What Are the Five Attractions Included in the Chicago Citypass

What Are the Five Attractions Included in the Chicago Citypass

The Chicago CityPASS includes Shedd Aquarium and Skydeck Chicago as fixed attractions, plus your choice of any three from these six: the Shoreline Architecture River Tour, the Field Museum, 360 CHICAGO, the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Adler Planetarium. The pass is valid for nine days from the first attraction you visit, and the publisher states the regular combined value at $288.90 for an adult, a saving of up to 50 percent.

That is the short version. The part most guides skip is the choice structure, because the pass is not really five fixed tickets. It is two fixed tickets plus a pick-three menu, and the menu is where the value lives or dies depending on what you actually want to see. The pass details come straight from the publisher's own comparison page, which lists every inclusion and the box-office values it bundles: the CityPASS comparison page.

Here is the full attraction list with what each one is, so the names mean something before you start choosing:

Two things worth knowing before you buy. First, the two fixed attractions sit at opposite ends of the tourist day: Shedd is on Museum Campus south of the Loop, and Skydeck is in the heart of downtown, so they pair naturally with a day that splits between the lakefront and the Loop. Second, the choice menu spans three very different formats, a boat, museums, and observation decks, so almost any itinerary can use three of them without forcing anything. Our overview of the full CityPASS versus Go City decision covers how this structure compares with the other passes sold for the city.

How Does the Three-choice Menu Actually Work?

You pick three of the six choice attractions when you arrive at each one, not when you buy the pass. There is no pre-commitment at purchase: you show the pass at the first attraction you visit, and from that day the pass runs for nine days. Each choice attraction can be visited once, and the pass publisher states you have one year from purchase to start using it. The three picks can be any combination of the six, including all three museums or none of them.

This flexibility is the single most misunderstood part of the product, so it is worth spelling out. You do not choose your three at checkout. The pass is a booklet or mobile credential, and each attraction you visit marks it. Decide on the fly, change your mind with the weather, and skip anything that does not fit the trip. If a rainy day kills the river cruise plan, spend that day in the Art Institute instead and the pass still works.

The nine-day window matters for pacing. A pass bought for a long weekend has slack in it, but a two-night trip needs the attractions clustered, and downtown Chicago makes that easy. Museum Campus holds Shedd, the Field Museum, and the Adler within a short walk of each other, and our Museum Campus guide lays out how to stack all three in one afternoon if that is the combination you pick. Skydeck, 360 CHICAGO, and the Art Institute all sit on or near Michigan Avenue, so the remaining picks can be walked rather than planned around transit.

The river tour in that selection deserves a note, because it is the only non-museum, non-deck item on the menu. The Shoreline Architecture River Tour is a sightseeing cruise, weather dependent, and it runs on a seasonal schedule, so a winter trip may find it limited or unavailable while the museums run all year. If you are traveling in the colder months, plan for the possibility that the cruise is not running and the pass still gives you five solid picks from the remaining menu. Winter travelers will find more ideas in our Chicago in winter guide.

One more structural detail: the pass bundles the upgraded Skydeck entry, not the base ticket. The Skydeck's own ticketing page shows general admission from $32 for adults and the expedited entry upgrade priced above that, and the pass publisher lists the Skydeck value it bundles at $69.00 per visitor: the Skydeck ticket page publishes those tiers. In practice that means CityPASS holders skip the general line, which at a deck this popular is worth as much as the dollar saving.

Is the Chicago CityPASS a Good Deal for Your Trip?

The pass saves money only if you would have visited at least four of the five attractions anyway, and the publisher's own math says the maximum saving is 50 percent against buying every ticket separately at $288.90 in combined adult value. The saving shrinks if you skip an attraction, use free-admission days, or only manage three visits in the window. For a relaxed five-attraction itinerary it is a genuine deal; for a loose two-day trip it often is not.

The honest calculation depends on what you would have paid at the gate, and the gate prices for the choice attractions vary widely. The Art Institute lists adult admission at $32 on its visit page, which is a live-read figure worth confirming before you rely on it: the Art Institute visit page publishes the current rates. The Field Museum's own pricing page lists adult admission at $30. 360 CHICAGO publishes general admission from $30 when bought online, with the gate price higher. Add the bundled Shedd and Skydeck values and the pass arithmetic becomes clear: five visits at full price comfortably exceeds the pass cost, four visits roughly break even depending on which four, and three visits usually lose money.

