Wrigleyville Bar Crawl
Party Bus Route
Murphy's Bleachers → Sluggers → Cubby Bear → Clark Bar → Toon's. Five bars, tight geography, and a bus that keeps everyone together and sober enough to remember the night.
Why Wrigleyville
Wrigleyville is a concentrated neighborhood — five bars within a 5-block radius on Clark Street and Addison. The energy is different from River North or Wicker Park: less pretentious, louder, more sports-bar energy that's been there for decades. Murphy's Bleachers opened in 1980. Cubby Bear goes back to 1930. These aren't venues that opened last year to chase a trend — they're Chicago institutions that happen to be packed on a Friday night regardless of whether the Cubs are home.
The challenge with a Wrigleyville crawl is logistics, not finding good bars. On game days especially, Clark Street fills up and every group tries to navigate the same streets at the same time. The party bus solves this: your group moves together, the driver manages the route, and no one's splitting up at a street corner trying to get 20 people to agree on the next bar. We've done this route enough times to know where the bus stages, what time each venue peaks, and how to time departures so you're not leaving a bar right when it gets good.
The Route: Stop by Stop
Five bars in the order they actually work.
Murphy's Bleachers
Sports Bar / PatioStart at Murphy's because the patio is where Wrigleyville feels most itself — outdoor tables across the street from the Wrigley Field bleacher entrance, a crowd that ranges from Cubs diehards to birthday groups to people who just walked over from the Addison stop. Get there early before it fills. On game days, Murphy's is the pre-game epicenter. On non-game days, it's still the right first stop because the Wrigleyville vibe hits immediately.
Sluggers World Class Sports Bar
Multi-Floor Sports BarFour floors of Sluggers means something for everyone: the ground floor has a classic sports bar setup with tons of screens, the upper floors have batting cages, ski-ball, and arcade games. The scale of it handles large groups well — you can split up on different floors, regroup at the bar, and no one feels packed in. The batting cages are fun and surprisingly competitive when the group gets competitive.
Cubby Bear
Bar / Live Music VenueThe Cubby Bear is directly across from the Addison L stop — that location means it's been getting foot traffic since 1930. On nights with live music, it's a different energy from the first two stops: more concert-bar than sports bar. Check the calendar before your trip — landing at Cubby Bear when there's a band playing is a significant upgrade. Even without music, the bar is spacious and handles groups well.
Clark Bar Chicago
Bar / Rooftop (seasonal)The Clark Bar rooftop deck is one of the reasons to do this crawl in warmer months — the view of Clark Street and the Wrigley neighborhood from above is a natural photo moment. In winter, the ground floor and interior are still solid, with a full bar and a crowd that's at peak energy by the time you arrive at 9:30. Clark Bar is a good gear-change from the multi-floor Sluggers and the live-music Cubby Bear — it's a straight-up bar experience.
Toon's Bar & Grill
Neighborhood BarToon's is the locals' bonus round — a few blocks off the main Clark Street strip, a neighborhood bar with a different energy from the game-day scene that dominates the first four stops. It's the kind of place where the night goes longer than you planned because it's relaxed and the vibe is right. If the group wants to keep going past the main crawl, Toon's is the answer.
Pricing for This Route
Flat hourly rates, BYOB welcome, no surprise fees.
20-Passenger Bus
30-Passenger Bus
40-Passenger Mega Bus
All rates include: professional driver, 3000W sound system, LED lighting, BYOB coolers with ice, cups and bottle openers. 30-passenger and larger include onboard restroom.
Overtime billed in 30-min increments at prorated hourly rate.
Wrigleyville Bar Crawl Questions
What bars are on the Wrigleyville bar crawl route?
Our Wrigleyville bar crawl hits the neighborhood's core: Murphy's Bleachers (3655 N Sheffield — the outdoor patio across from the bleacher entrance), Sluggers World Class Sports Bar (3540 N Clark — four floors, batting cages, and the biggest game day crowd in Wrigleyville), Cubby Bear (1059 W Addison — attached to the Addison L stop, best late-night energy), Clark Bar Chicago (3642 N Clark — rooftop deck when weather allows), and Toon's Bar & Grill (3857 N Southport — the Lakeview local that feels like a neighborhood bonus stop). Five bars, tight geography, about 4-5 hours.
Do you need a Cubs game to do a Wrigleyville bar crawl?
No — Wrigleyville is a full-time neighborhood with a bar scene that runs year-round. A non-game-day crawl actually has advantages: no cover charges at most venues, easier entry for large groups, staff with more time for your party, and no competing with 40,000 Cubs fans. That said, a game-day crawl is a uniquely Chicago experience — the energy on Clark Street before a Cubs home game is hard to replicate anywhere. Both work well. We run Wrigleyville crawls on non-game weekends regularly, especially for groups doing birthday party buses or bachelorette trips.
How much is a Wrigleyville bar crawl party bus?
Party bus pricing for the Wrigleyville crawl: 20-passenger bus at $175/hr (4-hour minimum, $700 total — roughly $35-70 per person for groups of 10-20). 30-passenger bus at $225/hr (5-hour minimum, $1,125 total — $38-56 per person for groups of 20-30). 40-passenger bus at $275/hr (6-hour minimum, $1,650 total — $41-55 per person for groups of 30-40). BYOB welcome — we provide the cooler with ice. Split among a full group, your transportation costs less than two beers at Sluggers.
Where does the Wrigleyville party bus pick up?
We pick up from anywhere in Chicago or the suburbs. Most Wrigleyville crawl groups start from downtown hotels (River North and Magnificent Mile are the most common starting points — about 20 minutes north to Wrigleyville). We can also pick up from a house party, suburban location, or meet at a specific point in Wrigleyville if the group is already there. For game-day crawls, we time pickup to arrive in Wrigleyville 90 minutes before first pitch — early enough to get into Murphy's Bleachers patio before it's packed.
Is Wrigleyville crowded with a party bus? Where does the bus park?
Wrigleyville parking is tight, especially on game days. The party bus handles this by operating as a mobile base rather than a fixed parked vehicle — we drop your group at each venue, stage on a nearby side street, and return to pick up when you're ready to move. There's no 'where did we park?' confusion because the driver stays on call. On Clark Street and Addison, there are specific bus loading zones we use. Parking on game days requires a staging strategy we've figured out over many Wrigleyville trips — your driver knows where to be.
Book the Wrigleyville Bar Crawl
20, 30, and 40-passenger buses available. Lock in your date online or call (224) 801-3090 — we confirm in under 5 minutes.