What a phenomenal service! If you're visiting Chicago, I can't highly enough recommend signing up (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! read more

Jack was informative, passionate and energetic through the tour. We got to see places that I wouldn'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! read more

Our greeter, French-speaking Marietta was absolutely fantastic. My family was visiting from France and we spent the afternoon with our guide. Her knowledge of history and architecture is phenomenal as is her French. Thanks to Marietta, we discovered treasures of Chicago's architecture and learned so much about its history. I highly recommend Marietta to anyone from a francophone country! read more

This is such a special experience that we've only found in Chicago! What a warm welcome to this beautiful city. They paired us with the perfect greeter, Kathleen, who showed our little family around the Loop and Millenium Park, sharing insightful insider stories along the way. She and her son even played a round of minigolf with us in Maggie Daley Park! Definitely a treat and a must-do for Chicago newbs. read more

This is such a fantastic program because you get to take a tour of the beautiful city of Chicago for FREE! It's a program where people from Chicago kindly volunteer their time to show you around their city. How cool is that? You basically go to their website and fill out the registration form. It asks what parts of Chicago you'd like to visit and vuola! Then someone contacts you within a week of your tour. Our volunteer took us to Millennium Park, the gold coast, and finally finishing at the Lincoln Park zoo. The volunteer services also gave us an all day CTA (bus or subway) pass for FREE. Along the way our volunteer Ellen provided us with a brief history of the city, buildings, parks, etc. It was a lot of walking but well worth the site seeing and it's architectural history. Overall, I would definitely recommend this FREE service tour. read more

Chicago Greeter - Cloud Gate in Millennium Park - Tours Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

Thanks to Yelp, I stumbled across this amazingly awesome Free tour option for my recent trip to Chicago. Yes, I said Free!! There are two different kinds of tours, from what I understand. There are InstaGreeter tours that happen at specific places and times throughout the city. Or, if you are anal and plan ahead and just can't stand to be spontaneous while on vacation (like me), you can go on the web page and register for a personalized Free tour. You do need to fill out a questionnaire with specifics about your trip (dates, ages of people, number in your party, interests, etc). We were so blessed to have an awesome guide named Mark. A few days before our trip he emailed and asked specifically what we wanted to do and see. I asked for a tour of the loop highlighting architecture and history. I also mentioned that we thought seeing some of the mansions in the Gold Coast area would be cool. I was expecting a quick rundown of some highlights around the loop, but no, it was an almost 3 hour tour just there. And then he produced a 1 day pass for the subway for each of us and away we went to the Gold Coast. It was by far the highlight of our weekend! What really blew me away was that our guide didn't even take the tip we offered him. He's working strictly on a volunteer basis. How cool is that? It really was Free! Also, when we asked how long he had been doing it our jaws dropped when we learned we were only his second tour! He was just so personable and knowledgeable. If you're going to Chicago and have time for a tour (and I'm sure they don't all have to be over 4 hours like ours was) please check this out. And ask for Mark. He rocked. read more

I'm so happy was able to get a tour with a Chicago greeter. Especially my greeter Joanne because she was so informative and has such a great love for her city. This tour of Chicago is something I will always remember and recommend to anyone that is traveling to the area. I also loved the Chicago Cultural Center and how inviting it is to the tourist and residents that visit. read more

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Look this up online the night before and was not able to do the full tour it has to be booked 10 days in advance. Did the Instatour , just show up and cannot tell you how amazing it was! First of all complementary which is awesome! Really awesome! Secondly, our guide was knowledgeable and approachable. We did the Riverwalk tour, and only had two others so it was almost like we had a private tour. Cannot recommend this enough! read more

We had so much fun with our Chicago greeter Adrian. It was great to hear the history of Chicago from a lifelong native and a great storyteller. Our Chicago greeter experience far exceeded our expectations and we wholeheartedly recommend Chicago greeters and especially greeters like Adrian that accommodated our requests and brought us to Hyde park. Thanks so much Adrian! #chicagogreeter #mychicagopix read more

Chicago Greeter - Tours Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

We met with our greeter Alan Robinson in Chicago today and had so much fun. Learned so much about Chicago we would have never known on our own. Got to go on the Train to China town, boat ride from China town to Michigan Ave. Saw so much architecture and learned so much.... thank you so much Alan, would totally recommend Alan on your visit to Chicago! read more

