Galena
Lake Geneva
Milwaukee

You can go out to the sand dunes. There are the Indiana Dunes about 45 minutes (by car) from downtown Chicago

http://www.duneland.com/parks/idsp.htm

The South Shore Line runs a train from downtown Chicago to the Indiana Dunes.

http://www.nictd.com/

If you exit the train at Beverly Shores station you are 1 mile from the beach.

Or if you drive east a little farther there are Warren Dunes in Michigan about 1 1/2 hours from Downtown Chicago

http://tinyurl.com/cc29rd

The dunes are great b/c you can hike & swim (August in Chicago is a great time for a swim)


On a totally different tack there is Starved Rock or Matthiessen Sate parks out west near Utica, IL. Unfortunately, I don't know of any public transportation that will take you there.

http://www.starvedrockstatepark.org/

http://www.stateparks.com/matthiessen.html

If you go to Starved Rock stop in Utica & have a burger at Duffy's Tavern, or stop in for a little wine tasting of Illinois wine at August Hill Winery or Illinois River Winery.

If you like to canoe you can rent a canoe from C & M in Wedron, IL & spend a day canoeing down the Fox River. Unfortunatly there is no public transport to there either.

Oh, I almost forgot. If you go to the dunes be VERY careful! It is very easy to get a REALLY BAD sunburn. The sun reflects off the sand & the water & boy oh, boy, before you know it you are fried to a crisp!

cheribob has a ton of great ideas. We've done most of the day trips on her list. I second Starved Rock State Park (I prefer SR over Matthiessen) as a hiking destination. Since you like nature, I would also suggest Devils Lake in Wisconsin.

Another trip we've done (with an overnight stay) was to Madison, WI.

Check out the www.megabus.com to see its destinations. It might work for you.

Here is a great day trip: take the train to Highland Park (Braeside Station) and go to the Botanic Gardens. Then walk to the Ravinia Music Festival for dinner and a concert. Lots of dining options there. The train back to Chicago leaves from outside the park's gate when the concert is over. You can buy tickets for the pavillion or sit out on the lawn where you can rent lawn chairs.

Check out the schedule at www.ravinia.org

With all due respect to previous posters, you have to be very careful if you decide to go swimming at the beaches of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. There are terrifically strong rip tides which occur all up and down the shoreline, and which cause several drownings each year.

Only one of the beaches has lifeguards - West Beach - which is miles away from the stops mentioned above.

I suggest strongly that you take a look at the information contained here, particularly the safety tips, if you are considering swimming there: www.nps.gov/indu/planyourvisit/swimming.htm

I agree that a visit to the Chicago Botanic Garden is a wonderful day trip. You need to know, though, that a person has to walk about a mile from the Braeside train station to the Garden entrance. You can, however, take a trolley (fee charged) from the Glencoe station to get there. You can see the hours of operation of the trolley on the Chicago Botanic Garden's website. The trolley does not operate year-round and only specific hours. The Pace bus system also goes to the Garden. You can get information from certain suburban stations, as well as the limited hours of operation, on the Garden's website.

To the OP: If you are unwilling or unable to obtain a rental car, there really are very limited options for what you wish. You either need to have a rental vehicle to even get to the locale (i.e., Galena) or need one once you are there (i.e., anywhere in SW Michigan, Starved Rock, etc.).

A lot of these suggestions are very popular with Chicagoans as well - so many hotels, B&Bs, inns, etc., in these areas are sometimes booked months in advance and require multi-night stays, especially on weekends and holidays.

I have no idea what your length of stay is for visiting Chicago; but if it is less than 4 days, over a weekend or holiday, I suggest that you consider foregoing this option.

I agree that there isn't a lot outside of Chicago. I think there is a bus that will take you to Milwaukee. That is a nice town. You could also just take the El up to Evanston. But really, why do you want to leave Chicago? You have beautiful nature incredibly accessible with Lake Michigan right there. There are several nice beaches. You could rent a car and do the west side of Michigan, but really that is a whole trip in itself. Plus the Michigan coast gets nicer as you move further north, which you really wouldn't have time for.

