Kayak Chicago has been helping guests experience the city from the water since 1999, offering kayak and paddleboard rentals, tours, and lessons on the Chicago River and Lake Michigan. Known for its welcoming team and safety-first ...
Kayak Chicago has been helping guests experience the city from the water since 1999, offering kayak and paddleboard rentals, tours, and lessons on the Chicago River and Lake Michigan. Known for its welcoming team and safety-first ...
Kayaking through downtown Chicago with this crew is genuinely hard to beat. Guides like Adam, Matt, and Antonio consistently earn praise for being knowledgeable, funny, and attentive, and the routes themselves are spectacular, whether you're paddling through calm wake-free zones around Goose Island or catching the river turn green on a seasonal tour. First-timers especially seem to feel well looked after, with solid instruction before hitting the water and staff who go out of their way to make sure everyone's comfortable. The experience itself is the star here. Calm water options make it approachable for beginners, while more adventurous paddlers can venture into the busier stretches of the Chicago River. A couple of negative reviews flag some concerning situations around safety response and customer service, so it's worth keeping that in mind. That said, those experiences appear to be outliers in an otherwise overwhelmingly positive track record. Overall, this is a well-run operation with genuinely passionate guides and a product that delivers a pretty unforgettable perspective on the city.
Fantastic experience and professional staff. Aaron was a terrific guide- very chill and friendly. He even had to tow a grown woman who registered and somehow didn’t realize paddling was involved in a 3 hour kayak tour (full disclosure: it is). Aaron then proceeded to tow her to the river bank after she somehow managed to flip out of her kayak (a feat that requires a lot of effort). I’ve kayaked many different times and places, including downtown Chicago on several occasions but never w Kayak Chicago or this far up the north branch of the river. I would definitely do it again and recommend to others- just be prepared to paddle.
Chris W
June 22, 2026
Fantastic experience and professional staff. Aaron was a terrific guide- very chill and friendly. He even had to tow a grown woman who registered and somehow didn’t realize paddling was involved in a 3 hour kayak tour (full disclosure: it is). Aaron then proceeded to tow her to the river bank after she somehow managed to flip out of her kayak (a feat that requires a lot of effort). I’ve kayaked many different times and places, including downtown Chicago on several occasions but never w Kayak Chicago or this far up the north branch of the river. I would definitely do it again and recommend to others- just be prepared to paddle.
Chris W
June 22, 2026