🎬 Ferris Bueller’s Day Off: 2026 Edition – A Chicago Masterpiece

“Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”

Forty years on, Ferris Bueller’s day off is still the best argument ever made for playing hooky in Chicago. The good news for the rest of us is that almost every location is real, most of them are still standing, and you can absolutely spend a day chasing them.

This is our full location-by-location guide: the exact addresses, what each place actually looks like today, how to get between them, and an honest answer to the question everyone asks, which is whether you can genuinely fit it all into one day. Spoiler: Ferris couldn’t have either.

Before You Go: How This Day Actually Works

The single thing nobody tells you about a Ferris Bueller pilgrimage is that the film is really two separate trips stitched together.

• The suburbs (Northbrook, Highland Park, Glencoe). The school, Cameron’s house, the water tower, and the beach. These are spread across Chicago’s North Shore, roughly 20 to 30 miles north of the Loop. You need a car. The Metra Union Pacific North line will get you to Northbrook and Glencoe, but not conveniently between them.
• Downtown (the Loop and Wrigleyville). The Sears Tower, the Art Institute, Daley Plaza, the parade route, the parking garage. All of this is walkable, and Wrigley Field is a straightforward Red Line ride north. You do not want a car down here.

Our advice: do the suburbs in the morning with a rental car, drop it before you hit the Loop, and finish downtown on foot. If you only have half a day, skip the suburbs entirely. The downtown run is the better half anyway.

Travel Advisory

Several countries, including Canada, Germany, Denmark, and the U.K., have updated their travel advisories for the U.S. This follows incidents where foreign nationals were detained or expelled while attempting to enter the country. While the U.S. remains a generally safe destination, recent policies may negatively affect some travellers, particularly those in the LGBTQ+ community.

The Itinerary

9:00 AM: Rise and Shine (But Not Too Early)

Unlike Ferris’s elaborate setup with the pulleys and the doorbell rig, you need a charged phone and a decent playlist. Start with an 80s playlist to set the mood, and treat the quote as the mantra for the day: the point is to look around, not to tick off a list.

10:00 AM: Glenbrook North High School (Shermer High)

• Address: 2300 Shermer Road, Northbrook, IL 60062.
• The scene: the exterior of the school Ferris so memorably does not attend. It is also where Ferris, posing as Sloane’s father, collects her from the front steps in the Ferrari.
• Today: it is a working high school and it looks almost exactly the same. Go at a weekend or during school holidays. Wandering a functioning American high school on a Tuesday morning with a camera is a bad idea in every possible way.
• Bonus: Shermer, the fictional town, is John Hughes shorthand across his whole filmography. Shermer Road is real and you are standing on it.

10:30 AM: The “Save Ferris” Water Tower

• Address: north of Northbrook Station, between Cedar Lane and Meadow Road, Northbrook, IL 60062.
• The scene: the water tower daubed with “SAVE FERRIS” as the whole town rallies around his fictional illness.
• Today: the tower is still there and it is a two-minute detour from the school, which is why we have slotted it in. The graffiti, sadly, was movie magic and did not stay.

10:45 AM: Cameron’s House (the Ben Rose House)

• Address: 370 Beech Street, between Linden Avenue and Wade Street, Highland Park, IL 60035.
• The scene: the glass-and-steel pavilion housing the Ferrari, and the ending everyone remembers when the car goes backwards through the glass wall.
• Today: it is a genuinely significant piece of modernist architecture, designed by A. James Speyer with the pavilion by David Haid. It is also somebody’s private home. View it from the road, keep your voice down, do not walk up the drive.
• Trivia: the Ferrari 250 GT California was a replica. Three were built for the film and one sold at auction for a very un-replica sum.

11:45 AM: 333 West Wacker Drive

• Address: 333 West Wacker Drive, Chicago, IL 60606.
• The scene: the curved green glass tower that announces the arrival downtown.
• Today: unchanged and still one of the best buildings in the city. The curve follows the bend in the Chicago River, and the reflection of the water in the glass is the whole point. Stand on the Lake Street bridge for the shot.
• Getting here: allow 45 to 60 minutes from Highland Park, and more in traffic. This is the moment to ditch the car.

12:00 PM: Willis Tower Skydeck (the Sears Tower)

• Address: 233 South Wacker Drive, Chicago, IL 60606.
• The scene: the three of them pressed against the glass, foreheads down, looking straight at the street below. “Anything is peaceful from one thousand, three hundred and fifty-three feet.”
• Today: it is the Willis Tower now, and the Skydeck has added The Ledge, glass boxes that cantilever out from the 103rd floor. You can recreate the forehead-on-glass shot almost exactly. Book tickets in advance, because the queue without them can run well over an hour.
• Our tip: go at opening or in the last two hours of the day. Midday in summer is the worst possible slot, which is unfortunately exactly where the film puts it.

