Day 1 You'll See:
- Chicago Neighborhood Tour
- The Art Institute
- Willis Tower Skydeck
Day 2 You'll See:
Day 3 You'll See:
This fabulous 3 day educational adventure serves up a big bite of top Windy City highlights with an itinerary sure to spark the imaginations of student groups of all ages! You’ll visit Little Italy, Greektown and China Town, zip up to Willis Tower’s Skydeck for the thrill of a lifetime, enjoy a stop at popular Navy Pier, hike the famous Magnificent Mile luxury shopping district, enjoy a fabulous sightseeing cruise on Lake Michigan and more!
1
Chicago Neighborhood Tour
Near Westside’s Little Italy and Greektown and Near Southside’s Chinatown each deserve a place at the top of every Windy City itinerary! You and your young itinerants will marvel at each neighborhood’s distinct architecture, popular landmarks and points of interest and ooh and ahh over samplings of delicious specialties tendered by local bakeries and restaurants; "mangia tutti cosi"…eat everything… and love life! A variety of guided tours direct you to all the neighborhood highlights, each tendering an unforgettably immersive cultural experience!
The Art Institute of Chicago
Next stop on your three-day educational adventure: The Art Institute - the museum Trip Advisor has named #1 of 305 Chicago attractions! It continually outranks every museum on Earth, holding fast to the majestic title of top Museum in the World! This spectacular Windy City attraction is home to more than 300,000 pieces of incredible art including the famous “American Gothic” painting by Grant Wood and Claude Monet’s “Stack of Wheat.” In addition to its world-renowned permanent collections, the museum hosts 30 rotating exhibitions and hundreds of gallery talks and performances each year; the building itself is a breathtaking architectural gem –an absolute must-see!
Willis Tower Skydeck
Skydeck offers spectacular views across four states, an exhilarating, one-stop experience jam-packed with interactive exhibits, and capped off with the piece de resistance - The Ledge, a glass balcony extending four feet outside the 103rd floor of 1350-foot Willis Tower! Have your photo snapped with the giant “103”, explore the city on a touch-screen tour, enjoy a fascinating short movie detailing the Windy City’s rise to the top of the architectural world and then – if you dare – step out onto The Ledge for unsurpassed views of Chicago from every angle!
2
Museum of Science and Industry
Rise and shine! Every day is a perfect day to round up your young travel partners and head to the Museum of Science and Industry, the largest science museum in the Western Hemisphere and the second largest cultural attraction in Chicago - another must-see, showcasing over 2,000 fantastic exhibits. You’ll encounter an unbelievable diversity of amazing, awe-inspiring things – like a recreation of a working, deep-shaft bituminous coal mine, the Swiss Jolly Ball - the largest classic pinball machine in the world, a genuine WWII Stuka dive bomber and the U-505 submarine that terrorized the American and Allied ships on the Atlantic until she was captured off the Coast of Africa in 1944.
Navy Pier
Navy Pier, Chicago's popular lakefront playground and the Midwest's foremost leisure destination, features fifty awesome acres of parks, promenades, gardens, shops, eateries and attractions -something for everyone. Grab your group and go for a spin on a fifteen-story Ferris wheel, take a delightful turn on the old-fashioned carousel, hit the links for a little mini golf or catch a cool 3D thriller at the IMAX® Theatre. Get lost in Amazing Chicago’s funhouse maze, hop a tour boat departing from the South Dock and browse Family Pavilion’s unique retail shops for that one-of-a-kind Chi-Town souvenir! Summertime on the Pier brings spectacular twice-weekly fireworks shows perfectly synchronized to music on Lake Michigan; Navy Pier - “The People’s Pier”- has it all!
Shoreline Sightseeing Water Tours
These classic 40-minute Lake Michigan boat tours let you experience the wonderful Windy City’s stunning skyline and points of interest from out on the water as friendly, knowledgeable guides dish engaging and informative commentary on Chicago’s colorful history and important lakefront architectural landmarks.
Chicago’s Magnificent Mile
Out-of-this-world shopping, fabulous dining, top-notch accommodations and plenty of historic sites - including the Chicago Pumping Station and a water tower that survived the Great Chicago Fire – await student groups hoofin’ it on this prestigious stretch of Chicago’s Michigan Avenue, world-renowned for its unbelievable diversity of upscale attractions and points of interest. Come spring, hundreds of thousands of colorful tulips burst into bloom in the Mile’s tree-filled median planters, while the "Gardens of The Magnificent Mile" festival welcomes summer to Chi-Town. Wonderful seasonal events draw the crowds year-round, and the world's leading retailers - Bloomingdale's, Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue, Nordstrom, and Barneys New York – keep them shopping. Luxury boutiques abound here, and designers, too - heavy hitters and industry standards, alike; three “urban shopping centers” tender all the traditional mall trappings along with plenty of unique attractions and entertainment- Magnificent Mile style.
3
Millennium Park
You’ll kick off the final day of your exciting Three-Day Educational Excursion with a tour of this extraordinary 24.5 acre public space situated atop a parking garage on the world-renowned Loop District! It’s Chicago's definitive modern showplace – a popular destination and gathering spot/events venue for locals and visitors, alike. Stunning architecture, world-class artwork, breathtaking landscape design, fantastic concerts and more share the spotlight in this remarkable park in the heart of the Windy City. The Jay Pritzker Pavilion, Cloudgate (a reflective sculpture shaped like a gargantuan silver legume, aptly nicnamed “The Bean”), beautiful Lurie Garden and ultra-cool Crown fountain are imperatives on any Chicago sight seeing agenda; outstanding photo ops right here – especially in front of Cloudgate!
Field Museum
At the Field Museum, your student group will encounter the awesome mammals of the Ice Age, journey deep into the damp, dark bat caves of Kenya, explore the mysterious world of Haitian Voodoo, come face to face with Sue - the largest Tyrannosaurus Rex ever excavated, descend into an ancient Egyptian tomb and shrink to the size of a bug to explore microscopic worlds! Would you like to cook your evening meal on a Pawnee fire pit? Do you think you could navigate the deep, blue Pacific in an outrigger canoe the way the Islanders do? Just what is a turtle ant? Serving up a heaping, 4.6 billion year helping of “life” under one roof, Chicago’s amazing Field Museum has been enlightening, entertaining and inspiring curious guests for more than a century! P.S.: have you heard the hair-raising, bone-crunching story of the man-eating lions of Tsavo? Would you like to?
Shedd Aquarium
This final stop on your fabulous 3-Day getaway is a true Windy City treasure, and the world’s largest indoor aquarium, to boot! In the Oceanarium, you and your group are a rapt audience as skilled trainers guide their enthusiastic dolphin charges through a repertoire of leaping dives, tail walks and other slick tricks! A trip to Shedd’s Caribbean Coral Reef at once amazes and delights – you’ll observe divers feeding lumbering nurse sharks, vicious barracudas, hawksbill sea turtles and other ravenous residents impatiently awaiting a fresh fish lunch. The “Wild Reef-Sharks at Shedd” experience lets you and your group “bump shoulders” with sharks and other dastardly denizens of the deep - albeit through the “safe” barrier of a floor-to- ceiling window - while “Jellies” grants you a privileged peek into the world of these mesmerizing, fragile predators. There’s just so much to see, you’ll wish you had days to mingle with the fishes - and their friends.