General information
Chicago - Illinois
Arrival in Chicago
By plain
When flying directly from Europe, you usually arrive at the city's largest airport, Chicago O'Hare International.
As we think you don't need a car in the city and parking is very time consuming and expensive, we recommend exploring the city without your own car.
From the airport, there are several ways to get to the City, 17 miles away :
With the train - CTA Blue Line - trains run every 10 minutes directly from the airport. The ride to downtown takes about 45 minutes and costs $5.
All information can be found on the official webpage.
Advantage: Fast and very cheap
Disadvantage: You have to walk from the station with the luggage to the hotel
Cab - The cabs are right outside the arrivals hall. The ride takes about 60 minutes and has a price of about 50$.
Advantage: Very flexible, no time wasted (unless you are stuck in traffic), you are dropped off right in front of the hotel.
Disadvantage: Expensive
There are also various shuttle bus options. However, we have not tried these yet, because you usually have to wait a while for the driver after arrival, it is not really cheaper than the cab and you often deliver other people to hotels and the trip can often drag on.
Car rental
If you need a car for your stay or for a possible round trip, we recommend to rent it at the airport as well. There are also rental stations in the city, but they are often very small and the selection of cars is therefore usually very limited.
There are many car rental companies to choose from. Thereby we prefer mostly ALAMO . So far, we have always been satisfied and therefore there was no reason for us to choose another provider in Chicago.
All car rental shuttle buses stop right outside the arrivals hall. The ride to the rental station takes about 15 minutes. With Alamo in Chicago, you have to go to the station counter and can't get a Skip the Counter in advance. But there is a choiceline where you can choose the car afterwards. In our case, the desired car was parked in the third row. An employee unparked it for us. So you don't have to settle for the cars at the very front if you don't like them.
Accommodation in Chicago
In the City
Chicago is like any other big American city. There is an almost endless selection of hotels/motels in all categories to choose from. However, the more central you want to stay, the more expensive it gets.
We chose downtown hotels on both of our visits to Chicago. In 1994, during our honeymoon we stayed for two nights at the Hilton Chicago, 720 S Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL 60605. During our second stay in 2017 we stayed at the Palmer House, 17 E Monroe St, Chicago, IL 60603. A detailed description of our stay at the Palmer House can be found here.
Outside the city
Of course, there is also a huge range of accommodation in the Chicago suburbs. Mostly the hotels are cheaper than directly downtown, but you have the loss of time for the journey to the city and/or the accruing parking costs.
On both of our visits, we spent three days in Chicago. Since this is relatively little time, we didn't want to spend it driving in and out of the city every day. We preferred to use this time in the city.
However, if you don't want to spend too much money for a hotel stay, it is certainly an alternative to sleep outside the city.
City Pass
5 top attractions for a great price
Especially for first-time visitors, such a pass is ideal. It includes the following attractions:
- Shedd Aquarium
- Skydeck Willis Tower
You can also choose three more attractions from the following:
Shoreline Sighseeing Architecture River Tour or 360 Chicago or Art Institute or Adler Planetarium or Museum of Science and Industry or Field Museum
The City Pass costs 136.48$/person. Compared to the individual prices, you save more than 120$. The pass is activated as soon as you visit the first attraction. You then have 9 days to visit the remaining attractions.
Hop on Hop off Busses
Especially if you have little time, hop on hop off buses are a good way to get around the city. There are several providers with stops at the main attractions. You can hop on and off as often as you like.
You drive around in open double-decker buses and already see a lot of the city during the ride. Depending on the provider, the tours are priced around $50/day. Mostly the tickets are much cheaper if you book for more than just one day.
Advantage: You can see a lot of the city in a relatively short time.
Disadvantage: Most buses only run between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., and especially in the summer, that's not very long.
Something special from the kitchen
Original Chicago Style Hot Dogs - the classic American fast food done in a special Chicago way.
Description: The hot dog is made with a poppy seed bun and a classic hot dog sausage. It is served with mustard, diced onions, green relish, half a dill pickle, tomato slices and a pinch of celery salt.
Our rating: Quite tasty. Nice to try a Chicago classic.
Our conclusion on Chicago
Chicago is by far our favorite city in the USA. Situated on the shores of Lake Michigan, it's relaxed and laid back, in contrast to New York City, for example.
You can find everything here that is available in other big cities, but we perceived the city as much more relaxed and so we were able to enjoy all the sights much more.
Chicago is well worth the trip. Had it been a little more central on our usual itineraries, I'm sure we would have been here a lot more often.
Our visits: So far 2 visits in August 1994 and May 2017