1:00 PM: Chicago Board of Trade

• Address: 141 West Jackson Boulevard, Chicago, IL 60604.
• The scene: the trading floor sequence, all shouting and hand signals, in the middle of the downtown montage.
• Today: the art deco tower is a landmark and the Ceres statue still tops it, but open-outcry pit trading has almost entirely gone electronic. The lobby is worth two minutes for the deco detailing. It is a five-minute walk from the Willis Tower.

1:30 PM: Chez Quis (and the Sausage King of Chicago)

• Address: 22 West Schiller Street, between North State Parkway and North Dearborn Street, Chicago, IL 60610.
• The scene: “I weep for the future.” Ferris blags a table by claiming to be Abe Froman, the Sausage King of Chicago.
• Today: here is the twist most guides get wrong. Chez Quis never existed. The exterior is a private townhouse in the Gold Coast, and the interior was shot at L’Orangerie in West Hollywood, which has since closed. So there is no restaurant to eat at, only a very handsome front door to photograph from the pavement. It is a private home, so be quick and be polite.

2:00 PM: Lunch at the Italian Village

• Address: 71 West Monroe Street, Chicago, IL 60603.
• The scene: the neon sign appears in the downtown montage.
• Today: since you cannot actually eat at Chez Quis, this is where we send people instead. The Italian Village opened in 1927, it is the oldest Italian restaurant in Chicago, and the upstairs room with the painted ceiling and the little alcoves is a genuine time capsule. Book ahead at weekends.

2:45 PM: The Parking Garage and Wells Street

• Address: West Madison Street at South Wells Street, Chicago, IL 60602.
• The scene: the garage where the attendants take the Ferrari for its famous unauthorised joyride, launching it over the crest of the street.
• Today: the streetscape has changed a lot, but the corner is still recognisable and it is directly under the Loop’s elevated tracks, which is half the atmosphere. Stand underneath when a train goes over.

3:15 PM: The Art Institute of Chicago

• Address: 111 South Michigan Avenue at East Adams Street, Chicago, IL 60603.
• The scene: the museum montage, and the long silent hold on Cameron staring into Seurat’s A Sunday on La Grande Jatte as the camera pushes in until the child’s face dissolves into dots. It is the emotional centre of the whole film.
• Today: the Seurat is still there, in Gallery 240, and it is enormous in person in a way the film does not prepare you for. Also find Chagall’s America Windows, the blue stained glass the three of them sit in front of. Pre-book online to skip the queue.
• Our tip: this is the one stop worth blowing the schedule for. Give it two hours if you can. It is one of the great museums on earth and treating it as a photo stop is a waste.

4:30 PM: Daley Plaza, Dearborn Street and the Federal Center

• Address: Daley Plaza, 50 West Washington Street, Chicago, IL 60602. Federal Center, 230 South Dearborn Street, Chicago, IL 60604.
• The scene: the float, the lederhosen, “Danke Schoen” and “Twist and Shout”. The parade was filmed along Dearborn Street during the real Von Steuben Day Parade in September 1985, then restaged the following Saturday when around 10,000 locals turned up to be extras.
• Today: walk the parade route down Dearborn, see the untitled Picasso in Daley Plaza, then carry on to Calder’s red Flamingo in the Federal Center plaza. The Von Steuben Day Parade still runs annually, though it has moved to Lincoln Square.

5:30 PM: Wrigley Field

• Address: 1060 West Addison Street, Chicago, IL 60613.
• The scene: the three of them in the stands, and Ferris catching a foul ball. The game footage is real, shot at a Cubs versus Braves game in June 1985.
• Today: take the Red Line to Addison and you step out practically at the gates. If the Cubs are at home, buy a bleacher seat and stay. If not, the ballpark runs tours, and Wrigleyville around it is lively regardless.

6:30 PM: Lake Shore Drive

• Address: DuSable Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, IL. The film’s aerial shots run along the stretch north of Oak Street Beach.
• The scene: the skyline and lakefront glamour shots that stitch the day together.
• Today: if you kept the car, drive it northbound at golden hour with the windows down. If you did not, the Lakefront Trail runs alongside and you can walk or cycle the same view for free, which is arguably better.

