The Chicago Architectural Foundation riverboat tour is an excellent one. There are many river tours but this one is led by docents who have been schooled on the many buildings along the river and pass on this information in a most interesting manner. The concierge at our hotel made a reservation for us which saved some line waiting, butn you still have to purchase your ticket at the tour office window. If you are staying at the Intercontinental Hotel on Michigan, the ticket office is only a block away. We have been on other river tours, they were nice rides, but the informative descriptions on this one made a big difference. They also give walking tours of some of Chicago's buildings. Their main office is 224 South Michigan Avenue.

This was the priciest trip we went on $32 Sat/Sun and holidays, $28 other times but was absolutely worth every cent. Access to ticket office and ship was via a staicase off the south end of Michigan Bridge. Weekends can be busy, we booked tickets at 12:00 and next sailing we could get on was 3:30. Sailing were every 30mins and lasted 90minutes in total. The time did not flag at all, we sailed up the Chicago river and took the North branch and then sailed back to the South branch before returning to the start via a journey to where it meets the lake. Even when moving back along the route the guides kept new information for each part of the journey. It was a wonderful 90 minutes and the views from river level were superb as was the commentary

We were recommended to take the river cruise by friends in Chicago. We were not disappointed - the skyline is amazing but meant so much more after we began to understand the different architectural styles. The guide was excellent, sharing her knowledge freely and with an open, friendly style. I would thoroughly recommend it to anyone remotely interested in architecture.

We took two tours on this trip:
1. The Historic Downtown (south loop) Rise of the Skyscraper tour. We really enjoyed this walking tour. The headsets you use make it very easy to hear the guide as you walk and tour. This tour was fascinating.
2. The Architecture River Cruise. We also really enjoyed this tour, but we have an architecture student among us. This is a very detailed, nonstop talking, tour. Our guide was amazing with all the information he provided. This tour could easily be overwhelming for children or those without a real interest in architecture, esp. at $32/ a piece. TIckets did sell out for the Saturday I had hoped to book, so we ended up going on a Sunday. You will have to plan ahead if you wish to be sure you have a spot. Also, I recommend arriving early to get in line for boarding. Those on the boat first get their pick of choice seating.