The 7 Best Chicago Walking Tours
“The Windy City is known for its interesting architecture and landmarks, its deep-dish pizza and specialty hot dogs and its many loyal sports fans. However, getting a real feel for Chicago can be difficult if you only hit the main attractions or you spend your entire trip in a single neighborhood. To gain a local's perspective, book a guided walking tour. Factoring in both traveler sentiment and expert opinion, U.S. News selected these seven tours as the best walking tours available in Chicago.”
15 of the best walking tours in the U.S.
“Whether you're in the big city or out in the countryside, one of the best ways to get an up-close-and-personal look at your surroundings is on foot. Perhaps that’s why walking vacations and tours are so popular. They give travelers a chance to get some exercise, learn new things, see interesting and inspiring sights, and maybe even make a friend or two. We’ve gathered up 15 of the best walking and hiking tours across the United States, including multi-day luxury tours, city tours that last just a few hours, and back-to-nature guided hikes. So, slip on your most comfortable walking shoes—it’s time to hit the road.”
Celebrating Leadership: Meet Chicago’s Female Entrepreneurs
“What inspires you?” “I am inspired by people who are naturally curious, who live life with a wonder about the world around them — and I am inspired by people who discover that curiosity in themselves after having it buried or nearly snuffed out over the years. I am inspired by people who encourage expression in all its forms, and I’m inspired by people who eagerly listen to and validate others’ expression. I’m inspired by creative people, and by people who are able to add a little bit of their own angle to what we notice in the world around us.”
Meet Hillary Marzec of Inside Chicago Walking Tours
“Hillary, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.” “A grad school mentor of mine once told me that I’ll always be teaching — maybe not in a classroom, but in some capacity. It’s who I am and it’s what I do well. I had never considered tourism as an avenue for a teaching career, but once I got involved in it in 2008 — my first job in tourism was as an architecture river tour guide — it opened up a whole new world of possibilities to me, and I’ve been moving forward on this path confidently and happily ever since.”
7 Unique Things to do in Downtown Chicago
“Known as The Loop, Downtown Chicago is at its most vibrant during the week when it hums with professionals going about their working days. But whereas weekends were once deathly quiet, in recent times the district has come alive out of office hours too. The vast green expanse of Millennium Park, in the heart of downtown, is the scene of some of Chicago’s finest outdoor cultural events, including high-profile musicals and art shows, while several new residential towers now house the city’s large student population who bring….”
December Is The Perfect Time To See Chicago, Local Tour Guide Says
“Chicago’s peak tourism season has come and gone, but local tour guide Hillary Marzec still wants to take you inside some of the Loop’s most stunning buildings. Marzec runs her tour business, Inside Chicago Walking Tours, out of a Rogers Park office and calls herself a Downtown ‘architecture nerd.’ For years, Marzec gave architecture tours via river boat but branched out on her own to ‘help people see the details up close,’ she said.”
Walking Tour Business Born out of Switch from Academia…
“Headed down an academic track, Hillary Marzec took a Chicago architectural one instead. With a bachelor's in French and master's in comparative literature — both from the University of Illinois — the Lincoln Square resident was working on a doctorate in the latter when she decided that life wasn't for her. Instead, she channeled her language skills and background as a Chicago boat tour guide into starting her own city touring business: Inside Chicago Walking Tours.”
Editor’s Corner: How an online boat tour of Chicago architecture matters for tech
“Can you or another engineer tell anybody what a logic gate is or what binary means as the essence of today’s computing? I’d bet that Marzec could do a good job explaining all that, because she’s a communicator and would be willing to figure out how to study it and explain it. A good communicator isn’t necessarily a successful data scientist or programmer. Are you going to invent something amazing and not be able to explain it?”
