
• Activity

Alfred Caldwell Lily Pool

The Alfred Caldwell Lily Pool is a restored Prairie-style pond and landscape located in Chicago's Lincoln Park. Designed by landscape architect Alfred Caldwell in the 1930s, this hidden gem exemplifies the organic architectural philosophy of the Prairie School movement.

• Notable
• Nature site

Oz Park

Oz Park is a neighbourhood park in Chicago’s Lincoln Park area, known for its public art inspired by L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.

• Notable
• Nature site

Garden of the Phoenix

The Garden of the Phoenix is a Japanese garden on Wooded Island in Chicago’s Jackson Park. It occupies the site of the Japanese Pavilion associated with the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition and stands near the Museum of Science and Industry.

• Notable
• Nature site

Graceland Cemetery

Graceland Cemetery is a historic landscape cemetery in Chicago. Established in 1860, it represents a significant example of the rural cemetery movement in American landscape design.

• Notable
• Place of worship

Rosehill Cemetery

Rosehill Cemetery is a historic burial ground located on the North Side of Chicago, Illinois. Established in 1859, it is the largest cemetery in the city of Chicago.

• Notable
• Activity

Pullman National Historical Park

Pullman National Historical Park preserves the historic Pullman district on Chicago's South Side. Established as a planned industrial community in 1880 by George Pullman for his railroad car manufacturing company, it represents a significant chapter in American industrial history.

• Notable
• Historic monument

Union Stock Yard Gate

Union Stock Yards Gate

The Union Stock Yard Gate stands as the surviving monumental entrance to Chicago's historic stockyards, once the center of the American meatpacking industry.

• Notable
• Historic monument

Chess Records

Chess Studio

Chess Records was a landmark American record company and recording studio on Chicago's South Side. Founded by brothers Leonard and Phil Chess, it became one of the most important labels in blues and early rock and roll history.

• Notable
• Museum

South Side Community Art Center

South Side Community Art Center (SSCAC)

The South Side Community Art Center is a historic Black arts institution located in Chicago's Bronzeville neighborhood. Founded in 1940, it is one of the only surviving centers established by the Works Progress Administration's Federal Art Project.

• Notable
• Historic monument

National Hellenic Museum

The National Hellenic Museum is a cultural institution located in Chicago's Greektown neighborhood. It is dedicated to preserving and interpreting the history, culture, and contributions of Greek people, with particular emphasis on the Greek diaspora experience in America.

• Notable
• Museum

Ukrainian National Museum

The Ukrainian National Museum is a cultural institution located in Chicago's Ukrainian Village neighborhood. It preserves and presents Ukrainian-American history and material culture for public education.

• Notable
• Museum

First United Methodist Church of Chicago

The First United Methodist Church of Chicago occupies the historic Chicago Temple Building, a distinctive skyscraper in downtown Chicago. Founded in 1831, it is the oldest church in the city.

• Notable
• Place of worship

St. James Cathedral

St. James Episcopal Cathedral

St. James Cathedral is an historic Episcopal cathedral on Huron Street in Chicago. It is the cathedral church of the Episcopal Diocese of Chicago, serving as both an active parish church and the seat of the diocesan bishop.

• Notable
• Place of worship

St. Michael's Church, Old Town

Saint Michael Roman Catholic Church

St. Michael's Church is a Roman Catholic parish church in Chicago's Old Town. Its strongest historical distinction is survival through the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, which destroyed much of the city.

• Notable
• Place of worship

Kinzie Street Bridge

Kinzie Street Bridge is a Chicago River crossing in the downtown area, carrying road traffic and pedestrians across the North Branch.

• Notable
• Activity

1893 Chicago Harbor Lighthouse

Chicago Harbor Lighthouse is a historic harbour light on a detached breakwater east of Navy Pier. Dating to 1893 and associated with the World's Columbian Exposition, it remains an active aid to navigation on Lake Michigan.

• Notable
• Historic monument

Green Mill Cocktail Lounge

Green Mill Cocktail Lounge is a historic jazz club in Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood. Its story reaches back to the early twentieth century, and the venue is closely connected with Chicago’s Prohibition-era nightlife.

• Notable
• Nightlife venue

Old Town School of Folk Music

The Old Town School of Folk Music is an influential folk-music school in Chicago. Founded in 1957, it has become one of the most significant institutions dedicated to folk music education in the United States.

• Notable
• Historic monument