Which is best for subway travel to and from O'Hare and a 9:00am entry to the Field Museum; Hotel 71 or Sheraton Chicago? The day of check in we'd like to spend on the Mag. Mile and the next day in the museums. Flight out is at noon. thanks

These two hotels are not more than 4 blocks from each other. You could easily walk between the two in under 10 minutes. Getting to either from O'hare on the el will require either a short cab ride or a change in trains, with Hotel 71 being very slightly closer to an el stop. They are, for all intents and purposes, equidistant from the Field Museum.

There's no reason you've given for choosing one over the other, so I'd choose based on price and reviews at www.tripadvisor.com and amenities that are important to you.

Hotel 71 is about a half-mile closer to the subway and the commercial part of downtown, Sheraton is north of the river and a straight shot through Grant Park to the museums, but I would go with Hotel 71.

The trip from O'Hare to downtown takes about 45 minutes.

If you're going to catch a cab to either hotel, it would be easiest to exit the Blue Line at Clark/Lake and take the escalator/elevator to street level. Cabs will be easy to find in that area.

If you want to transfer to another train or bus to reach either, check www.transitchicago.com and use the trip planner. It will give you 2 or 3 options.

To reach the Field Museum, you can hop on the 146 bus on Michigan Avenue north of the river or Wacker Drive or State Street south of the river. It runs daily about every 10-15 minutes.

thanks so much