{"id":197432,"date":"2025-09-03T18:00:16","date_gmt":"2025-09-03T18:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/197432\/"},"modified":"2025-09-03T18:00:16","modified_gmt":"2025-09-03T18:00:16","slug":"you-only-have-a-few-months-to-visit-these-four-chicago-museums-for-free","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/197432\/","title":{"rendered":"You only have a few months to visit these four Chicago museums for free"},"content":{"rendered":"

As summer<\/a> winds down and fall<\/a> weather draws us indoors, Chicago museums<\/a> are welcoming visitors with a new round of free admission days. Many institutions are offering no-cost entry for Illinois residents (don\u2019t forget to bring that proof of residency!), and a few are even opening their doors for free to everyone. Don\u2019t wait too long, though: Some of the best deals\u2014including free entry to the Art Institute of Chicago and Griffin Museum of Science and Industry\u2014wrap up in just a few weeks.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s your guide to upcoming free Chicago museum days through the end of 2025.<\/p>\n

RECOMMENDED: The best free museum days in Chicago<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Museums with limited free admission days:
\n\"Art
\nPhotograph: Jaclyn Rivas for Time Out <\/p>\n

The Art Institute of Chicago<\/a><\/p>\n

Upcoming free days for Illinois residents:<\/strong>\u00a0Thursdays from 5 to 8pm until September 25, 2025.<\/p>\n

Free entry year-round for the following groups:<\/strong>\u00a0Anyone 18 and under, Illinois educators (pre-K-12), active-duty military personnel and LINK and WIC cardholders.<\/p>\n

Chicago History Museum<\/a><\/p>\n

Upcoming free days for Illinois residents:\u00a0<\/strong>September 10 and 24; October 8, 13 and 25; and November 6, 12 and 19.<\/p>\n

Free entry year-round for the following groups:<\/strong>\u00a0Illinois teachers, active-duty and veteran military personnel, active-duty Chicago Police Department and Chicago Fire Department personnel and Illinois residents 18 and under.<\/p>\n

\"field
\nPhotograph: Lucy Hewett, Courtesy of The Field Museum, <\/p>\n

The Field Museum<\/a><\/p>\n

Upcoming free days for Illinois residents:<\/strong>\u00a0Every Wednesday until September 24, 2025.<\/p>\n

Free entry year-round for the following groups:<\/strong>\u00a0Active-duty military personnel\u00a0and veterans and Illinois teachers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Griffin Museum of Science and Industry<\/a><\/p>\n

Upcoming free days for Illinois residents:<\/strong>\u00a0September 2\u20134, 7\u201310, 14\u201317, 22\u201324, 29 and 30; and October 1\u20136, 8, 14 and 15.<\/p>\n

Free entry year-round for the following groups:<\/strong>\u00a0Active-duty personnel and veterans, Illinois POWs, Chicago firefighters, Chicago police officers and Illinois teachers (Pre-K through 12th grade).<\/p>\n

Museums with year-round free admission days:
\nAdler Planetarium<\/a><\/p>\n

Upcoming free days for Illinois residents:\u00a0<\/strong>Every Wednesday 4\u201310pm, year-round.<\/p>\n

Free entry year-round for the following groups:\u00a0<\/strong>Teachers and active-duty, reserve and veteran military personnel and their families (up to five admissions).<\/p>\n

Museum of Contemporary Art<\/a><\/p>\n

Upcoming free days for Illinois residents:\u00a0<\/strong>Every Tuesday from 5 to 9pm, year-round.<\/p>\n

Free entry year-round for the following groups:\u00a0<\/strong>Anyone 18 and under, Illinois teachers, visitors with disabilities and their caregivers, active-duty military personnel, police and fire department personnel and veterans.<\/p>\n

\"Peggy
\nPhotograph: Chris Strong <\/p>\n

\u00a0
\nPeggy Notebaert Nature Museum<\/a><\/p>\n

Upcoming free days for Illinois residents:<\/strong>\u00a0Every Thursday, year-round ($10 suggested donation).<\/p>\n

Free entry year-round for the following groups:<\/strong>\u00a0Illinois teachers, active-duty military personnel and their families, veterans and infants under 12 months.<\/p>\n

DuSable Museum of African American History<\/a><\/p>\n

Upcoming free days:\u00a0<\/strong>Every Wednesday, year-round.<\/p>\n

Free entry year-round for the following groups:\u00a0<\/strong>Active-duty military personnel, first responders, Illinois public school students and several\u00a0other groups<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Glessner House<\/a><\/p>\n

Free first-come, first-served tours for Illinois residents on the first and third Thursday of each month. Tours depart at 1pm.<\/p>\n

Swedish American Museum<\/a><\/p>\n

Upcoming free days:<\/strong>\u00a0The\u00a0second Tuesday of every\u00a0month, year-round.<\/p>\n

Free entry year-round for the following groups:\u00a0<\/strong>Children under 1 year old.<\/p>\n

Lizzadro Museum of Lapidary Art<\/a><\/p>\n

Upcoming free days:\u00a0<\/strong>Every Wednesday, year-round.<\/p>\n

Free entry year-round for the following groups:<\/strong>\u00a0Active-duty military personnel\u00a0and children under 6.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Museums that are always free:<\/p>\n

National Museum of Mexican Art<\/a>
National Public Housing Museum<\/a>
National Museum Of Puerto Rican Arts & Culture<\/a>
Museum of Contemporary Photography<\/a>
21C Museum Hotel Chicago<\/a>
Smart Museum of Art<\/a>
Hyde Park Art Center<\/a>
Jane Addams Hull-House Museum<\/a><\/p>\n

Keep in mind that the dates above are subject to change and may not include fees to view special exhibits. We\u00a0recommend that you visit each museum\u2019s website\u00a0for admission details.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As summer winds down and fall weather draws us indoors, Chicago museums are welcoming visitors with a new…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":197433,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5124],"tags":[10336,960,5386,1818,10337,1072],"class_list":{"0":"post-197432","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago","8":"tag-categories-things-to-do","9":"tag-chicago","10":"tag-il","11":"tag-illinois","12":"tag-news-city-life","13":"tag-things-to-do"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115141674800020688","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197432","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=197432"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197432\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/197433"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=197432"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=197432"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=197432"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}