Know the Difference!
Inside Chicago Walking Tours created and introduced its signature interior architecture experience, The World Within: Dazzling Interiors of the Loop, when it was founded by Hillary Marzec in 2014. For more than a decade, we've been bringing visitors inside some of Chicago's most spectacular historic buildings, revealing the extraordinary architecture, craftsmanship, art, and stories hidden behind their façades.
Recently, another Chicago tour has appeared using the name “Secret Interiors” and offering a similar interior-architecture-focused experience, with a nearly identical tour route, similar days/times, and similar website verbiage. Please note that that tour is NOT an Inside Chicago Walking Tours product. Contrary to what some websites are claiming, deliberately confusing customers, it is NOT simply another name for “Dazzling Interiors,” and it is not affiliated with nor operated by Inside Chicago Walking Tours.
You may encounter websites, travel marketplaces, or third-party articles that use “Secret Interiors,” “Dazzling Interiors,” “World Within,” or similar terminology in ways that make different tours appear connected. Please check the tour operator carefully, and don’t be fooled.
The World Within: Dazzling Interiors of the Loop isn't simply a tour about Chicago's hidden interiors. It's the Inside Chicago Walking Tours exclusive interior architecture experience, created in 2014 and refined over more than a decade of sharing Chicago with visitors from around the world. We invite you to experience the original.
THe World within: Dazzling Interiors of the Loop came first!
Our history is straightforward:
2014: Inside Chicago Walking Tours launches The World Within: Dazzling Interiors of the Loop, establishing our interior architecture tour as one of our signature experiences, and pioneering a then-absent tour concept in Chicago of interiors-focused walking tours. Offering six different routes, our The World Within: Dazzling Interiors of the Loop quickly becomes our most popular and flagship route.
2014–present: We have continued offering and developing our interior architecture tours, introducing countless visitors to Chicago's extraordinary interiors. We survived COVID — a tremendous feat for a small business in tourism! — and continue to research, create, and operate Chicago’s most engaging, authentic, meaningful experiences of architecture. We operate with integrity and respect for the industry and for our competitors.
Today: Dazzling Interiors remains an Inside Chicago Walking Tours original, and remains (since day one!) our most popular tour.
We are proud of the history we've built and the distinctive tour concept we've developed over the years.
So what is “Secret Interiors”?
“Secret Interiors” is a separate tour offered by a travel agency with roots in New Orleans, Empire Tours & Productions. It is NOT an Inside Chicago Walking Tours product.
The similarity in subject matter is not an indication that the tours are the same, and “Secret Interiors” should not be understood as a new name, replacement name, or alternate title for our Dazzling Interiors tour, despite what some websites are now claiming. Customers are understandably confused and irritated that they are attempting to book our tour, only to find out they accidentally booked another company’s product.
Inside Chicago Walking Tours also offers other tours within our popular The World Within series, and some of those tours may use the words “secret” or “interiors” in their titles. Those are our own separately developed tour experiences and should not be confused with tours offered by other companies.
Why does this matter?
We are a small, locally owned Chicago business. We created our interior architecture tours because we believe Chicago's greatest architectural stories aren't always found on the sidewalk—they're inside the buildings.
For more than a decade, we've invested our time, resources, and countless hours of independent research to curate and create the most meaningful, authentic, unique experiences of Chicago’s interior architecture, building relationships with security and building personnel along the way, engaging our guests with expert storytelling and an always personal, local touch. We've watched the concept of interior-focused Chicago architecture tours become increasingly popular since we launched it in 2014, and we're thrilled that more people want to explore the city's incredible interiors. However, we want customers to know that when they book the “Secret Interiors” tour, despite what some online sources falsely claim, it is NOT OUR TOUR. The World Within: Dazzling Interiors of the Loop is our flagship tour: it is more than a decade old, well-established, and a very popular tour showcasing beautiful architecture interiors in downtown Chicago. The “Secret Interiors” tour is a seemingly similar tour that unfortunately confuses customers. But you’re in the right place to book the original! Click the button below!