If you want to get out of the Loop area and explore Chicago itself more, I would definitely recommend that. Chicago is huge and is so much more than just the Miracle Mile. Do a little research on the various "neighborhoods" of Chicago. The city is broken down into them. The El train or a bus will get you to all of them. When I lived in Chicago I lived in Rogers Park which was on the Lake, just south of Evanston. To the west of us, were many ethnic neighborhoods. They provide interesting shopping and eating. The Wrigleyville area is a fun place, Lincoln Park is lovely. That sort of exploring would definitely fill up all your time.

The only other day trip out I would recommend would be the Dunes. And don't worry about the swimming. They have a flag system that gives warnings on when you can swim and when you can't, basically a green, yellow, or red flag. I believe (but not positive) that all the drownings have occurred during a red flag when no one should have been in the water.

Springfield, IL. Lincoln's home, the new museum, the old state capitol, the cemetary. Plus, if you're up for a bit of Frank Lloyd Wright, there's a fabulous FLW house just blocks from the Lincoln home.

Please read the URL which I provided. The very first sentence of the "Safety Tips" says it all. A person should *never* take anything for granted when you are swimming in Lake Michigan.

Yes, some of the drownings occurred when the swimmers ignored warnings, but not all. For example, a 10-year old girl passed away from injuries sustained during a near-drowning at Kemil Beach (near Beverly Shores) in September, when there was no report of rip currents.

Another vote for Starved Rock.

Oak Park is an excellent day/half day trip to the very near suburb. Frank Lloyd Wright studio and homes galore,Trinity Church, along with Earnest Hemmingway's also.

Nice laid back cafés and a few nice restaurants such as
Poor Phil's on So. Marion steps from the Harlem Ave train exit.(Which is the end of the line in oak Park.. not the Oak Park station several blocks earlier).

Wow, thanks for the great advice! I will be in Chicago for roughly a week. I've gotten some feedback that a week may be too much time (is it too much?). As it's the first time I've been to Chicago, the day trip options you've all proposed sound like alot of fun. Lots to consider.

Thanks for taking the time to give your feedback.

A week too much in Chicago? Definitely not. Way too much to do. You (or at least I) could spend a day or two at the Field Museum alone.

one thing that hasn't been mentioned is that there is a suburban train system. Depending on whether you want to do north, west or south, there are suburban trains that will stop at each suburb. There are lots of interesting things in the different suburbs. If you are a zoo fan, Brookfield Zoo is within walking distance of one of the stops. You could make a day of hopping on and off the train at different suburbs. Many of them have the town or village built around the tracks so walking around them is easy. Aurora is at the end of the west train system and there are some interesting things that direction.

If you are a zoo fan, definitely do what gabbeec said and go to Brookfield. It is about ten thousand times better than the Lincoln Park zoo. The Lincoln Park zoo is actually pretty depressing.

I spent a year in Chicago and it wasn't enough. But yes, you do need to branch out from the traditional tourist destinations.

Milwaukee - attend one of the many ethnic festivals.

http://www.summerfest.com/flash/# Summerfest

http://www.mcw.edu/GME/HSLife/MilwaukeeFestivals.htm Ethnic festivals all summer.

Door County Wisconsin is a popular spot - you would need a car.

If you are in around the 4th of July, Chicago has its huge downtown food festival that is pretty spectacular. Fireworks off navy pier. Also doing one of the dinner cruises that leaves from navy pier gives you a great shot of the Chicago skyline at sunset.

One rule of thumb in Chicago is about it's weather...give it fifteen minutes and it will change so be prepared for variety when it comes to weather.

The ravinia suggestion is really good as well. People love to picnic on the ground.

Also there are usually great concerts during the summer downtown Chicago