Welcome to Chicago Southland, where boring group tours don’t exist. Just 30 minutes south of Chicago, this amazing mecca of unique suburbs offers everything you’re looking for when planning your next group tour—from the easy-to-get-to fun and diverse attractions to the helpful hospitality professionals ready to help customize your group’s itinerary. Plus, free parking!
Take a look at some Chicago Southland group activities:
• Soar through the trees or participate in a team-building class at Irons Oaks Environmental Learning Center!
• Enjoy a martini-making class along with a vodka distillery tour. The best part is you get to enjoy the benefits of what you make along the way!
• Attend a class at a working chicken farm and learn how to effectively and organically raise chickens (even in the suburbs). Very fun class. Sorry—adults only!
• Schedule a band or choir performance at one of our many performance venues!
• Have fun with your friends or travel companions and learn secrets from a top chef in a cooking class. Arrive hungry, as your group will eat what is prepared. They can also learn the proper wine to complement each course.
• Take a journey through the Shrine of Christ’s Passion along a half-mile trail in St. John, Indiana. The trail provides a prayerful environment for people of all faiths.
• For history buffs, the Pullman National Historical Park is a must-visit. An expert docent can share the unique stories of the Pullman experience: urban planning of the World’s Most Perfect Town, unique architecture, the second industrial revolution, the American labor movement, the Pullman Porters, and the African American experience at the turn of the 20th century.
• For the “best in art” experiences, begin by attending an art tour at one of the many galleries, and then compare your shoe with Paul Bunyan’s size 203 boot at the award-winning Nathan Manilow Sculpture Park.
• Sample great wines, shop, and have an incredible meal experience at Cooper’s Hawk Winery & Restaurant.
• Interact with your favorite animal at Brookfield Zoo Chicago’s Hamill Family Play Zoo and attend its specialty classes, camps, or backstage experiences.
• Pay your respects at famous graves of sports and military heroes as well as musicians in the Chicago Southland.
• Take in the world’s largest collection of Richard Haas Murals in downtown Homewood.
• Experience the Lincoln Highway Murals as they tell the stories, history, heritage, and events of the Lincoln Highway.
• Rent a fishing pole and buy some bait to catch largemouth bass, northern pike, crappies, or channel catfish on the 46-acre Monee Reservoir lake and wetland habitat.
• Use your smartphone or GPS to go on a high-tech nature treasure hunt at beautiful Lake Katherine Nature Center & Botanic Gardens. Geocaching classes are offered for adults twice annually.
• Experience Lotton Art Glass, one of the very few studios in the world to start with elements of the earth like sand, soda ash, lime, borax, zinc, and metals resulting in some of the most breathtaking colors that you will ever see. Lotton pieces grace hundreds of museums as well as private collections.
• Go beyond the bottle at Method for a soap box factory tour and learn about renewable energy, hydroponic farming, and green manufacturing.
• Enjoy the perfect cocktail of creativity and conversation at one of the many wine and canvas locations in the Chicago Southland. Your group will enjoy their favorite beverage and leave with a hand-painted masterpiece.
• Go bee-hind the scenes and learn about the mead-making process at Wild Blossom Meadery & Winery. Your group will also sample four mead tastings chosen from the day’s menu.
• Explore and carry out fossils from the Thornton Quarry, a 400-million-year-old coral reef, and one of the largest quarries in the world.
• Hear the tales of thousands of escaping slave Freedom Seekers passing through the Chicago Southland prior to the Civil War on the Underground Railroad tour while visiting two designated sites on the National Park Service’s “Network to Freedom.”
• Learn about everyday life and farm activities between the Great Depression and the early post-war period (1930–1955) at Stellwagen Farm.
• Blaze new trails in the Chicago Southland, where your group can enjoy hiking or biking in the 40,000 acres of beautiful forestry, or sit back and relax while enjoying a pedicab tour on a picturesque trail.
• Immerse yourself in a hands-on adventure with the following experiential activities: Country Line Dancing, Culinary Experience, Basket-weaving, Tie-dye Marbling, and Iridescent Glass Mosaic Tiles.
• Snuggle with goats at Luz Farms. Oreo, Buttercup, Caramel, and Luna have been raised to be cuddled, hugged, brushed, and kissed.
Group Travel Contact:
Tobie Fitzpatrick
TourChicagoSouthland.com
Top photo: Cooper’s Hawk Winery & Restaurant.
Photo submitted by Chicago Southland CVB