7:30 PM: Glencoe Beach

• Address: Glencoe Beach, at the foot of Park Avenue, Glencoe, IL 60022.
• The scene: the quiet turn in the film. Cameron sees the mileage on the odometer, goes catatonic, and the day stops being funny for a while.
• Today: a genuinely lovely North Shore beach on Lake Michigan with the water going gold at sunset. Note the honesty problem: this is 25 miles back north from Wrigley Field, so realistically it belongs with the morning suburban leg rather than the evening. We have left it in sequence because that is the film’s order, not because it is good routing.

9:00 PM: Evening Views

Find a rooftop and stop moving. Ferris makes it home just ahead of his parents; you have no such deadline. The Chicago Athletic Association’s Cindy’s terrace looks straight over Millennium Park, and the London House rooftop sits right on the river bend by the Wrigley Building.

The Location That Is Not in Chicago at All

Here is the detail that surprises most people. The Bueller family house is not in Illinois. Ferris’s bedroom, the front door, the whole domestic half of the film, was shot at 4160 Country Club Drive in Long Beach, California, just south of the Virginia Country Club. So if you have ever gone looking for it on the North Shore, that is why you never found it.

Cameron’s interiors were largely shot in California too. The Chicago you see is real; the houses mostly are not.

Can You Really Do It All in One Day?

No. And neither did Ferris.

Even in the film the geography is impossible. He is at a Cubs game, a parade, the Art Institute and the top of the Sears Tower, then back in Highland Park before six. Add real traffic and the 25-mile hops between the North Shore and the Loop, and a faithful single-day attempt means about four hours in a car and roughly fifteen minutes at each stop.

What we would actually do:

• Half a day, no car: 333 West Wacker, Willis Tower, Board of Trade, Chez Quis, lunch at the Italian Village, the Madison and Wells corner, the Art Institute, Daley Plaza. All walkable, all the best bits.
• One full day, with a car: suburbs first thing (school, water tower, Cameron’s house, Glencoe Beach), drop the car by midday, then the entire downtown loop on foot, finishing at Wrigley.
• Two days, properly: the above, but give the Art Institute a real morning and add a Cubs game. This is the version we would recommend, and it is the only one where you actually enjoy yourself.

Practical Notes

• Best time of year: late May to early October. The film is set on a glorious spring day and Chicago in February is a different proposition entirely.
• Getting around downtown: the CTA’s L covers everything. Get a Ventra card. Parking in the Loop is expensive and pointless.
• Rough costs: Skydeck and Art Institute admission are the two real tickets. A car for the suburban half day is the other main cost. Everything else on this list is free to look at.
• Respect the residents: Cameron’s house and the Chez Quis exterior are private homes where actual people live. Photograph from the public pavement, keep the noise down, and do not ring the bell.
• Book ahead: Skydeck, the Art Institute and the Italian Village all reward it, especially at weekends.

Ferris Bueller Filming Locations: Your Questions Answered

Where is Cameron’s house from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off?

370 Beech Street in Highland Park, Illinois. It is the Ben Rose House, a modernist home whose glass pavilion housed the Ferrari. It is privately owned, so view it from the street only.

Can you eat at Chez Quis?

No. Chez Quis was invented for the film. The exterior is a private townhouse at 22 West Schiller Street in Chicago’s Gold Coast, and the interior was shot at L’Orangerie in West Hollywood, which has closed. For an authentically old-school Chicago dinner instead, the Italian Village on West Monroe has been running since 1927 and appears in the film’s downtown montage.

Is the Ferris Bueller house in Chicago?

No, and this catches a lot of people out. The Bueller family home was filmed at 4160 Country Club Drive in Long Beach, California, roughly 2,000 miles from the Chicago locations.

Which school was used in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off?

The exterior is Glenbrook North High School, 2300 Shermer Road, Northbrook. It is still an operating high school, so visit outside school hours.

How much of Ferris Bueller was actually filmed in Chicago?

Every downtown location is genuinely Chicago: the Sears Tower, the Art Institute, Wrigley Field, the Board of Trade, Daley Plaza and the Dearborn Street parade. The suburban exteriors are real North Shore towns. The domestic interiors and the Bueller house were shot in California.

Are there Ferris Bueller tours in Chicago?

There is no single official tour, but several Chicago film and architecture tours cover the downtown locations, and the city’s tourism board maintains its own Ferris location list. Honestly, the downtown half is so walkable that you do not need one. This guide plus a Ventra card will do it.

Where to Stay

Stay in the Loop or River North and the whole downtown half of this itinerary is on your doorstep. Both put you within walking distance of the Art Institute, Daley Plaza and the Willis Tower, and on a direct Red Line run to Wrigley.

Planning more of the city? Read our full Chicago guide, and if you are visiting in winter, our Home Alone filming locations guide covers the same North Shore suburbs with snow on them.

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