About 35 minutes from the "loop" on the Metra orange line.
8.4 miles from Union Station. I tend to believe the Bad Bad Leroy Brown song. The south side of Chicago is the baddest part of town.
Stop and see "Sue" at the Field Museum.

Personally, I'd love to do this tour:

https://tickets.architecture.org/public/show.asp

I haven't talked to anyone who's done it. But if it's anywhere near the quality of their river boat cruise, it's well worth doing.

Sorry about that, that didn't work as I'd hoped! Let me try again!

http://www.architecture.org/page.aspx?pid=678

A relative went to the University of Chicago fairly recently. He said that the area from the campus east toward the museums is pretty safe, the area west not so much.

If you like architecture, the Robbie House, on the edge of the campus, has been restored and is a beauty.

Haha, tomfuller, that's a good one and we will keep that in mind. Guess we will try to take a bus straight to the museum and explore from there. I assume we will be safe if we stay right in that little area.

CAPH52, I would love that tour, too! Looking so forward to exploring Chicago...

During the day, you should be fine on East 57th street between the University of Chicago and the Museum of Science and Industry, as well as a couple blocks above or below, certainly if you're headed to nearby area attractions such as the Robie House, Rockefeller Memorial Chapel, Smart Museum of Art, and Oriental Institute Museum. Not so sure about going beyond this, or wandering around the area at night.

You can get there from The Loop by taking the Metra Electric commuter train to the 55th-56th-57th Street stop.

Thanks backslunch. Is the Metra train faster than the bus? Does it drop you off fairly close to everything?