Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê¼´Ê±¿ª½±

Chicago skyline at dusk.

©Veni/Getty Images

Willis Tower

Top choice in Chicago


Willis Tower is Chicago's tallest building (and one of the world's loftiest). Breathe deeply during the ear-popping, 70-second elevator ride to the 103rd-floor , then stride to one of the glass-enclosed ledges that jut out in midair for a knee-buckling perspective straight down some 1400ft.

A bit of history: it was the Sears Tower from its completion in 1973 until insurance broker Willis Group Holdings bought the naming rights in 2009. The building held the title of world's tallest building for almost a quarter century, surpassed by NYC's One World Trade Center in 2013.

People standing in a glass box on the edge of a skyscraper.
Step out onto the glass-floor at the Willis Tower Skydeck © Julien Hautcoeur / Shutterstock

Tickets and other information

Tickets are timed and should be of your visit. The Skydeck is fully wheelchair-accessible, with complimentary wheelchairs available on a first-come, first-served basis. There are specific facilities for family travelers too, with quizzes and games for children. 

The entrance is on Jackson Blvd. Even with pre-booking, lines can take up to an hour on busy days (peak times are in summer, between 11am and 4pm Friday through Sunday, although some say sunset is the best time to visit).


Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê¼´Ê±¿ª½±'s must-see attractions

Nearby Chicago attractions

1. Money Museum

0.18 MILES

This small museum in the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago is fun for a quick browse. The best exhibits include a giant glass cube stuffed with one million …

2. Chicago Board of Trade

0.19 MILES

The Board of Trade is a 1930 art deco gem. Inside, manic traders swap futures and options – or, at least, they used to. Most trading is done these days by…

3. Rookery

0.2 MILES

The famed firm of Burnham and Root built the Rookery – named for the site's previous building, a temporary city hall that was popular with roosting…

4. Union Station

0.2 MILES

This wonderfully restored 1925 train station looks like it stepped right out of a gangster movie. In fact, it has been used to great effect in exactly…

5. Kluczynski Federal Building

0.32 MILES

No discussion of famed Loop architecture is complete without mentioning the boxy, metal-and-glass style of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, whose functional,…

6. Flamingo

0.33 MILES

Alexander Calder’s soaring red-pink sculpture provides some much-needed relief from the stark facades of the federal buildings around it. Calder dedicated…

7. Monadnock Building

0.33 MILES

Architecture buffs on a pilgrimage bow down to the Monadnock, two buildings in one that depict a crucial juncture in skyscraper development. The north…

8. Marquette Building

0.34 MILES

The architects behind the 1896 Marquette Building made natural light and ventilation vital components. The most impressive features, however, are the…