The tour we took was a set up get pictures for his website. It was an odd tour, not memorable or…read moreinteresting. The Expedition used was not comfortable for the last seat passengers, there were no snacks or beverages. I would not recommend Chicago Signature Tours for a tour of more than 2 or 3 people. THE OWNER OF THIS COMPANY, MY EX-FIANCEE HAS THREATENED ME IF I DON'T TAKE THIS DOWN. THE STATEMENTS ARE TRUE, BUT I AM AFRAID OF HIM. Please tell me how to take this down.

A tour of Chicago with Alan Katz of Chicago Signature Tours is an extremely entertaining and…read moreenjoyable experience during which you will learn more about Chicago than you ever knew before, regardless of whether you are a native Chicagoan or a tourist to the fair city. Alan picked us up in one of the cleanest most comfortable vehicles I've ever been in. Our tour spanned 4 hours and took us from west to south and back north along the shores of Lake Michigan. We stopped along the route to walk to famous landmarks and hear engaging accounts of the people who built Chicago with fascinating details of downtown buildings like the Tribune; of landmark statuary in our parks; of the University of Chicago and Robie house; and how the World's Fair changed the entire face of the lakefront. Alan has stories and history for every neighborhood. If you are a native you might want to chat about the neighborhoods you grew up in, because it's likely he remembers more about them than you do! It's like reminiscing with an old friend. But anyone from anywhere can ask him questions about an area you are passing through and he will educate you to its history. Alan made us feel safe and secure with his expert driving, never venturing into any area that might make us feel uncomfortable, and all the while keeping us completely hooked into the changing cityscape around us. It was amazing how many times I said "I didn't know that!"! A tour like this would be great to take out of town guests on, since they are small, intimate, and encourage interaction. But even if you've lived here all your life, you will thoroughly enjoy a tour with Chicago Signature Tours!

Guide was distracted by protest, and was constantly apologizing for being able to give a proper…read moretour since we were unable to access most sites due to road closures. Even the guide recommended that we ask for a refund since he was unable to give his normal tour. Despite the company's satisfaction guarantee, they refused a refund.

Great tour. Our tour guide Carrie was very knowledgeable and friendly. We really enjoyed the tour!read more

This was my first time in Chicago, and although I couldn't stop by a game during my trip, I had to…read morecheck out this historical field with a Wrigley Field Tour. This tour was super informative, and our guide was engaging. We booked this tour online for about $30 and picked a desired time slot. Once we arrived at the field, we entered the gate as directed, scanned our ticket, and went through security. We cut it short and barely caught the start of the tour. It starts off with walking up the stairs and seeing the field. The field was like no other and felt smaller than other stadiums. During this tour, we also went to left field and took a picture with the Ivy, went into the visitors' locker room, and went to the announce box up top with an amazing view. If you are visiting Chicago, I 100% recommend this tour; the facts you learn aren't boring but unique. Some of them quite surprised me, like this was the first field to allow you to take a ball back home or even start the pledge of allegiance for all sports. I wish I remembered the tour guide, but you can tell he is very passionate about the Cubs and loves his job. Like what! Lastly, if you show your ticket to stores and bars nearby, you can get a discount! Enjoy!

We had a best time on this tour. Stumbled on this while visiting Gallagher Way. It was very sunny…read morefall day and we wanted to be outside. We saw that they were conducting tours of the field and scurried over to grab tickets. We got the last few available for our time slot. The tours are very intimate. We probably had about 30 people on our tour. Our tour guide was great. Very passionate about baseball and this stadium. We learned a lot of facts about the second oldest standing baseball field. We also learned about Chicago businesses that help sustain this field over the decades. My favorite part was probably being next to the ivy. I also like chilling in the visiting guest locker room. While the room was small it was also very cozy and the seats were soft. All in all it was cool seeing the pressbox and also the organ. Yes they still using a real musical organ. I recommend this tour for anyone that loves stadium, sports or history. It was worth every penny and can't wait to catch a baseball game soon.

