Chicago Walking Tour: The Magnificent Mile

This was an excellent tour of the Magnificent Mile area, and I highly recommend it to anyone. Our docent, Tony, was so informative and made the tour really interesting. I learned a ton about architecture in the neighborhood and really enjoyed getting to see some of the details that I’ve missed. Go on this tour!

Very fun and informative. Would highly recommend!! Our guide was full of information and answered all our questions.

Rebecca was amazing tour guide and taught us so much. She’s so into Chicago and very smart and she was amazing

The docent was very knowledgeable and friendly. I really enjoyed the walk. Lots of history at the Magnificent Mile.

Amazing! Rebecca was our tour guide and she was absolutely fabulous! We learned so much about Chicago architecture and history. Rebecca was very engaging and extremely informative- we highly recommend the Magnificent Mile tour for anyone visiting or residing in Chicago. You’ll have a great time and learn a lot!

Just amazing, learned a lot. Who knew that Wrigley started as a soap company? Who knew that two of the buildings are brand new but the city forced them to keep the facade? Go and learn...

The unenthusiastic and seemingly bored cashier at the reception desk whom we encountered on two days (first for the walking tour, then to purchase tickets for the boat tour a few days later) could use an attitude adjustment. She is the first point of contact for this organization, and she was unfriendly both times, staring at us as we approached the cash (no one else in line so it wasn't busy) without saying a word until I actually said "hello". Call me old-fashioned, but I worked many years in retail and we were taught that something along the lines of "Hello. Welcome! How can I help you?" might actually suggest that you enjoyed your job and were happy to see someone enter. First day I asked some basic questions about what we would see on a specific walking tour that was coming up in an hour. "I wouldn't know" she answered, as if it was a little out of line for me to imagine that the person working at the reception desk might be able to answer questions about a tour they offer. She called up the tour description on the website and read it to us word for word. Would it be too much to expect that a worker there is actually familiar with the tours they offer each day? I realize there are a lot of tours here, but if I was a manager, I would ask the staff to actually take the tours so they could then describe them for customers. That kind of "welcome" tends to just put me off of a whole organization. We bought tickets anyway for the upcoming Magnificent Mile tour, even if we were made to feel she was doing us a favor by selling tickets. The tour itself was very interesting, and the volunteer who led it knowledgeable and a lot more enthusiastic than the cashier was. We enjoyed seeing the exteriors and interiors of a few buildings, including the Cultural Centre and Palmer House, a beautiful old hotel with a stunning lobby bar. A few days later we did the river tour. We also enjoyed that tour and the volunteer guide, but at $55 per person, it's not cheap, and we later discovered we could have saved $15 per person if we had taken the Wendella tour boat, which at certain times also goes out onto the lake as long as weather permits, for a great view of the skyline. For three of us that would have been a savings of $45 US, which with current conversion rates is about $60 Canadian. Not a small amount if there is a group.

As the other tours from the Chicago Architecture it was a great tour and gave valuable insights about the buildings along the Magnificent Mile and their history.

Having taken other CAC tours, this one was as expected: excellent! Our docent Mitch gave a 1 1/2 hour walking tour along both sides of Michigan Ave in the Magnificent Mile. We learned why it’s called that, what it looked like (and smelled like!) before, and how it has changed since Burnham and Bennett first conceived of “Paris on the Prairie.” The tour explains the history, the character and glances at the future of the architecture in this high-end retail/residence/hotel Mecca. We kept moving but it wasn’t a long walk. It’s a fairly compact area. We enjoyed it very much.

A great interesting tour. Time well spent. One of many CAC tours we have taken. Enjoy the fact that the docents are well informed commuted volunteers who love Chicago’s history and architecture.

Highly recommend this tour. Our guide Tim was knowledgeable and was very kind and fun to be with! We learned so much and the experience delivered more than expected!

It was a great experience to walk through the city street, beautiful building which is a symbol of great architectural work, side walk plantings attract my eyes particularly and the shops are an attraction too.