Chicago River & Lakefront Boat Tours

Great tour, our guide was very friendly and knowledgeable. Me and my family got to learn a lot about the places we saw on the trip. The fireboat is a piece of history and art itself, as it was repurposed as a tour boat and works beautifully. There is no gasoline or diesel smell.

MICKEYS 70th It was a perfect fall day and we had an amazing boat ride! First, it is a decommissioned fire boat! Second, the tour not only incorporated history and architecture it also took us through the river locks. I could not have wanted for a better tour. The crew was friendly and did an amazing job! I would go again!

Fire boats are just as cool as fire trucks. 5 star tour AUSTIN was an amazing tour guide. He delivered the history and information in a fun and humorous way. With so many options for these tours being a volunteer firefighter i of course had to chose this one. I liked that it started in the lake and not in the river , Cool boat with cool memorabilia . Manny at the bar was great. This boat wasn't overly crowded which was nice. Some other boats are packed like sardines. I was hoping for a bit more fire storys but it was in fact an architectural tour. If you are in town go down and support these guys.

Lieber Austin, danke für die tolle Tour mit vielen Infos zur Historie der Stadt, Anekdoten und Witzen!

We had a wonderful time on this tour. The crew was very friendly and helpful. Our guide, Cliff, was great. He was informative and funny. It was very interesting to pass through the lock. We are glad we did this tour.

Don’t miss this tour. It’s small, informative, and great information about the city while riding Well worth your time for a unique view and education about the city. The tour was extremely informative about Chicago’s architecture and history. You get a tremendous view of the city while riding on a historic fireboat. As a former firefighter, this was a real treat. The narration, Captain, and crew were top notch.

Super cool fireboat. the guide, Austin, was super funny and told a lot of interesting facts. My 12 year old loved all.

Book the 5pm tour Wow what a tour. These guys are incredible they really enjoy doing tours and have so much awesome information to put out. The boat was so clean and had tons of the fire boats history on it. Although since I was running a marathon two days after when I did my tour I didn’t enjoy the full bar but it was stocked to the max with anything to keep your thirst in check. The kids on board got little fire hats and got to play with pump sprayers which I thought was very cool. I had never been to Chicago or even knew to much about the history esp of the river but you leave knowing a ton. I recommend the 5pm tour. One the way back as the sunsets the views are amazing. It’s also nice to support a very well run veterans company.

Fun and Informative! Great Experience! Super informative the the views are beautiful! The guide was great and very funny! Learned a lot about Chicago and the added experience of the fire boat and fire history was great!I liked that there were tables and you could get a beer and enjoy the ride.

Very informative tour! We were impressed with the wealth of information. Also, it was fun to be on a historic fire boat. Great 2 hour trip on the lake and river.

Hello y'all, I do not know the owner or any of the crew. My wife and I took a river tour last weekend on their decommissioned fire tug. The dock was easy to get to, and it is in a nice area of the riverfront. It's easy to find, look for moored white and blue ship. It is huge, and the only one you can not miss it. Walk past it on the same pier and you will see the red fire tug. There is also a crewman that is at the entrance of the pier before the tour starts hawking rides. The tug is a fine ship and very well maintained. The skipper is also the owner. he saved it from some other company up north and brought it back to her old post on the river. Her sister ship is still in service as quarters for the crew of the new city fire tug. They have a covered foul weather/sun deck with seating at the stern, and open seating on the bow by the old deck gun. They play awesome tunes and have a full service bar in the old crew quarters. There are two very good heads (bathrooms) . the ship rides very well and it's not over crowded like the other tour boats, its like your uncle is the fire boat captain and you caught a ride on his boat. They also serve beer and snacks etc. It is a veteran owned local company. She is berthed by a sailing club, there were a bunch of people learning to sail in little boats on Lake Michigan when we went through, which was kinda cool to watch as you motored to the mouth of the river. This tour was reasonable priced and to be honest y'all, when is the next time you will have a chance to ride a fire boat? They also like patches too for you folks into patches.... They have them all over the inside of the boat. Even though its old, the boat runs strong, a crewman told me they overhauled it before putting back into service as a tour boat. Everything appears to be well maintained. The guide was funny and new a lot about the buildings, I learned a bunch of Chicago waterfront history. The views of the lake and skyline were on point. and there was plenty of room to walk around if you needed to change angles etc. This is not a traditional tour boat that crams people in like cattle. There is plenty of space. It is the closest most people will get to crewing a work boat. The only thing missing was those homemade, midwest firehouse sloppy joe sandwiches on a potato bun, wrapped in butcher paper, to go with the old style. And a WORKING deck gun, that would be very very cool to let it rip when your out on the lake part of the cruise. I am making this a new tradition when I have to come to Chicago. It is a nice way to spend a few hours. The bartender is very cool too. To the crew; Y'all have a fine little boat, keep up the good work. I am letting all my coworkers know about your tour. My wife's family is about to become regulars too.

Loved this tour! This is the second time I've taken this cruise. The first time I went with a friend; this time I brought my five grandkids. (Ages 8 -19) I wanted them to have the experience of going through the lock. They enjoyed the boat itself as much as they liked the cruise; it's really comfortable as well as being a piece of history. Every member of the crew made us feel welcome, and the tour guide did a great job.

Austin was great!

Great time! Super knowledgeable tour guide, and friendly bartender! I took my friend on the tour for her birthday. She absolutely loved it as did I. The boat was not crowded. The tour guide did a great job explaining everything to us. It was about a 2 hour trip which I thought was perfect. I liked that you could set outside or inside and still see everything. The history of the boat was just as cool as the history of the city. The bartender was super friendly and knowledgeable as he liked to chat with you when you came up to get a drink or snack. I highly recomend this tour as it was a super unique was to explore the city.

Amazing tour!!! Very nice people, good information about chicago and the river and a terrific beer only for this boat!!! If i comeback to Chicago i will repeat this tour no doubt!!!

Chicago Fireboat Tour is a Quality Experience We had an excellent experience on this tour. Staff was super friendly, particularly Captain Ron & Cliff. Cliff did a superb job of describing not only the architecture but also of teaching us about the history of Chicago. His style is engaging and he clearly has an excellent sense of humor. And his singing wasn’t half bad. Highly recommend for 5 and up.

Went here for a corporate event and it was incredible! Austin is an amazing tour guide and is so funny and informative! Highly recommend!

Was visiting Chicago again and decided to hop on tour with friends. It was amazing, I just was surprised that there were not a lot of people. It definitely worth every penny. And sunset skyline was amazing. Definitely recommend.