Museum Campus - Chicago

Just south of the downtown area are three world class attractions located at the Museum Campus – which is also adjacent to Soldier Field and the convention center.

Several bus lines run express routes with minimal stops between downtown and the museums, and the subway’s red line stops at Roosevelt, which is a ½-mile walk to the museums.

Worth seeing are the Shedd Aquarium, Adler Planetarium and The Field Museum. During our visit, we only had time and budget for two of the three. We chose the Planetarium and the Field Museum. Both took about half a day.

The Planetarium is one of the oldest in the country and offers two floors of exhibits as well as several theaters, including a 3D theater.

Detailed information is offered about each of the planets as well as a history of space exploration. The “Planet Explorers” area is a kids area with a lot of hands-on activities and a chance to climb, run around and get out some energy.

An interesting history of telescopes is located on the lower level.

The Field Museum of Natural History is home to Sue, an intact T-Rex skeleton that stands in the lobby. In addition to the dinosaur exhibits, our kids were fascinated by the Ancient Egypt exhibit, exploring a pyramid and its mummies and artifacts..

There’s much more to see here, including animals, DNA, plants, underground adventure and more.