Hi, I am flying into chicago on Monday, May 7 at around 10h00 AM. I will have a rented car....I was looking to drive downtown and spend the day...I am taking a course the next day in St-Charles, so I will drive there after supper....Any Suggestions as to where to park? Should I park outside downtown and take a subway? I am not familiar with the city...ideal would be to site seing and have supper in a nice local restaurant....looking for a nice crowd...not fancy.....what is a big mall in the area...is there a casino really close to downtown?

I would recommend the Arcithectural Boat Cruise and this puts everything down town in perspective. Then you can walk as you wish on the miracle mile and downtown parks.

Are you flying into Midway or O'Hare? If you'll be heading to St. Charles in the evening, what about taking the L downtown, then back to the airport to pick up your car?

The L is $2 each way and the trip will take about 45 mins from Midway and around an hour from O'Hare. Parking downtown will cost you about $20-25 for the day.

The architectural boat cruise is a good suggestion. The dock is at the SE corner of Michigan Ave and Wacker and the cruises last 90-minutes. Check the Chicago Architecture Foundation site at www.architecture.org.

If you want to go shopping, head to the Magnificant Mile on Michigan Avenue from the river north to Oak Street. You'll find the big stores like Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom, Saks, Tiffany's, Bloomingdale's, Chanel, Macy's as well as discount stores like Filene's Basement, Marshall's and H&M. Also check out Field's/Macy's on State Street.

As for restaurants, there are literally hundreds to choose from. How much are you looking to spend and what sort of cuisine? You could check www.metromix.com enter a price range, type of restaurant and neighborhood. Search in city downtown or Magnificant Mile and you'll get a list of possibilities.

You can park in the Monroe Street underground parking. Oh, sorry, it is now called The Millennium Park Garage. It is located on Columbus Drive between Randolph and Monroe. The current parking rate for up to 8 hours in the garage is $17.00.

I would not recommend parking outside downtown b/c neighborhoods can be iffy.

From the garage you can walk through the park & see "The Bean". Take a detour south & see Buckingham Fountain (The Married w/Children fountain).

It is about 6 blocks to the Chicago River (head North) where you can catch
an Architecual Boat Cruise or you can park at the North Pier Docks. From I-90/I-94 Exit Ohio Street east. Go east on Ohio Street two blocks past Michigan Avenue and turn right (south) on Fairbanks Court. Proceed two blocks to Illinois Street and turn left (east). North Pier Docks are located at Illinois Street and McClurg Court.

I don't know of a casino close to downtown unless you are referring to the boats out in Gary, Ind.

If you want a mall go to Water Tower Place at 835 North Michigan Ave.

Based on it's convenient location to Water Tower Place, for a nice dinner I would recommend Lawry's Prime Rib at 100 E Ontario. The restaurant is in the old Cyrus McCormick Mansion. Cyrus McCormick was the founder of International Harvester. But you don't want fancy and I am sure other posters will have their own favorite restaurants to tell you about.

Wow thanks for all the good comments!!! We are flying into O'Hare. Is the L a train or a bus? It takes 1 hour? How long would it take to drive? Is the Aiport closer to St-Charles then Downtown? I think this would be a convenient suggestion as I am not that confortable driving around. I will probably check out the architectual boat cruises...seems cool. As for restaurants, I will be going with a co-worker...both in our twenties, looking more like maybe a wellknown sports bar...or something like the Keg (but a local version)...

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The L or El is the Elevated train. In some areas it runs underground, but it's still called the L. The various lines are designated by color. Between downtown and ORD is the Blue Line.

Driving time into the city depends entirely on traffic. I'd say probably about 30-45 mins to drive barring any big tie-ups. The airport is NW of the city and about an hour NE of St. Charles, so it's almost the mid-point.

What will you be doing with your bags while you're walking around in town? One idea could be to rent your car when you arrive and stow your luggage in there. Drive out of the airport on Highway I-190 to Cumberland Avenue, it's only 2 exits outside the airport. The CTA has a large park and ride garage there where you can park for up to 12 hours for $2. From there, you can catch the Blue Line into town.

Exit the train at Clark/Lake. The station exits into the State office building. Go out the front door and turn left on Randolph Street. Walk 4 blocks east on Randolph to Michigan Avenue. The Cultural Center is at the corner of Randolph and Michigan and there is a visitor info center inside. You can pick up maps and all sorts of information.

Across Michigan is Millennium Park, you could head to the Park Grill in the park for dinner. They have a wide menu that's casual and not real pricey www.parkgrillchicago.com. They also have an outdoor cafe and the weather on Monday is supposed to be great.

As for lunch or other suggestions, Chicago is known for deep dish pizza. There are several places around. Giordano's is a local chain and has a location one block north of Randolph just east of Michigan Ave. There's also another location farther north at Superior and Rush but it's usually much more crowded.

I believe there's a train from downtown to St Charles which could eliminate the need for a car and make your visit to alocal bar that much more fun.

What is the advantage of taking the train from cumberland vs airport? I will rent the car as soon as I land...put my bags in the car...either drive to downtown and park then drive to st.charles....leave the car at the airport take the train downtown, take train back then drive to st.charles or drive to cumberland, take train downtown and back then drive to st. charles.......what's sounds better, I need your votes

The advantage to taking the train over driving is that driving downtown is stressful if you are not used to city driving (not to mention traffic is unpredictable) and parking averages $20 a day (and if collect your car and drive up to another location, that will cost another $20) the train (the 'el') will cost you $4 round trip, or $5 for an unlimited one day pass (that includes all 'els' and city buses).

All the reasons above and I'll add that a vast majority of the streets downtown are one-way, so you may be able to see where you want to go, but won't necessarily be able to go right there without driving several additional blocks.

Great thanks! but should I take the train from the airport or drive the 2 exits and park and take it from there as it was previously suggested?

It's cheaper to park at Cumberland than at the airport, that's why it was recommended. Cumberland is close to the turnoff to 294 south, which is the way to St. Charles.