Chicago to Sandusky & A Touch of Toledo

Chicago is a beautiful city with sights all around, museums, art, and spectacular views await you!

Duration

8 Days /7 Nights

Group size

Customizable

Customization

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Price

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Highlights Include:

Ferry Ride
Bay Tour
Heineman Winery
Antique Car Museum
Dockside Dinner
Millennium Park
Tommy Gun's Garage
Field Museum of Natural History
Aquarium
Planetarium
Art Institute
Water Tower Place
Architecture Tour

Day One:

Arrive and check-in to your hotel.
Enjoy dinner included at a local favorite for hand-cut steaks, lobster tails, & other upscale American dishes served in a traditional restaurant.

Day Two:

Enjoy breakfast at the hotel then depart in Miller Ferry and arrive at Put-in-Bay (South Bass Island). There are caves, wineries, trails, and Perry’s National Monument. Enjoy Put-in-Bay Tour by Train, an ideal way to see the Island. Sites include: Heineman Winery, Perry’s Cave Family Fun Center, Perry’s Victory & International Peace Memorial, and Lake Erie Island Nature and Wildlife area.
Stop at Heineman Winery, founded in 1888 by German immigrant Gustav Heineman. Lake Erie islands are noted for quality grapes as a result of ideal soil conditions and the long growing season because of the tempering effect of Lake Erie. Enjoy the Narrated Island Tour!
Enjoy lunch on own at Put-in-Bay.
Those who wish may visit the Antique Car Museum at Perry’s Cave Family Fun Center. This antique car collection was lovingly gathered by Charles “Skip” Duggan. Skip started the Sunday afternoon antique car parades and welcomed everyone with an antique and/or vintage car to join in the parade and fun. Every Sunday afternoon, island car owners gather at the old Twine Shanty on Langram Road., just north of the Miller Boat Line Lime Kiln Dock.
Around 2:00 p.m., the parade starts and tours the entire island. Children crowd the downtown sidewalks waiting for candy to be shared with the crowd. After the parade, island car owners and/or business owners take turns hosting the post-parade party.
Depart via Ferry back to Lakeside Chautauqua. Arrive on Mainland and return to hotel.
Enjoy dinner included at a low-key, waterside locale offering typical American fare such as steaks & seafood, plus an outdoor patio & bar. Return to hotel.

Day Three:

Enjoy breakfast at the hotel prior to checking out.
Arrive in Chicago, meet GUIDE for a City Tour. See Millennium Park with spectacular views of the skyline for photos!
Embark on a Historic Treasures of Chicago’s Golden Age tour. Learn about the great architectural landmarks of Michigan Avenue and State Street, with glimpses inside beautiful buildings from the 1890s-1930s.
Highlights include the dazzling interiors of the Palmer House Hotel and the Chicago Cultural Center. After the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893, Chicago was determined to become a great cultural and commercial metropolis.
Visit the Auditorium Building, referred to as “The greatest room for music and opera in the world – bar none” by Frank Lloyd Wright. Go behind the scenes of this National Historic Landmark, built by Dankmar Adler and Louis Sullivan, and view it as few do. Enjoy the radiant 24-karat gold-leafed ceiling arches, hundreds of Sullivan’s beautifully restored intricate stencil patterns, ornate gilded and bas-relief designs, and the endless floor and wall mosaics and murals by Charles Holloway and Albert Fleury.
Enjoy dinner and a show at Tommy Gun’s Garage, including American dining with an interactive gangster & flapper show in Prohibition-themed speakeasy digs. Depart and check-in to your local area hotel for the evening.

