Only the highest quality guide is equipped to introduce you to one of the greatest museums on earth. the Art Institute, one of the world’s great art museums, houses a works that cover centuries of Art & History. Its is also known to have the worlds greatest collection of Impressionist artwork (Even rivaling the Musee D'Orsay in Paris). Your expert guide will help you explore the major artworks and hidden gems from this expansive collection and explain how this iconic American museum differs from its older European counterparts.
The tour was exceptional, especially due to our guide, Spiro. He was very knowledgeable and emphasized connections of art to the times and to other artworks. He was also very gracious to accommodate mobility issues. Phenomenal!
Arnold was fantastic as a guide and he made the experience amazing.
Spirit was an excellent guide. We would highly recommend him.
Spiro was a great guide. Very thoughtful and informative. He did a great job of tying the history and timelines of the art and background. He was able to answer all questions with interesting facts and expanding on a broad interest of topics.
What a great tour! This was my and my wife’s first time in an art museum with an actual guided tour and we are so, so happy that we went for it. Spiro, our guide, was able to tell the story of different periods and places of art over time and connect them with context and meaning. We feel like we got so much out of this and learned a lot. The two and a half hours simply flew by! Next art museum we’re at, I definitely want to take a guided tour. Thank you so much, Spiro! You really made it all come to life today.
Both entertaining and informative. My group enjoyed this tour more than any others in Chicago. Highly recommend!!
Mandy was a fantastic tour guide at the Art Institute. She's incredibly knowledgeable — she brought real depth to every piece we stopped at — and she's warm and friendly on top of it, which made the whole tour feel welcoming rather than stuffy. Highly recommend asking for her.
We were lucky to have a small group of 2 couples and our guide Samantha. Samantha kindly asked about our interests and tailored the tour to include a few requests, in addition to hitting all the highlights. She was a wonderful guide - friendly and very knowledgeable. It was the first time we had done a paid guided tour of an art museum and it was well worth it!
This was a great tour & our tour guide Amanda was fantastic. She was very knowledgeable & funny! Highly recommended.
My adult daughter and I took the semi-private tour with Patti and 5 others. It was great! The best! 5 stars!!! We highly recommend to everyone. Patti was such a delight and her insights were fresh and interesting. We learned so much! A mid-tour restroom break and plenty of opportunities to rest on a bench was so appreciated.
Great tour with Arnold and Babylon highly recommend this museum
My visit to the Chicago Art Institute was absolutely wonderful, and a huge part of that was thanks to our guide, Spiro. He was incredibly knowledgeable, friendly, and genuinely passionate about the museum and its incredible collection. Spiro went out of his way to make sure we saw everything we wanted to see, while also sharing fascinating insights and stories that brought the artwork to life. His enthusiasm and expertise made the experience both enjoyable and memorable. We couldn’t have asked for a better guide. If you’re visiting the Chicago Art Institute, I highly recommend Babylon Tours!
Excellent attention and explanation. Arnold was an excellent guide!
Very knowledgeable, had a great tour with Arnold. We hit a lot of highlights.
Arnold was very informative and friendly. Tour was a good overview of the more noteworthy pieces on display. Good value for the amount of information covered.
Our family was riveted from start to finish! Our daughters are 9 and 16 and Arnold kept their interest and attention the whole time! We highly recommend Arnold if you want to learn about the fascinating stories behind the art.
Arnold was an excellent guide and very knowledgeable
Excellent visit with Arnold. His knowledge and presentation was outstanding
Arnold was absolutely fantastic, answered every question and very insightful. Such a gentlemen and I’m definitely coming back
Spiro was an excellent guide. Incredibly knowledgeable and well informed. Good rapport with group and appealed to all ages. Made the tour interesting and tailored to our group. So much so that my teenager said that he didn’t feel the time going. Really enjoyed the gallery experience and I would highly recommend.
This tour was well worth it, great experience. Arnold our tour guide has an art education background and was very knowledgeable on all the exhibits we saw. It was a small group tour, helped us navigate through the vast art on display along with sharing knowledge of each artist. We would highly recommend.
Arnold was amazing he was extremely knowledgeable pleasant but kept us on time! Highly recommend this tour it will give a taste and will inspire you to stay longer!!
Arnold was both knowledgeable and interesting. I loved this and it would have been almost impossible to have navigated without this skill and ability. Worth every penny.
Arnold was great. He deserves a raise.