That last row is the trap most national coverage never mentions. The big museums on the choice menu run free admission days for Illinois residents, the Field every Wednesday, and the Art Institute on Thursday evenings, so a local planning around those days gets less from the pass than a visitor from out of state. Our free museum days guide lists exactly who qualifies for what, because these are residency benefits, not blanket free days, and an out-of-town visitor qualifies for none of them.

If the arithmetic is close for your trip, the practical move is to list the attractions you are certain about before buying, price them at the gate, and compare that total to the pass. The publisher's comparison page shows the full bundle values, so the check takes two minutes. Free cancellation terms on the live listing mean a pass bought ahead of a trip is not a locked-in commitment if plans change.

Shedd Aquarium is the fixed anchor of the pass, and its pricing explains why the bundle works. The aquarium sells date-based tickets to the general public, with the publisher's cross-check showing gate prices varying roughly $42 to $61 for adults, while Chicago residents pay a fixed $19.95. There is no standalone Shedd ticket on the booking platforms this site works with, which is itself a useful signal: the aquarium's cheapest realistic route for a visitor is a pass, and CityPASS is one of the two that include it. The details are on Shedd's plan-a-visit page.

What Should First-time Visitors Pick with the Pass?

First-time visitors get the most from choosing the Shoreline Architecture River Tour, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Field Museum as their three picks, because the two fixed attractions already cover an observation deck and an aquarium, and this trio adds the river skyline, world-class art, and natural history without duplicating anything. 360 CHICAGO is the pick to skip first, since Skydeck is already included and the two decks overlap heavily.

That recommendation comes down to duplication. The pass hands you Skydeck, one of the two famous observation decks in the city. Picking 360 CHICAGO as one of your three choices buys a second skyline view, which most first trips do not need, and our Skydeck versus 360 CHICAGO comparison walks through the differences if you are tempted by both. The river tour, by contrast, is the one experience on the menu you cannot get from a rooftop, and it doubles as the single best orientation activity in the city, a guided run through the downtown architecture with the skyline on both sides of the boat.

The Art Institute and Field Museum picks then round out the trip with indoor anchors that are weatherproof, which matters more than visitors expect. Chicago winters run long and cold, and a pass itinerary built entirely on decks and boats can collapse in a February snowstorm. Museums absorb the bad-weather days. Families with younger kids often swap the Art Institute for the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry instead, since its hands-on exhibits and the onboard U-505 submarine tour hold children's attention longer than galleries do, and the museum's own ticketing page lists those add-on tours at $18 for adults: the MSI ticketing page publishes the add-on rates.

One planning note on the Adler Planetarium, the sixth choice. It is a legitimate pick and it sits right next to Shedd on Museum Campus, but its exhibits are smaller in scale than the other museums, so it earns its slot mainly on an itinerary that is already spending a full day on the campus. The planetarium's own visit page lists adult admission starting at $25.00, which is the number to weigh against using a pass slot there versus buying it separately and saving the slot for something pricier. Visitors weighing the whole pass landscape against the alternatives can also read our breakdown at Best Things to Do in Chicago, which covers the CityPASS and its rivals across the site's attraction guides.

Common Questions About the Chicago CityPASS

what are the five attractions included in the chicago citypass

Shedd Aquarium and Skydeck Chicago are always included, plus your choice of three from the Shoreline Architecture River Tour, the Field Museum, 360 CHICAGO, the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Adler Planetarium.

Do you have to pick your three attractions when you buy the pass?

No. You choose at each attraction when you arrive, and the nine-day validity clock starts at the first one you visit. You have one year from purchase to start.

How many days is the Chicago CityPASS valid?

Nine days, counted from and including the first day you visit an attraction. Each attraction can be visited once.

Is Shedd Aquarium included in the CityPASS?

Yes, Shedd Aquarium is one of the two fixed attractions, along with Skydeck Chicago. It is included at full general admission value.

Can the CityPASS be used in winter?

Yes, the museums and observation decks run year round. The Shoreline Architecture River Tour is the only seasonal item on the choice menu, so winter visitors should plan picks that do not depend on the boat running.

Does the CityPASS skip lines at Skydeck?

The pass bundles the expedited entry version of the Skydeck ticket rather than general admission, so holders use the faster entry route. The Skydeck's own ticketing page prices that upgrade separately for regular buyers.