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I loved everything about my tour. Chinatown was my 3rd choice & my purpose in taking the tour was to learn about the neighborhoods I'm looking to move into (you know hear from a local then make my move). Well MS. JUDITH was a HUGE delight. She knows her stuff. She's got connects & treated me like a welcomed guest in her home (but we were in the City). I was late due to the parking - she even gave me a choice of a) Chinatown or (b) New Chinatown --- after explaining the difference. Can't wait to do it again. She apologized profusely for not being able to provide me with a Bronzeville tour but la dee dah - she was great with what she knew. Gotta respect honesty! I am sooo grateful they have this program. read more

Amazing and FREE! Decided to try the greeter tour, on the website very easy to plan a tour in advance. Very private tour, not a grouped tour was awesome! Our tour guide, Pam, was so great! We toured Chicago at literally the most crowded day of the year right before the st. Patrick's day parade. Pam was great at avoiding the crowds, taking us to the lesser known sites, and giving us fun facts! Overall a very comprehensive tour of art and history! We ended at the art institute where Pam used her membership to get us in for free! We got way more than we would've expected from even a paid tour! read more

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We had the very good fortune of taking a wonderful walking tour with Sherry on the Friday after Thanksgiving. While we knew Chicago, having had a child in graduate school there and another child having lived there, Sherry showed us places and told us history that we never knew! As a native of Chicago, her love and knowledge was apparent and infectious. A must for anyone living or visiting Chicago! read more

We stumbled upon this free tour while planning our trip and boy am I glad we did! Our tour guide Allen was amazing! We were interested in architecture and he was so full of knowledge and stories. My nephew (14 y/o) thoroughly enjoyed the tour as well (he didn't even take out his phone because he was so interested in Allen's stories and knowledge!). Thank you so much for an amazing tour today!!!! read more

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It's a great place to stop and visit during a vacation. Absolutely breathtaking! My son and his girlfriend were blown away!

Who doesn't love free stuff? ..... ....... *crickets*............. *crickets* Well, listen up, Chicago Greeter is your best deal in the Windy City. If you book at least 10 business days in advance, they'll assign you a free guide to show you the best of Chicago. You can customize the route based on your interests and get a local's view of the city. We were assigned the lovely Gail, and we emailed back and forth for a while to figure out the itinerary. It was so nice of her to take time out of her Mother's Day to take us around. We covered Lakeview, Wrigleyville, Uptown (including Argyle Street, which was the original request), and Andersonville. Lakeview's hipster feel reminded us of Silverlake; we even stopped at Intelligentsia. The rooftop private clubs by Wrigley Stadium were fascinating. Gail showed us Uptown's charm (you do have to try hard to see it) and we really enjoyed the cool antique/furniture stores in Andersonville. If you're a procrastinator and missed the 10-day deadline, there are Instagreeters at the Chicago Cultural Center who will show you around the loop, yes for free. read more

FREE. Yes, Free. We had John give us an hour walk in 2hrs. He said when the hour was up and told folks that needed to leave that they should head on out but he'd continue talking until either he was done or no one was there to listen. Such great stories of the history of Chicago. He grew up on the streets and could really make us see and feel the bygone days. Not only did he take us to and into the buildings in downtown Chicago, he had photos to help illustrate his points. Quick pace. Lots of beauty. Lots of history. Lots of great stories. Free. Chicago Greeters rock! read more

"If it's free, it's for me!" For this reason, & the great Yelp reviews, I decided to check this out. I'm somewhat new to the area, so I wasn't really sure of what to plan for my family's upcoming visit. With Chicago having so much to offer, I thought this sounded like the perfect way to kick things off. When you schedule a tour through the website, you fill out a short survey. It's filled with questions about what your interested in getting out of the tour. How amazing, right? Not only do you get your own personal tour guide, but they cater the tour to your own personal interests! I definitely recommend this to anyone interested in learning more about the area. I wish more cities offered this program! read more

We took our tour with Tom N., he's without a doubt an awesome person, he truly like to do those tours, and he knows a lot about the city... I also liked that he was open to change every aspect of the tour I wanted to change, and I could give him my opinion. We enjoyed the tour!. Beside it's free!. read more

Such a great experience! Paul, our tour guide, was the best! I just moved to the city and wanted to get acquainted with everything. Paul talked to us about our interests and decided what we "had to see" and led the way. He was so friendly and knowledgeable - he even knew the "best hot-dog joint in town," so we could stop and have lunch as well as showed us some of the less-traveled spots so I knew a place or 2 I could visit once I got all settled in. It was fast-paced and so personalized. The confirmation email said the tour would be anywhere from 2-4 hours...we ended up walking around the city for well over that, Paul said as long as we weren't tired or had to go, he was around to give us a great tour of Chicago. I would always recommend this :) read more

