Hi, I will be visiting Chicago in late March and would like to know how cold/warm/ rainy it gets to help with packing.
Also, I love art and architecture - how many days would it take to see the main sights - I have about 4-5 days.

March is actually fairly predictable weather, for Chicago. Worst scenario: a snowstorm or ice storm, temps below freezing. Best scenario: not too rainy with highs of about 50. The ground tends to be very messy with rain and snow runoff, so consider your footwear carefully - comfortable boots are highly recommended. Bring a lined raincoat, a scarf, gloves and a hat.

You can easily spend all of your 5 days seeing the architecture and art exhibits here. Must sees: Art Institute (of course) Chicago Architecture Foundation Tours (www.architecture.com) Robie House in Hyde Park and Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio in Oak Park.
Highly recommend: Bahai House of Worship in Wilmette, Alta Vista Rowhouses, Glessner House Museum, strolling through great lobbies of the Loop (Palmer House and Chicago Hilton Hotels, Rookery, State of Illinois Building, Cultural Center and Marshall Field's Tiffany ceilings, many more), walk past mansions of the Gold Coast, Museum of Contemporary Art, art galleries in Bucktown, Garfield Park Conservatory. I've lived here many years and haven't seen all of it yet.

dbmy, I see that you are probably combining Chicago and St Louis in one trip? Both are great cities, but Chicago is truly a world class city.

As per patg, Chicago weather can be unpredictable that time of year. One year my tulip tree was in bloom. Another year we had a blizzard ice storm and went without power for a week.

If you are coming from warmer climes, you will be COLD because of the wind whipping off the lake. Pack a down vest if you have one; it will feel cozy under your lined raincoat sometimes.

Chicago now has a combined pass to visit several popular attractions:

http://metromix.chicagotribune.com/v...369_lgcy.story

wsoxrebel is right, flipping a coin is about as accurate as it gets in March. I know the Art Institute has a Rembrandt exhibit coming and has a great regular collection. Depending on your taste, you may also like the Museum of Contemporary Art or the Terra Museum. The Chicago Cultural Center also runs architecture tours.

I love Chicago---some of the best art and architecture around. I stumbled on the Cultural Center downtown and fell in love---it is the former turn of the century library and has 2 Tiffany Domes and more mosaic tile in the walls, floors and staircases than I've ever seen. It's really a great place--takes up an entire city block I think, but doesn't take long to go thru it at all. Patg is right about checking out the lobbies of all the great old hotels downtown too and I love Garfield Conservatory, though not sure what it's like in March. Also the tours around the city are great. THey tell you alot about the architecture, their place in time in the city, etc. And the museums are world class. Enjoy!

Thank you all for your suggestions. This is the best travel forum I have come across becuase there is so much activity and everyone is so generous in sharing their knowledge.
I am getting rather excited about the trip. I come from Australia where it is currently warm and sunny - about 20-25 degrees C. I am hoping that I won't get too rude a shock when I get to Chicago and St Louis ut at least I have been forewarned!
Is W Madison St close to the CBD/ Loop?

CBD? Not sure what you mean by this.

Madison Street runs right through the center of the Loop. East addresses are in the short stretch between State Street and the lake. West addresses start counting by 100's at State street, so 1400 West Madison is 14 blocks west of State.

Go to choosechicago.com for lots of tourist info and maps. Also, the correct internet address for the Architecture Foundation is www.architecture.org
Check out their offerings all over the city.

The W on Madison is a great hotel (at least the bar/public areas are-havent' been in the rooms) It's just been upon about 2 years (it used to be an old dumpy hotel). It is in the middle to ths south end of the CBD (central business district-Loop). It's very close to the El, about 5 blocks from South Michigan, not to far from the Art Institute/Museum campus/State street, but a far walk from Water Tower/Mag mile. It may be slightly deserted in that area at night because it's in the heart of the business district, but certainly not a reason not to stay there.

There's not much I can add to the wonderful info you have received but you might also look into the Chicago Greeter program and visit one of the neighborhoods that often tourists miss.

Just looking through the list on their website, there are several that I find fascinating-Pullman, the planned industrial community of George Pullman (Pullman railroad cars)and Hyde Park which is home to the University of Chicago, many beautiful mansions and the Robie House, would be my first two picks. www.chicagogreeter.com

Pullman can also be toured on your own (organized walking tours don't start until May), there's a great visitors center down there. Here's a good site for info on Pullman http://members.aol.com/PullmanIL/

Prairie Avenue is not on the Greeter site but it is easy to tour on your own as there are multiple signs posted, a few of the mansions are still there, Glessner House is one of them and Clarke House, believed to be the oldest building in Chicago, is also down there.
http://www.glessnerhouse.org/tours.html

The Terra Museum is American art and is located at 664 N. Michigan Avenue, right in the middle of the main shopping area. Admission is free, the museum will be closing for good later this year.

RE: architecture, you really have to access the Chi Architecture Foundation, http://www.architecture.org. The number of tours is amazing. I can recommend the downtown walking, the Glessner House, and Graceland Cemetary. If you REALLY want to do some research, you can pick up the book by Chicago Tribune Architecture critic Blair Kamin "Why Architecture Matters" discussing Chicago building or see his stories at http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/
chi-blairkamin.storygallery

In addition to www.metromix.com and www.chicagoreader.com, I also like http://www.877chicago.com/default.html for event info.

Too bad that you won't be here over St. Patrick's Day ... lots going on then.

Do you need any suggestions for restaurants, bars, places to hear music?

Thanks for the websites.
The architecture foundation sounds wonderful, as does
And yes, I would appreciate suggestions for good restaurants that are moderately priced. I may try Charlie Trotter but don't think that I can sustain that sort of price!!
If you are able to recommend places for classical (might try to get tickets to the Chicago Symphony), jazz/ blues and theatre, that would be wonderful.

I am getting really excited about the trip and will try to squeeze as much in as possible!

For theatre you might want to check out the following websites:

www.metromix.com
http://www.centerstage.net/theatre/shows/
www.broadwayinchicago.com for the larger productions

If you want tickets for the more popular shows, like Blue Man Group or Second City, you might want to get tickets in advance.

But if you end up with a free night, you can always check out the hottix booth and get 1/2 price same day tickets (you can buy on Friday for Sat and Sun). www.hottix.org

Charlie Trotter's books up in advance, it's not a place that you can go at the last minute. Personally I would not get enough value out of it for the price so I've never been. Chicago has oodles of good restaurants that are more affordable. I'm not a gourmet diner so I won't be much help to you for fine dining establishments and I will leave that for someone else.