Hi,
Next March in our way to Russia we have a 71/2 hrs.layover in Chicago.
Any suggestions on what to do during this time? I have never been in Chicago and would like to take advantage of this precious time.
Any advise would be much appreciated

Depends on your interests: shopping downtown,a great Art Museum, a natural history museum, etc.

Well, if you leave the airport, you'll have to figure at least one hour for checking back into security. And you'll have to be there one hour before your flight. So, now you are effectively down to 5-1/2 hours.

Depending on where you want to travel, you will have to add time to get in/out of the airport. Unfortunately, O'Hare is not that close to downtown.

I believe there is a shuttle bus from O'Hare that will drop you at the O'Hare transfer Metra train station. From there, you can get to Union Station in Chicago. I believe the trip could take as long as an hour if you are not on an Express. Here is the Metra link:

http://www.metrarail.com/

With two hours travel and the two hours security/checkin, you are now down to 3-1/2 hours in Chicago. That should be enough to take in just the ambience.

Once at Union Station, I'd just taxi over to Millenium Park or take the CTA's #151 Bus to Millenium. Walk around Millenium, walk up Michigan Avenue. Taxi back to Union Station and head back to O'hare. That's about all you'll have time for. I'm betting that 3 hours or so will spark your desire to come back. Watch for those "weekender" fares from AA or other airlines. You will want to come back and do at least a 4-day weekend here!

And remember, March can still be VERY cold in Chicago. Don't know where you're coming from, but presume that Russia will also be cold that time of year, so you should have the gear to stay warm. It ain't called "The Windy City" for nothin'! My advice: layer, layer, layer!

Have fun!
Paula

Don't take the Metra. The CTA Blue Line goes right to O'Hare and is about an hour ride to the loop (downtown). You won't have a ton of time, but you could see Millenium Park and Art Institute or maybe the Field Museum or Shedd Aquarium. The old Marshall Field's flagship (now Macy's) is worth stopping seeing and is right by Millenium Park. The blue line also runs through Greektown and Little Italy along with Wicker Park, a neighborhood between the loop and airport that has a lot of shops and restaurants.

I would say you should deffinitally take the L down to the city. Get on the Blueline and head towards the loop. You will only have about 3 hours but the trains are pretty stable and there is one that runs every 5-12 minutes depending on which track you get on. I would suggest heading to Millenium park and getting the typical tourist picture of you and the city reflected in what we chicagoians call "the bean" if you google the bean chicago you will see what I am talking about. From there you can take a cab over to navy pier to walk around or my suggestion would be to go up the magnificant mile which has a lot of name brand stores but is fun to grab a bite to eat and enjoy the atmosphere. It is still really cold in March so walking along the lake front or spending a lot of time outdoors is not really practical. The Art Institute of Chicago is right next to Millinium park. If you need any other help or have any other questions feel free to email me.

I have a similar layover (8+) same time of year and will arrive in the morning and bags will already be checked through. My friend will be with me and would like to have some deep dish pizza. Based on the posts, I was thinking of taking the Blue Line from Ohare to Washington St and then getting off there for shopping and eating, and then going back to the airport after lunch (flight isn't until 6:30). Can someone recommend a pizza place near there so we don't have to walk very far? Thank you.

Tonitraveler, if you're just heading to the loop for lunch, get off the Blue Line at Clark/Lake. You'll exit in the coucourse of the State Office Building and from there you'll have two options.

Go out the main door, turn right on Randolph and walk up one block to Wells (where the L track is). If you walk another block up, you'll find Giordano's on your right between Franklin and Wacker Dr.

Option 2 is to turn right on Wells and cross the river. Lou Malnati's is about 3 blocks across the river at 439 N Wells. About a six-block walk total.

As for deep dish pizza. Some people like Pizza Uno which there are a couple of locations on the Near North side just North of the Chicago River and east and/or west of Michigan St, also Gino's East has some loop locations and also my favorite, Giordano's.
All are good and all have their own following.
Just google for the exact locations.
Mangia!

Thanks for your help, joethekay and citylights!

Uno and Gino's East are other possibilities, but are farther from the Blue Line than Malnati's and Giordano's. (I won't get into the debate over which of the four is better.)