I highly recommend! Where else can you get a free, walking tour of a place of your choice/interest in Chicago? Not only that, but the tour guides they set you up with are not only knowledgeable and fun, but also very passionate about what they do. I had reserved a time/date and had a tour guide all to myself. We walked everywhere, saw beautiful sights and I learned a LOT about the city. Definitely gave me more appreciation for Chicago and helped me to "see" things I would have usually skipped over. I definitely recommend taking this tour toward the beginning of your Chicago trip. I did and I think that helped me to enjoy my trip even more. Cheers to the city of Chicago for supporting such an amazing service! read more

Outstanding program that is actually FREE. Totally unbelievable! I found this while doing research on TripAdvisor and other sites and saw that this was a volunteer program where locals gave up their time to show visitors parts of Chicago that they were experts in. I noted that I wanted to learn about the Chicago Fire, street food and architecture/skyline, which is exactly what we got with our greeter. We met up with our greeter at the Cultural Center. It was a rainy day which really got us down but our greeter was gung-ho about showing us around. We navigated the transit system with him and he showed us what we wanted to see. Tours generally can last up to 4 hours; our greeter had suggested showing us northern Chicago suburbs (where he lives) but we were also headed towards the Museum of Science and Industry so it would've been out of our way. We spent approximately 2 hours with our greeter touring the market, as well as chatting about Chicago history. We thoroughly enjoyed our time with our greeter and would definitely recommend this service to any visitors. I am told that there are greeter programs in a lot of the big cities in US and wish I had known about it when we went to New Orleans! read more

I wish more people knew about this service. The volunteers do an amazing job! I have been on the Hyde Park tour with my mother and we had the absolute best time! She still mentions little tidbits about what we heard and saw. It was a really fun (and free!) afternoon. I also have used the Instagreeter service to walk around downtown. Not as heavy on the history as CAF, which can be a good thing sometimes(I can say this because I have a BA in History!). I had a great time walking around downtown and seeing some details I never would have noticed otherwise. These tours really are informative, fun and more relaxed than the other (not free) tours. You learn a lot and walk away with a smile on your face. What could be better than that? read more

Hands down one of the highlights of the weekend! Since it was marathon weekend, of course they had lots of requests. I didn't receive confirmation until two days before that we had a greeter available. Unfortunately, they had the wrong date. But luckily I was able to work something out directly with our greeter. Nancy took us around Chicago for about two hours. After inquiring about what interests we had, she took us all the city from the river, ending at Millennium Park. We stopped in hotels, stores, businesses, and parks. She shared so much of Chicago's history and essence of the city and its people. Despite having run the marathon just the day before, we could have followed her around the city for hours. I can't wait to do it again! read more

We had the great pleasure of being greeted by Mr. Dave, who took us to millennium park and was very knowledgeable on the famous architects and families that shape the cities buildings and sculptures. Overall, it's was a great start to our trip and was the perfect launching pad to get us going. We also took a trip to Lincoln park. Awesome place. Definitely recommend this service and these greeters who really show their love for their city. Thanks Mr. Dave. Your the best!!!!! read more

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I'm sure that, once on the tour, it is wonderful and the guides are excellent and really know their stuff. However, you are not allowed to book a tour unless you give them an address. So if you don't know where you are staying 10 days in advance, you're SOL. I sent a booking request the requisite 10 days in advance and let them know a few dates and times that worked for a tour. I gave my number, my boyfriend's number, and my email for confirmation, but they wrote back and said they needed an address or I couldn't book. I said I didn't know yet if we were staying at a hotel or with a friend, but they could easily email or call to confirm whenever they wanted. Not good enough. The booking agent told me that, because their guides are volunteers, they didn't want to waste anyone's time if we weren't going to show up. I said it's a false equivalency to assume that just because I don't know my exact accommodations yet that I wasn't planning to come. Logic did not prevail here, so we're going with another tour group that isn't planning to ring the bell to make sure we're actually in Chicago (we are, had deep dish pizza at Lou Malnati's last night, yumm-o). read more

I can't praise this enough. Tom was a wonderful guide who has a ton of knowledge about the history of the city.

