Hope you had a Merry Christmas and wonderful holidays. I will be visiting Chicago for three days in early January. I am a Los Angeles native, and this will be my first time visiting the Windy City. I will be traveling to Chicago alone, meet up with a friend there, and travel back alone to L.A. He will be visiting several cities in the U.S, Chicago being his last stop, then he will fly back to Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Like me, he has never been to Chicago.
So I was wondering if you could recommend me places of interest to see while there. I won’t obviously be going to the south side of Chicago because of the crime, and I won’t be going to any residential neighborhoods whether safe or not, because frankly it makes no sense. It’s not interesting. It’s like a tourist visiting homes in L.A, even if it s a rich neighborhood , it’s boring. Although some tours of homes are good. Anyways, I’m looking to spend time in the downtown core area of the city, visit the lakes, parks, shops and maybe nightlife. I have been reading about the Loop,.
Again it’s my first time. I like to use the city’s extensive public transportation to get a feel of Chicago.
Any places you think I should check out, please let me know.
Chicago in January can be really really cold. I would reccomend something indoors like maybe a show at a club, maybe blues clubs if you want to get a local feel. Buddy Guy’s club is in the south loop area, for example. Bring a winter hat, and nice warm gloves.
Well, you don’t go to the Chicago neighborhoods to see houses, you go there for the variety of different restaurants, bars, coffee houses, shops, and perhaps the arts. A couple of the main attractions are in neighborhoods, http://www.lpzoo.org/ is in Lincoln Park and Wrigley Field is in Lakeview. Both areas are just north of the loop and are quite urban.
This is one of my favorite museums; I have visited every single time I’ve been to Chicago and it has always been worthwhile.
I’d also highly recommend attending college basketball games; Chicago has quite a few excellent teams including the DePaul Blue Demons and the Loyola Ramblers.
And of course, if you can afford the tickets, it’s great fun to see the Blackhawks play live.
I always recommend the Untouchables Tour for good cheesy fun and a bit of local history.
You mentioned public transportation. If you get onto the Brown Line el (elevated train) at any station in The Loop, you can ride outwards toward the northwest, get off the train when you are half-way tired of the show, cross the track to the other side, and come back downtown again. All for $2.25. You might also want to explore the Pedway, either on your own or with an organized tour. It is mostly protected from the elements.
Tip: The Sears/Willis Tower Skydeck is pretty cool, especially since they’ve gotten that Ledge viewing platform where you step out into a glass/plastic/whatever material balcony that juts out from the building and where you can look straight down and see nothing but ground below you, similar effect to a glass-bottomed boat. Anyway, if you like to have a drink or cocktail or two and want to go somewhere high up and beautiful in Chicago and avoid paying fees just to use an elevator, you can go to the bar at the 96th floor of the John Hancock building. It’s gorgeous, costs nothing to go up, and you get a beautiful panorama of the city. Yes, the drink prices will be inflated ($9-$10 for a beer), but even at two beers, it’ll be about the same price as visiting the Skydeck at the Sears/Willis Tower.
The Shedd Aquarium, while not boasting the cultural gravitas of the wonderful AIoC, is educational and fun. The outer infinity wall that appears to join the inside exhibits to Lake Michigan itself is well worth a look.
There is a bus that makes stops at each building along the Museum Circuit that helps tremendously in the cold weather. In the summer, it is a pleasant walk. Not so much inJanuary.
Another stop well worth making is the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. They have an enormous collection of interesting and unusual items that they change up often. They aren’t on the Museum Circuit, but can be easily reached by cab or bus.
For a blues cliub, either Legends or Kingston Mines are worth a visit.
If you want to try a real Chicago deep dish pizza, I recommend Lou Malnati’s.
Have fun and dress for damp icy cold if you are going down near the Lake.
I love it, too! My favorite as a kid. But I dunno, man, that’s South Side. (OP said they’re not going to the South Side.) Anyhow, despite what you’ve heard about the South Side, theres plenty of fine areas you can go to, and the MSI is one of them, so if you’re interested in science museums, I would recommend it. From the Loop, I would take the #10 Museum of Science and Industry bus there or the #6 Jackson Park Express. That’s also in the same neighborhood as the Oriental Museum mentioned above. And there’s a free art Museum, the Smart Museum of Art, also on U of C’s campus.
Yeah, nobody visits the neighborhoods for house-seeing, unless, perhaps, you are looking to buy a house. The Loop is a nice, self-contained area where you can find three days worth of things to do, but most of the fun nightlife (in my opinion, at least) is outside the Loop in the neighborhoods. As a life-long Chicagoan, I very rarely find myself wanting to be there for non-business reasons (the museums and Maggie Daley Park are the two big exceptions.) This is not to say there is no nightlife there–it’s just not near the top of my list.
Speaking of, if you like ice skating, the new Maggie Daley Park has a wonderful skating ribbon that lets you soak in the city atmosphere while enjoying a bit of exercise.
If you are interested in public transportation, you might wanna catch the 147 Outer Drive Express going southbound, timing it to be just passing Oak Street Beach during sunrise on your visiting date. You can board the bus at Devon and Broadway outside the Mustard Seed Bookstore. Today, December 30th at 7:00 AM, there were spectacular views of the famous Chicago Skyline bathed in celestial red and yellow colors against a vast swath of the deep cobalt blue of Lake Michigan. If the weather is right, you will gawp at the majesty sweeping before your eyes.
It’s amazing how many Chicagoans on the 147 bus pass by this scene with their eyes glued to their phones.
Once you’re downtown, you can have breakfast until stuff starts opening up.
Yes I will be emptying my closet, lol. I checked the forcast for this coming week, and the two days I will be there will be the coldest days as luck will have it.
This sounds awesome, although I am generally a subway train fan rather than a bus one. I know Chicago’s transportation system blows Los Angeles’ out the water.
No, but I just want to see the city skyscraper, financial district, museums, and maybe watch a show. But if I don’t watch a show, that is totally fine with me. My aim is to see the city, not just be indoors and look at shops. I can do that here in LA.
(OP said they’re not going to the South Side.) Anyhow, despite what you’ve heard about the South Side, theres plenty of fine areas you can go to, and the MSI is one of them, so if you’re interested in science museums, I would recommend it. From the Loop, I would take the