Amazing experience! Arnold was very educated on the pieces and was a great guide! Extremely interesting art institution. Arnold takes you in before the crowd, which makes easy to get around early on. Great for small groups and families. Arnold covers your admissions fee, so you do not have to pay at admission. Takes about 2 and a half hours.
Outstanding experience, Arnold is so informative and knowledgeable!
Perfect guide,Bob was very interesting!
Arnold was amazing! Tour was educational and fun.
Good fund of knowledge. Interesting stories.
Mandy was a wonderful tour guide! She had such interesting stories about the art we saw! She took us to see pieces that maybe we would not have normally noticed. I learned something from her at every stop. I came with three friends, and we all agreed on the quality of our tour. The art Institute is huge and has so much to see! It was a great way to spend 2 1/2 hours at the art museum
Arnold was amazing. Made it to all the important places!! Kind and respectful.
Arnold was fabulous & knowledgeable! Highly recommend!!
Arnold did a great job and provided great depth
We had an exceptional tour of the Art Institute of Chicago with Arnold of Babylon Tours. His knowledge of art is truly impressive, and he has a remarkable ability to bring the collection to life with fascinating stories, historical context, and insights we never would have discovered on our own. Just as importantly, Arnold is warm, personable, and engaging, making the entire experience both enjoyable and informative. He was happy to answer questions and made even complex works of art accessible and memorable. If you're visiting the Art Institute, I highly recommend booking a tour with Arnold. He transformed what would have been a good museum visit into one of the highlights of our trip to Chicago.
Excellent tour of art - Arnold is a wonderful guide.
Spiro was our guide and he was amazing. My husband loves art and we went for his birthday. While I can appreciate art, Spiro's storytelling and historical factuals really helped me feel the soul of the art for the first time and have a true connection.
Spiro was the best guide we’ve ever had in an art museum., and we’ve taken guided tours at the Prado, Reina Sofía, Musée D’Orsay, The Acrópolis museum, etc. Not only did he guide us through art and how it reflected life at the time, he also connected it with the reasons for how it was displayed in the museum. I would love another tour with him, and will absolutely look for him on my next trip to Chicago. Can’t recommend highly enough.
Impressionism history was very educating
Our guide Spiro was perfect! The visit was so great with all the detailed info that Spiro gave us all. He went to Art University and was very proud showing us all the masterpieces, as well as he did some adaptations to meet some specific requests from the group on items of the museum that were not included! Spiro was very nice, polite, great energy! We had a wonderful time!
This tour was one of the best art tours we have done. Spiro was awesome - knowledgeable, funny and engaging. He went out of his way to make sure everyone saw what they wanted to see. You should request him if possible.
Spiro was our tour guide. He was very knowledgeable and friendly. There was so much to see but he made time for me to see a pollock. I appreciate that. Thank you Spiro
This is an amazing art museum - one of the best in the world. And Amanda is a skilled tour guide, helpfully pointing out benches and clearly describing the history of the art pieces we were enjoying. She asked what people were interested in seeing before starting and tailored her tour from there. She is clearly very knowledgeable.
Spiro was extremely knowledgeable and interesting-even though the tour was long I was never bored for a minute. He had good energy and everyone enjoyed the tour. I highly recommend this tour and guide.
Highly recommend this tour! Our guide, Arthur, was awesome - super knowledgeable, really thorough, and made sure we hit all the highlights. Super interesting to see how much the art periods were inspired by each other 🤔 I was also super late but Arthur kept in touch and came to grab me when I finally made it - I really thought I was just gonna miss it, incredibly glad I was able to join!
Arnold was masterful in his exposure to great works on such a limited window. Will definitely recommend to friends.
Arnold was helpful, kind and informative. He answered all our questions and made sure we saw all of our must see artworks. Loved it!
Arnold was fantastic! He moved efficiently through the exhibits, but he did not hesitate to linger for impactful pieces or questions.
Spiro was a wonderful guide, humorously sharing the backstory on various art and weaving in a good amount of philosophy.
Arnold was extremely personable and knowledgeable while showing us around the museum. I highly recommend taking this tour.
Our guide Arnold was excellent. Very knowledgeable about the art we looked but also had lots of great additional anecdotes which made the whole experience so interesting. A fabulous collection of art but so good to have someone take you through the highlights. Would definitely recommend
Monday through Friday 9 am to 7 pm EST
Reach us by phone
Reach us by email