Day Four:

Enjoy breakfast at the hotel. Visit the Field Museum of Natural History.
The Field Museum was incorporated in the State of Illinois on September 16, 1893 as the Columbian Museum of Chicago with its purpose the "accumulation and dissemination of knowledge, and the preservation and exhibition of objects illustrating art, archaeology, science, and history." In 1905, the Museum's name was changed to Field Museum of Natural History to honor the Museum's first major benefactor, Marshall Field, and to better reflect its focus on the natural sciences.
In 1921 the Museum moved from its original location in Jackson Park to its present site on Chicago Park District property near downtown where it is part of a lakefront Museum Campus that includes the John G. Shedd Aquarium and the Adler Planetarium. These three institutions are regarded as among the finest of their kind in the world and together attract more visits annually than any comparable site in Chicago.
Enjoy lunch on own while at the museum. Visit Shedd Aquarium. Opened in 1930, it is one of the oldest public aquariums in the world with a rich history. Visit the Art Institute of Chicago, founded in 1879 and located in Grant Park. It is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the United States, recognized for its curatorial efforts and popularity among visitors, including Trip Advisor’s #1 Chicago attraction.
Enjoy dinner included at a creative spot tonight, with wide-ranging American style food, brown booze, sake & tons of beers in a subterranean space. Depart and return to hotel.

Day Five:

Enjoy breakfast at the hotel then visit the Shedd Aquarium, opened in 1930, it is one of the oldest public aquariums in the world with a rich history.
Enjoy lunch on own then explore during a walking tour of The Magnificent Mile which is the northern part of Michigan Avenue between the Chicago River and Lake Shore Drive. Chicago's version of the Champs-Elysees in Paris: a grand wide boulevard with exclusive shops, museums, restaurants, and ritzy hotels.
Architectural landmarks like the John Hancock Center and the Tribute Tower can be found in abundance along the avenue, as well as the Water Tower Place, a tower with more than 100 shops, theaters, and restaurants. The oldest building along the Magnificent Mile is the Old Water Tower. The tower was built in 1869 and its castle-like architecture looks a bit out of place in this modern high-rise district. One of the lone survivors of the Chicago Great Fire in 1871, the building symbolizes Chicago's resilience. Thanks to all the landmarks, the wide and beautiful boulevard and the avenue's great vistas, at the south end bordered by the Michigan Avenue Bridge and at its northern end by Oak Street Bridge, the Magnificent Mile is a unique street that you shouldn't miss on your visit to Chicago.
Aboard Chicago’s First Lady for the city’s official architecture tour. Led by the Chicago Architecture Center's knowledgeable and expertly trained docent volunteers, the cruise reveals fascinating stories behind Chicago's majestic buildings in a way no other tour can!
Dock and visit 360 Chicago Observatory, in the John Hancock building with a tilting glass lookout 1000 feet up!
Depart and return to hotel for a free evening and dinner on own.

Day Six:

Enjoy breakfast at the hotel. Tour the Frank Lloyd Wright Home & Studio, a historic house designed by architect Frank Lloyd Wright that has been restored to its 1909 appearance, which was the last year he lived there with his family.
Guided tour of Historic Oak Park Neighborhood, the world’s largest collection of Wright-designed buildings, on a 60-minute walking tour featuring exteriors of a rich selection of architecturally significant buildings supplements by archival photographs. Lunch on own in Downtown Oak Park. Visit Unity Temple, a Unitarian Universalist church designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and built between 1905 and 1908.
Next tour Ernest Hemingway’s Birthplace Museum, where the author was born and lived the first six years of his life. Depart and return to hotel.
Enjoy a Farewell dinner included at Ditka's Restaurant Oakbrook Terrace. Upscale restaurant & bar serving steaks & American fare in a space filled with football memorabilia.

Day Seven:

Enjoy breakfast at the hotel prior to checking out.
Enjoy lunch on own in Downtown Toledo. Visit the National Museum of the Great Lakes, in the Toledo Maritime Center, a heritage location on the banks of the Maumee River. Learn about the incredible story of our Great Lakes through over 300 genuine artifacts, a number of powerful audiovisual displays, and 40 hands-on interactive exhibits including the Col. James M. Schoonmaker Museum Ship.
Check-in to your local area hotel.
Next enjoy a Tasting Tour and dinner included a Brewing Company. Dinner is on site and known for fine dining in an atmosphere of timeless elegance, offering the finest cuts of prime aged USDA meats, fresh seafood, and much more. Served on the 2nd floor of a historic building.
Depart and return to hotel.

Day Eight: