Will be planning a couple of days in Chicago in mid june. Will fly in to Ohare and rent a car, but would like to stay on the outer parts of chicago and take public transportation in to the city daily. Points of interest would be, Hancock builing, navy pier, Zoo, unique shopping areas, Chinatown?,Millenium park.
What places of interest would be best to see. (Two couples , retired but able).
Does it make sense to stay on the outskirts of the city and take public transportation in daily to view the city and sights, or must we stay downtown to avoid spending all day riding buses, subs, trains,etc?

Good Morning! We have been to Chicago several times and have done both, and it just has worked out better for us to stay downtown, for us that is. I usually get good hotel deal on Priceline and get to pick my star level and area, and after three stays, have never been disssapointed. I feel that we love the idea of just being able to walk virtually everywhere, it's really fun! Just my opinion though...

The bigger question is, why rent a car if you are going to use public transportation?

I agree with the other poster. Do a Priceline for a downtown hotel. Probably the best option.

But, if you are insisting on suburban located hotel, then pick one around O'Hare that has a shuttle service. That way, you can get a free ride to/from the airport, where you can catch a train that will take you to the center of the city. Get a multi day CTA pass. The pass allows unlimited CTA bus and train use from the time you use it for the first time.

For details look here: www.yourcta.com

Chicago has very good public transportation. No need to rent a car, especially if all you want to do is to explore the city.

Chicago is a fabulous public transportation city. DO NOT RENT A CAR! Traffic is horrible and parking is a giant expensive pain. Instead, take the train from O'Hare right downtown and live like local Chicagoans. You will probably be speeding right past several traffic jams while you are on the train.

Staying downtown is the best part about visiting Chicago. The outskirts of Chicago are very charmless. Why spend two hours on the train each day to stay in a windowless Super 8, when you can stay downtown on the 50th floor and look out over the glorious city?

Downtown Chicago is incredibly safe. You can be out anywhere at anytime and there will be other people walking around. It is a city heavy on foot traffic which increases safety.

Downtown hotels are expensive, but Priceline is supposedly great. Or try vrbo.com and maybe you can get a two bedroom condo downtown for less than a hotel.

We had some British business associates traveling to Chicago for a pleasure trip years ago. They were going to stay out and come in for the days. We convinced them to stay downtown instead. They said we saved their trip!

Definitely do not need a car. I was there last year and couldnt have imagined driving into the city. I was initially thinking the same thing as you but once I realized how much time was going to be lost commuting every day, it was worth it. Try the discount sites as I ended up getting a good deal on a hotel. I would recommend the CAF boat cruise down the river. I also think the Field Museum (Natural History Museum) is a great place. Shedd Aquarium was also great. Not sure if it would be worth it now that the Oceanarium is closed for renovation.

The pass allows unlimited CTA bus and train use from the time you use it for the first time.,

what I meant to say it this:

It's unlimited use based on 24 hours basis, so for example, if you buy a 3 day pass and use it for the first time at 3pm Sunday, the pass is good until 3pm Wednesday.



Have a great trip to the most beautiful US city.

Hancock - do the 96th Signature Lounge instead of the Observatory. The Obs elevator = ~$15, the Lounge elevator is free and it's only 1 or 2 floors below. Use the $15 for lunch or drinks in the lounge and enjoy the same views.

Architecural boat tour - wonderful way to see the the city.

Museum of Natural History together with the Shedd Aquarium and Adler Planeterium (all located within walking distance to each other)

The Art Institute Museum

The ethnic neighborhoods with the wonderful, fun, different restaurants. (German, Polish, Italian, Russian, Jewish, etc...)

For lunch one day try to make it to AL's #1 Beef for Italian Beef sandwich, a Chicago tradition, in Little Italy neighborhood on west Taylor St,, right next to the U of Illinois campus.

Little or window shop on the Magnificent Mile. (North Michigan Ave)

Lakefront, Millennium Park, possible free symphony concert in the park, Lincoln Park Zoo are always free and easily accessible.

www.metromix.com will give you all the info you need. Restaurants, neighborhoods, events, etc...

Good suggestions above! Do not rent a car, stay downtown. KellieBellie said staying downtown is what's special about Chicago and I agree. You get the full flavor of the city. The Shedd is wonderful, the river tour fantastic and lunch at the Signature in the Hancock Building a must. See: http://www.signatureroom.com/Cuisine/default.cfm?PID=2

gandb777 - you don't HAVE to stay downtown - although it does present some convenience. Would like to know what your thinking was - lower cost, less noisy? Why did you think about doing that?

Some people are quite happy to stay in Evanston - it's not far to the commuter rail or the L and from there it's about 45 min. downtown and back. Other areas may present a problem in that motels/hotels often aren't that close to public transit.

Agree with others on the sites to see, esp architectural river tour and the museums (our favorite is the Art Institute). Cars are a pain and hotels charge a lot for parking. For rooms, try Hotrooms.com.
We love the Talbott.

I agree with all the other posters, too. I love Chicago and have been many times. We always stay downtown, and take the train from the airport. Once, we had a car because we were leaving traveling to Milwaukee from Chicago, but other than that, we just used public transportation and our feet! Note that the lists of places to visit re great -- and that Navy Pier doesn't appear on any of them. Don't waste your time == there's nothing there worth going out of your way for.

Another suggestion is the Garfield Park Conservatory. We enjoyed it. Yes, the Navy Pier is a bust.

Just echoing what others have said: Don't stay in the suburbs and don't rent a car. It's a waste of money and time. The big hotels are downtown and in the mag mile/river north, and there's also a Crowne Plaza in Greektown just off the blue line. If you want to get away from the touristy areas and stay amongst the locals, then there are a few smaller hotels in Lakeview and Lincoln Park.

To bring you all up to date and response to some questions.

. will need to rent a car as we will be driving up into Wis to visit relatives after Chicago.

. Thinking of staying out of town due to the high cost of hotels in the city.

. May have the option of flying in to either Ohare or Midway. Is there much to choose between these two?
How about hotels/motels locted near each. Any suggestions.

. Really appreciate the advice gibven so far. Thanks

1. if you need to drive up to Wisconsin AFTER your Chicago visit, why not wait to rent a car on the last day of the visit?

2. Priceline

3. If you still insist on airport hotel location, I would pick O'Hare.

I would recommend you rent the car on the day you plan to drive to WI and stay downtown. The extra hotel cost would be reduced somewhat by the 2 days you don't have the car.
Hope you have a great trip.

. ,,,will need to rent a car as we will be driving up into Wis to visit relatives after Chicago......

Rent the car WHEN you need it. On the weekends, downtown Enterprise locations have terrific deals on cars. If you don't need the car immediately, it will be much cheaper to rent away from the airport.

. .....Thinking of staying out of town due to the high cost of hotels in the city........

We can find hotels in downtown Chicago that are much cheaper than around O'Hare. Last weekend we were in Chicago and stay at the Holiday Inn Express on Wabash for less than a $100 night.

...... May have the option of flying in to either Ohare or Midway. Is there much to choose between these two? .....

I think there is a world of difference. O'Hare is massive and hour via train from downtown Chicago. It is couple miles walk from the United terminal to the train -- it is all indoors but a long hike. And then it is an hour ride in. Midway is much closer and convenient. About a 25 min ride to the Loop. IMO Midway is much easier to use. Given an option we will always fly into Midway. The hotel selection is much better around O'Hare.

The general conclusion is that there is no advantage to staying outside the city and the cost difference is nil and might be more expensive staying near the airport.

You need to stay downtown to see downtown. Downtown is not the city of Chicago, it is just the downtown scrapperscape part- Chicago is massive. It is not like many other USA cities. Yes, the public transport is good downtown.

Here are some online websites where you don't need to bid for hotel rooms, but can find much, much better deals downtown than you would on the hotels' websites or calling direct. Do not forget there are more than 17% taxes added too upon your hotel room costs, even if you are NOT parking a car. Car parking is now $3.50 (14 quarters) an hour in meters and/or
anywhere from $36 to $48 a day at your downtown lodging.

You can take the L North and rent a car to use for WI outside of the city- after your Chicago stay. Don't rent the car here in the Chicago city proper.

Here are some great sites for Chicago hotel pricing:
www.quikbook.com www.hoteldiscount.com

quikbook you can cancel up to 3 days ahead, I believe.

There are other sites where you can pick your hotel or/and bid upon a hotel by features, not name. And whole treads upon how to use them too here. And sites were you can go to learn where the latest bidders won rooms.

But if you don't want to do all that and think that staying outside and commuting is the same- go for it. It isn't the same. I live 1 hour exactly away on the Metra train- and I stay downtown, to see downtown. Everything in Chicago is too far apart, and there are too many features just there by the lake too- to make staying away for any 3 or 5 day period of time- and going back and forth every day- feasible. It won't be a vacation, but a commute trip. Going downtown from my house, seeing 1 or 2 venues and coming home- even without eating a dinner downtown- takes TIME. It will be like your travel/air/flight day- too exhausted by the time you get there to "start".

Money does matter. I can get rooms in a four star in the Watertower / Michigan Ave, or LOOP districts- either one- for under $100 (last time I got them it was $69)because I used the discount bidding brokers. But even if you use quikbooks on their specials or pick the named lodging choices on www.hotwire.com - you'll do better than staying in a suburb.

Train costs are higher too now.

If you give me your exact June dates- I could probably come up with some choices for you.

I did this for a lady and her two daughters last Fall- and they ended up having enough money saved to all go see Wicked and have a good meal- on top of it.

BTW, Wicked is gone as of Mar. and Mary Poppins starts March 11 in its place. Bye, bye, Glinda.

As I mentioned, we also were driving to Wisconsin, so we rented a car when we were "done" in Chicago, went to Oak Park first (a little out of the way, but since we had the car, it was easy)to see all the Frank Lloyd Wright stuff, and continued on to Milwaukee.

We've used Hotwire.com and found good deals. Choose "streeterville" neighborhood if you want to be by the chicago river and closer to museum campus and Millennium and Grant Parks (my favorite area)and marinas, or watertower/gold coast if you want to be closer to Watertower, Lincoln Park and some of the beaches down there. One of the great things about staying in the city is waking up in the morning, with the lovely light, or enjoying the city lights if you are there in the evening. You can get around so easily yourself. And the cost of city parking could put a damper on your trip.