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1893 Chicago World's Fair Walking Tour with Bars

Grab a few drinks while experiencing incredible architecture, historical stories of turn-of-the-century Chicago, and visual scavenger hunts.
Duration 2.75 hours
Private tour pricing from 58 USD per person
Group tour available in English
We attended the 1893 Worlds Fair Tour with Bars and Food. I thought I knew the city well, but my wife wanted to take the tour. Our tour guide, Amanda was extremely knowledgeable, kept our group entertained, moving along, and I learned a great deal about Chicago. Some of our interior tours included building I had spent time in, and in each case, she showed me things I had not seen or known about. The included food and drink was sufficient to count as dinner. We will be taking some of their other tours in the future. The 3 hour tour flew by.

Highlights

Admire colourful mosaics in a hotel built for the 1983 World’s Fair

See the sweeping grand lobby of the Auditorium Building

Ride one of the last elevators downtown with a human operator

Sample delicious German food at the Berghoff Restaurant

Pass downtown Chicago's last remaining pre-Chicago fire building

Visit the opulent Chicago Athletic Hotel, once an exclusive men's club

Description

1893 World’s Fair Tour Overview
This very special walking tour digs into how and why the 1893 World’s Fair captures imaginations more than any other event in Chicago history. Unlike other World’s Fair tours and Devil in the White City tours, which likely revolve around facts and trivia, you’ll dig deeper on this downtown tour. You'll visits some of the few remaining and spectacular buildings from the time of the World’s Fair, also known as the World's Columbian Exposition. The fairgrounds themselves were south of downtown, but you can best see the impact of the fair in the Loop.

On this walking tour, you will eat a couple light snacks and we'll play a few educational games with prizes for the winning team. Plus, you can opt to get drinks (on you), too!

You can think of this 2.75-hour-long walking tour as being 5% outdoors, 95% indoors, 20% clue-based games and visual scavenger hunts, 10% drinking time, and 100% awesome historical tour time. We know the math doesn’t add up – we hope you get the idea!

Link to a map of the meeting point:
http://www.chicagodetours.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/1893-worlds-fair-bar-walking-tour-meeting-point-1.pdf

What’s included & not included

Professional tour guide

Shared iPads with historical photos

Game prizes and gifts

One small snacks

Reservation Does Not Include: Drinks: At the tour meeting spot

we welcome you to get a drink at the bar before check-in. To streamline the tour

we take your order and cash for your second drink at check-in ($8 for beer

$10 for wine

includes gratuity). At the third drink stop

you may independently purchase a beer

wine

or cocktail of your choice. Dietary restrictions: one small snack is included. We may be able to accommodate vegetarians. If you are gluten-free

dairy-free

or have other allergies

we cannot make substitutions. Tour guide gratuity.

Meeting point

Congress Plaza Hotel, 520 S. Michigan Ave.

Reviews from travelers (3)

5.00/5
Delightful way to tour the city
We attended the 1893 Worlds Fair Tour with Bars and Food. I thought I knew the city well, but my wife wanted to take the tour. Our tour guide, Amanda was extremely knowledgeable, kept our group entertained, moving along, and I learned a great deal about Chicago. Some of our interior tours included building I had spent time in, and in each case, she showed me things I had not seen or known about. The included food and drink was sufficient to count as dinner. We will be taking some of their other tours in the future. The 3 hour tour flew by.
1893 Tour... Bravo!
As I spend most of my free time in the area this tour takes place in, I always appreciate new ways of seeing the seemingly familiar. This tour brought back a flood of memories for me and gave me access to buildings I've entered, yet never explored in depth. Amanda our guide, was a fact machine! As an avid follower of all things Chicago vintage (blogs etc), new facts and tales are always welcome. I never knew the Berghoff had such delicious chili, another added bonus of course! Looking forward to jumping on some of this company's other offerings down the road. This tour is a fun and engaging way to start one's exploration of Chicago.
Chicago World's Fair of 1893 Tour
Amanda, our tour guide, really knew her history. She did a lot of research in order to put this fascinating tour together. Walking along and inside historical monuments, you'll learn how they connected to the1893's world fair, and developed afterwards. With the help of an iPad pictures are shown from the archives to illustrate the times and places we're informed about. Some nice games, played with your fellow walkers, give the right amount of distraction to keep you fresh and on your toes since it relies on your new found memories. The food and drinks are consumed in the most beautiful bars I've seen in Chicago (and will make you want to return there later on). So, a very good choice if you're looking for some fun & informative hours.
Chicago
Congress Plaza Hotel, 520 S. Michigan Ave.
+13123501131
info@chicagodetours.com
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