The Art Institute is about 10 minutes away on foot, and the Field Museum, Shedd Aquarium, and Adler Planetarium wait at the end of a lakefront walk.
Stay at the Congress and you can walk to four of Chicago’s best-known museums. Spend the morning with the Impressionists, have lunch at Rafael’s, and see the dinosaurs after.
The Art Institute of Chicago
About a 10-minute walk, at Michigan Avenue and Adams. One of the oldest and largest art museums in the country, founded in 1879, with famous Impressionist and Post-Impressionist collections. Look for the bronze lions on the front steps.
The Field Museum
About a 20-minute walk, on the Museum Campus. Natural history on a grand scale: dinosaur fossils, ancient Egypt, and millions of specimens in a classical hall on the lakefront.
Shedd Aquarium
About a 25-minute walk, on the Museum Campus. Thousands of animals from around the world, next door to the Field Museum at the edge of Lake Michigan.
Adler Planetarium
About a 30-minute walk, on Northerly Island. America’s first planetarium, at the tip of the Museum Campus peninsula, with one of the best skyline views in the city.
