leeni8

Hi! Hubby and I are thinking about taking a last minute "baby moon" trip to Chicago next week. We'll most likely be flying into Midway and will want to take the train to a hotel downtown. Our only plan so far is to attend a game at Wrigley Field, so without a car, we need something that's:

1. walking distance from the train coming from Midway
2. walking distance from the L line to Wrigley
3. nothing too fancy/expensive (Best Western, etc.)

Please advise - thanks!

P.S. Just in case we get a great flight from O'Hare, any recommendations based on the criteria above?

leeni8

Just a follow up: I found a good package that includes a stay at the Best Western Grant Park Hotel. Does this fit the bill? I only know a little about this Millenium Park area so I'm not sure if it meets the criteria.

jent103

It's not my top choice for a location (I'd pick something in the River North/Streeterville area, close to the river), but it's certainly not bad either. (I've never stayed at that particular hotel, so can't comment, but I have stayed at the Essex Inn a few blocks up.) You'll be at the far southern end of what you'll probably be interested in seeing (is this your first trip to Chicago?). It would be a OK walk to the Art Institute and a long walk to the Magnificent Mile, but there are buses that run up and down Michigan that you can take (the exact number is escaping me, but I think the 151?). How much walking you want to do probably depends on how hot it is and how far along you are!

On the plus side, you would be fairly close to the Roosevelt stop, which is on the red line (Wrigley - get off at Addison) and the orange line (Midway).

I've had good luck with Hotwire in Chicago, and have seen good prices for this summer on betterbidding.com. My top zone choice would be the Magnificent Mile/Streeterville area, but there are others that would work as well. I put in some dates next week and got a 4* in the Streeterville zone for $149/night (add a bit more for taxes).

Citylghts

I agree that you could do much better location-wise. The BW is at the extreme south end of Grant Park and aside from the Museum Campus and L is pretty isolated from most of the other activities and shopping.

For transit info, check www.transitchicago.com. You'll find maps and a trip planner. Day passes would also be a good idea. A 3-day pass is $14 and allows unlimited rides on all CTA trains and buses for a 72-hour period. You can purchase them at the rail station at either airport.

Just doing a quick check, the Hampton Inn and Hilton Garden Inn in River North are both $169 and the River Hotel which shares a building with Club Quarters on Wacker Drive is $164.

leeni8

Thanks Jent109 and Citylghts. I didn't think that the BW would work but just thought I'd ask. I checked out transitchicago.com and it seems easy enough to walk from the Hampton Inn to the red line for Wrigley. What about coming from Midway to the hotel?

jent103

It looks like State/Lake would be the closest orange line stop to the River North Hampton. You could walk to the Lake stop from there and catch the red line, or walk across the river and up several blocks to the hotel. Or catch a cab.

Just for future reference, Google Maps (because they're awesome) have transit marked for some cities, Chicago included. So you can Google Map hotel addresses and click on the M's nearby to see what lines the L stops are on.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&sour...,0.014269&z=16

Citylghts

If you used the trip planner on www.transitchicago.com, it would have given you several options. Probably the easiest is to take the Orange Line to Roosevelt and transfer to the Red Line toward Howard. Exit at Grand and the Hampton is one block SW.