Jack was informative, passionate and energetic through the tour. We got to see places that I…read morewouldn't have expected on a free tour. For example, the domes of Chicago cultural center and the inside of the Palmer house. Also tours are capped at 6 people so it was a very intimate experience. Highly recommend taking his tour!

What a phenomenal service! If you're visiting Chicago, I can't highly enough recommend signing up…read more(well in advance - at least 10 days or a couple of weeks if you can) for a completely FREE tour with a local volunteer. There's no catch - it's truly, genuinely free. The guides don't even accept tips, let alone ask for them! And the Greeters organization provides the guides with free public transit tickets for guests and greeters to use. You can request what sorts of things you'd like to see, and the greeters are flexible. I visited Chicago in August (this is a belated review!), and was matched with Lowell. I had a day to kill after my work event ended, and arranged to meet Lowell downtown on a Sunday. I stashed my backpack with Vertoe (like Airbnb for bags!), and Lowell spent *literally* the whole day with me - from noon when we met until he joined me for dinner at the Chicago Diner (BEST vegan food in town) and I headed off to the airport. (This was above and beyond; Greeters usually spend 2 - 3 hours with guests.) It was an absolute blast! We saw a ton of interesting buildings (and hidden cool views), rode the L train all around the city, saw the amazing Chicago cultural center, visited the bridgehouse museum, took a water taxi ride, and rode bikes on the 606. Lowell even knew where to find free public restrooms! (If you have a choice of day, try to pick a day other than Sunday, as many of the interesting buildings are closed to the public on Sundays.) Lowell was so knowledgeable about architecture, Chicago history, and the like that someone who overheard him talking to me on our water taxi ride asked him what tour company he worked for - she was a tour guide herself, and hadn't heard some of the info he was telling me. I'd been to Chicago a couple of times before this, and my greeter tour helped me really see the city in a new light. I can't recommend it highly enough!

Did you know that the idea for the Bean and Millennium Park was conceived in a Dentist Chair? When…read moreMayor Daley was seated in an appointment with a view of the rail yard across the street, inspiration hit him more intensely than the dentist's drill! Thus what is essentially a roof over an old rail yard and parking lot is a cool space for Bean selfies and summer music concerts. Did you know that the downtown Chicago Macy's- nee Marshall Fields - has floors that were once retail that are now offices? There's a small church at the top of one of the skyscrapers that's an actual functioning church with masses and all! I found Colm's tour through the Bonvoy app and had the opportunity to reserve a spot for Friday at the beginning of the Vacation part of my trip. My only regret is that I didn't get to take a picture with someone so friendly and knowledgeable of his city. The couple of facts at the introduction are just some of the interesting facts I learned about such a historic city. He also had a guidebook with "before" pictures of a lot of the sights. We also had a nice surprise on our tour, as what was just supposed to be an architectural tour of city hall turned out to be the going away ceremony for Mayor Lightfoot. I also had the chance to see the various levels of tunnels in the city, and beautiful public art (including the Flamingo and Picasso sculpture by the government building. Besides getting to know about Chicago, I was more than able to meet my Apple Watch fitness goals for the day :) I would highly recommend that if you're in Chicago you take this fun and educational walk.

I loved it! The tour was not just about beautiful places in Chicago, but also he shared some…read moreinteresting stories about every place we visited that made the tour 100 times more interesting and memorable!

We enjoyed seeing the sights with Chris as a knowledgeable guide! He puts together an experience…read morethat works best for the things you want to see and your schedule! A truly unique experience.

Chris has a unique perspective and fun-loving nature that's totally infectious once you hop in his…read morechariot! Get ready for some fun times on wheels with his crazy and customizable tours!

