Chicago Museums Guide: The Art Institute, Field Museum and More

Chicago's museums fall into two clusters, which makes planning simple. The Art Institute sits on its own at the edge of Millennium Park. The Field Museum, the Shedd Aquarium and the Adler Planetarium share the Museum Campus on the lakefront, a twenty-minute walk south. Further south, in Hyde Park, are the Museum of Science and Industry and the new Obama Presidential Center. Most charge admission. Buy tickets online to skip the queues.

The Art Institute of Chicago

One of the great art museums of the world, and the one we'd prioritise if you only have time for one museum. With two or three hours, see:

• Georges Seurat's A Sunday on La Grande Jatte, made of millions of tiny dots.
• Edward Hopper's Nighthawks, the late-night diner scene.
• Grant Wood's American Gothic, smaller than most people expect.
• The Impressionist rooms, with Monet's haystacks and water lilies.
• The Thorne Miniature Rooms, tiny, astonishingly detailed period interiors, on the lower level.

Renzo Piano's Modern Wing holds twentieth-century art and a footbridge over the street into Millennium Park.

The Field Museum

Natural history on a grand scale. SUE, one of the most complete Tyrannosaurus rex skeletons ever found, has her own gallery, and Máximo, a cast of a vast titanosaur, fills the main hall. The ancient Egypt galleries include a tomb you can walk through.

Shedd Aquarium and Adler Planetarium

The Shedd is the most popular of the three, with a Caribbean reef, beluga whales and a view of the lake, and the queues to match. Book a timed ticket. The Adler, at the end of a peninsula, is smaller, but the path out to it gives the best skyline view in the city, free.

The Museum of Science and Industry

Housed in the Palace of Fine Arts from the 1893 World's Fair, with a captured German submarine, U-505, and a replica coal mine you ride down into. It's a huge hit with children and needs half a day. Combine it with the Obama Presidential Center, a short walk away across Jackson Park.

Planning

Don't try to fit more than two in a day. Illinois residents get free days at several museums, which makes them busier, so check the calendars. For how the museums fit around the rest of your trip, see our 3-day itinerary and the things to do list.