I recently took a Chicago Greeter tour with out of town guests and discovered our Greeter who provided us with a great tour was not paid ! I Researched Choose Chicago that is employer of the Chicago Greeters I found out some very shocking news. The president earns a salary over $500,000 and is supported by a large paid staff with a budget into the millions. The purpose of the organization is to increase revenues for tour related industries including filling for profit hotels, convention centers, retailers and increase tax revenues. Choose Chicago uses free tours and free labor to fund those tours to support revenue generation. This organization exists for the sole purpose of increasing revenues for Chicago and business. So why is Choose Chicago using free labor to fulfill its for profit, revenue focused business? Choose Chicago should pay its help ! read more

we decided to book a greeter on a whim, even if it sucked it would be a funny story. but it was AWESOME and FREE! our greeter was a college aged girl named Kim. she knew a lot of back story and history about different monuments and storefronts. we walked all over the place but the tour was so enjoyable that we didnt even realize how far we had walked and we're surprised how fast 2 hours passed. also, they give you a free day pass in case you need to ride the bus as part of your tour. read more

We loved Brian!!!! So thankful we did this on our first day! Brian really knows his stuff and basically gave us a very informative tour! Totally exceeded my expectations!! We toured hyde park and university of Chicago!! Loved the walk so much and because of this tour, me and my husband are now considering to move in Chicago! He has answers to every single thing you can think of! Oh so cool and super fun! He didn't mind a coffee stop. We felt so comfortable and we are so thankful to Brian for making our labor day weekend so fun and memorable :) read more

i would like to thank our greeter Susan a lot. She really did a great job. She took us to the Loop of chicago city, showed us more than 10 different architectures and told us a lot about the history. Thanks very much to her and we really learnt a lot. She was so nice! read more

This was such a fun experience! I was introduced to the city in such an amazing way. Elaine was absolute perfection! We had a architecture/history tour of the loop. She was so knowledgeable about the city. I only wish I was able to stay in chicago longer so I could go back to all the incredible places she showed my boyfriend and I. read more

This is a great service that offers free walks to visitors. Check them out at www.chicagogreeter.com for more information!!!

A Chicago must-do... A free guided tour by a native Chicagoan! Very knowledge, fun and interesting ... And all for FREE! Joe was fabulous- and seemed to literally know everyone in Chicago! read more

While we both live in the North Side of Chicago, my friend and I stumbled upon the Instagreeter website and were excited to be tourists in our own city. We recently made it to the Saturday Hyde Park tour--Brian was our amazing, personable, well-informed greeter! While I can't speak for each group's experience with a greeter, the concept is great and the hour or so is an appropriate length to get a snapshot of any neighborhood in such a walkable city. With just the two of us, Brian was beyond attentive to making sure we saw and learned about personal points of interest in a neighborhood that we don't really get down to often. He was open, friendly, and we felt like he'd never run out of information! So easy to talk to and full of personal experience that helped bring the area's history to life. Even with the grid system, I still find myself lost here and there. Brian knew the streets well and led us back to stores we had mentioned interest in, giving us recommendations for further exploration as we walked. Awesome experience all around. We'd absolutely take the opportunity to walk a neighborhood with a greeter again (especially if it was Brian!) Thanks, Chicago Greeter! read more

This was one of the best experiences I've had with a "tour" in the many cities I've visited. I have to say I was a bit nervous about meeting someone randomly for the first time and have them take us around the city but Larry was an amazing guide. The way he catered our tour to our wishes was amazing. He offered us a very different view of a great city and gave us an insider's knowledge of things you would have probably just walked past. I've recommended this and Larry to everyone I know who is going to Chicago. read more

Our guide Nancy was a true 8-decades of Chicagoan and amazing. It was sweltering hot and she was able to keep us indoor/underground for the most part while still giving us interesting tidbits. We saw some beautiful mosaic work, enjoyed a river view and tasted some chocolate. Lastly, she shared with us beautiful view of skyline from her private residence's rooftop. We would highly recommend requesting for Ms. Nancy if possible! read more

We toured the city and it's beautiful architecture with Larry this past weekend and had a great time. He has a wealth of knowledge on just about everything in the city, enjoys what he does, and we learned so much from him. Much more fun than a cookie cutter tour you'd find from a big company for $$. Highly recommend. read more

The Chicago Greeter program, located in the Cultural Center, is great. The best part about it is that greeters are volunteers and they have an excitement and passion for the city that is remarkable. I believe that weekends get busy (I got lucky when I came unannounced on a weekend) so I would advise calling ahead. read more

I took a tour of Millennium Park with the instagreeter. This was totally free and a wonderful tour. Our volunteer guide was engaging and knowledgable. I learned about the history of the park and the surrounding areas in a way that was very interesting. Again, this is free. What a wonderful service. I can't wait to recommend this to my friends who travel to Chicago. read more