However, if you opt for either of those, the Gino's on Ontario at Wells, west of Michigan Avenue is about four blocks north of Malnati's. Pizzeria Uno and Pizzeria Due are on Wabash/Ohio or Wabash/Ontario, five blocks farther east.

Well, since we get in too early to just go straight to lunch, my idea is to get off the Blue Line at Washington and hit the Macys/Marshall Fields and hang there until it's lunchtime, and then take a taxi or the Red Line north to one of the pizza places. I looked at all your suggestions on a map and since we have to start off hanging out somewhere (shopping) off the Blue Line, then we'll need to walk probably too far if it's really cold to get to one of the pizza places. What I was hoping for was a pizza place right next to some of the shopping and also off the Blue Line, but after looking at the suggestions and the maps, it doesn't seem like that exists. I like to walk, but as the weather is unpredictable, I don't want to plan on that. Is it easy to catch a cab from most anywhere downtown?

Also, for returning to the airport in mid-afternoon, would you recommend a taxi or the Blue Line as the quickest?

I prefer the Blue Line, because traffic in Chicago is horrific, and O'Hare is a usually zoo.

Tonitraveler, cabs are abundant in most areas of the city. Most shopping is centered around Michigan Avenue north of the river. In addition to Macy's, you'll find Saks, H&M, Tiffany's, Border's Bloomingdale's, Gap, Filene's Basement, Neiman Marcus, Prada, Barney's, Polo, Burberry and almost every other known store.

To get there from the Blue Line, you can transfer at Washington to the Red Line toward Howard. (The Washington station is currently under construction, but scheduled to reopen in fall 2008. The other transfer point is at Jackson.)

Exit the Red Line at either Grand Avenue or Chicago Avenue and walk 2 blocks east to Michigan. If you exit at Grand, you can walk through Nordstrom. Pizzeria Uno, Due are 2 blocks off Michigan Avenue on Wabash. There's another Giordano's on Superior at Rush, behind Saks and the Peninsula Hotel.

If you're planning on going to Macy's/Field's on State, there's another Filene's Basement, TJ Maxx, Nordstrom Rack and H&M within one block.

From there, you can head to the Giordano's mentioned in the earlier post on West Randolph or they have another location east of Macy's near Millennium Park. Check Giordano's website for all their locations.

As for getting back to ORD, the Blue Line is most predictable in terms of time.

Sorry to be dense, but when you say there is construction at the Washington stop, does that mean it's closed on both the Blue Line and Red Line, or just one, or what exactly? Does that mean when we leave Ohare we should get off at Jackson, because we can't get off at Washington? I went to the Chicago Transit site and couldn't seem to find the right place to get the answers....

Thank you for all your help.

The Washington stop on the Blue Line is fine. The Washington stop on the Red Line is closed.

There are passageways that allow you to transfer between the two lines without exiting the system and paying a second fare to re-enter. They're located at Washington and Jackson.

While the Red Line Washington stop is scheduled to reopen this fall, CTA has been known to be off in it's estimates. So, the only transfer spot between the two lines would be Jackson.

Oops, should be "its" estimates.

Thanks very much for all your help!!

I want to thank you all for your valuable insights...they will be very helpful!



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OK, the layover and trip is complete now, and I must say that using the Blue Line was very easy and efficient. We got in around 9 a.m., went into the city to shop/eat and then headed back to the airport around 3:30 p.m. for our 6:30 flight. Our baggage was already checked through, so we just had to get through security.

I think we timed our return to the airport just about perfectly, as we had just enough time to pick up a little snack at the airport after clearing security (long lines) and then within maybe 15 minutes our flight was boarding.

Oh, and we headed to the international terminal first when we got back to the airport, thinking our flight would leave from there, but in fact since it was a United flight it left from Terminal 1, so my mistake ate up a little time there.

We each purchased a one-day transit pass ($5), but ended up only using it to go to and from the airport since the weather was nice enough to walk around. We gave our passes to some travelers as we returned to the airport. They were happy as clams, and we were glad to see them get a little more use. Yes, I know, you're not supposed to share them, but why not let someone use them for the rest of the day?

Hope all you others with Chicago layovers have as easy a time as we did enjoying the city for a few hours.

And the trip on the Blue line will hopefully go faster later this year as extensive "slow orders" track work is repaired and the line resumes 60 mph speeds.
Glad you had a nice trip and stay.