In addition to composing captivating articles about overlooked/disappearing Chicago history, the…read moresavvy twenty-somethings running the Forgotten Chicago Web site have also recently begun hosting tours of the city. I have attended the last two FC tours, both of which were only a $5 "donation." The tours typically cover areas that aren't given much attention by other Chicago tour groups. The first tour I attended followed the trail of old Ogden Ave, and the second tour wove a meandering path on the south side from Chinatown to the ITT campus. These tours are quite different from those given by the Architecture Foundation. FC tours aren't as polished as the AF tours, but it doesn't matter because FC takes you places that you would have never otherwise known existed. On the south side tour, for example, we explored the vacant Michael Reece Hospital grounds, which was eerie at times. And how else would I have found the tiny memorial commemorating the first softball game (yes, it is located in the middle of a nearly deserted hospital campus - strange). The tours cover a lot of ground, so be prepared to do some walking. The south side tour covered about 4 miles, but every place we stopped was well worth the trek. This is not your grandma's walking tour. FC's tours are also growing in popularity. It is a great way to meet others with similar interests, and the guides always welcome input from the group. Large groups can make it difficult to hear, so make sure to get close to the guides at each stop. Once you try it, you'll want to go to every one.

What, you wanted a Frank Lloyd Wright architecture tour? Or, you were hoping to hear some juicy…read moregossip about Al Capone? Try a different tour group. These guys are neighborhood historians, and have their own nerdy, niche interests in Chicago history. You will find out a lot about the history of retail and industry in a particular area. In addition to the standard neighborhood history overview, they'll point out some interesting ghost sign, or an abandoned train entrance that tells a forgotten tale about the city. That being said, maybe not the best choice for an out-of-towner--you know--someone who doesn't know that a Mike Bilandic plaque is worth a chuckle.

We have enjoyed Secret Food Tours in several cities and we were looking forward to the Chicago…read moreexperience! I have to add that we completely mixed up our travel plans and were only able to join this tour for the first half, so my review is based on this. Our tour guide, Danny, was informative, patient, and determined to share not only the food of Chicago but the history, characters and charm as well. We met at 11:30am for the tour and he waited until all participants had arrived. If you are late, he will text or call to make certain you can join the group. David began the tour with some history of the Harold Washington Library, where the tour began, and a trip to visit the Vietnam Memorial in the 3rd floor and a quick bathroom stop before we made it over to our first stop at noon for a slice of deep dish. It was very good and apparently the recipe for the crust came from the chef who had worked at Uno first. Hmmm. Our next stop was from some Chicago caramel and cheddar popcorn. We had time to duck on for a quick purchase as well! Danny was really helpful in that he rushed a bit to allow us to make it to the Chicago dog stop. Yay! Qe left the tour after this, but can highly recommend Danny and his tour. He not only shares Chicago treats, but history and interesting facts!

The first thing that struck me about this tour was our guide Eliot's bizarre and purposefully…read moreoff-putting behavior. For a food tour, we were given a rather extraordinary amount of personal information on they/them upfront. After about six minutes of painful emotional prodding during an all-together confusing summation of they/their time attempting a career as a comedienne at second city, Eliot stopped the tour inexplicably for a long and lingering moment by the Obama family's top literary picks to explain Chicago's diversity-rich history to us. We didn't receive any food for another 45 minutes afterwards. Somehow, the tour still ended almost an hour early. When receiving my pizza slice, I shot Eliot a rather confused glance and they/their response still has me perplexed. "MY tour differs greatly from the script that I've been given," they said curtly. I said nothing at all before or afterwards. In my opinion, this was strange when speaking to a customer while all the others could easily hear. Between the stops, Eliot didn't talk to the guests at all and instead studied their reflection in the windows which is very strange behavior for a tour guide of any kind. Also, the food that one is given on the food tour totals about $30, so one essentially pays $49.99 to be toyed with for a few hours. I'll walk myself up and down Jackson Blvd next time (which comprises the entirety of the food portion of the food tour) and avoid the nonsense next time.