Hi! I need inexpensive transportation from Ohare to the Allegro hotel. Can anyone help me out with this? Got my hubby to agree to a "city" vacation, but am not sure he's up to hauling luggage on the subway----any other "inexpensive" options? Does anyone have any idea on cab fare between downtown and Ohare? Thx in advance for the tips!

I'm not sure if the Allegro has a shuttle (doubtful), but the subway is by far the cheapest way of getting downtown. A cab ride will run around $35-40. I almost always take the "el" when going to the airport. I hate getting stuck in traffic!

Ask the staff at the Allegro if the Continental Airport Bus stops there. Otherwise, your choices are a cab ($30) or the El ($1.50 apiece).
http://www.ohare.com/ohare/ground_transport/ground.shtm

Thanks quimbymoy and patg. Since we're not hauling a lot of luggage anyway, I'm thinking we'll do the "el". How much time will it take to go from OHare to the Clark/Lake stop in the loop? And if I need to be at the airport by 6pm on a Sun. nite, what time do you think we need to leave on the train from downtown? Thx again for your help!

Patg: I just got on the website you gave me re: ohare transportation----it answered my "time" questions. thank you so much!

Colette- I just did this last month and it is quite simple. The train stop is less than a block from the hotel. Transit time is about 30 to 40 minutes. I'd recommend the train over a cab becasue traffic can be heinous. There is an elevator to get from the train platform to the street level if you are toting luggage.

Thank you Seamus! I'm gonna bug you with with one more question-----is the signage pretty good at Ohare re: finding the Blue line train? I'm sure it depends on your airline, but I'm just wondering how long of a walk it is from the train station to or from the airlines. I guess I'm more concerned about the train ride back----30-40 min. for the ride.....30-40 minutes to walk to my gate?????? Thanks again-----

We just got back from Chicago. Flew into O'Hare and took the El to the Monaco, which is near the Allegro. Signage was great, but we had a hard time deciding which pass to buy from the machine. A very nice police officer assisted us. He suggested we buy a regular pass which we could both use, no expiration date, instead of the "city pass" because we were staying downtown within walking distance of pretty much everything. For $6 ($1.50 each ride)we both rode the El roundtrip for our airport transportation. We did use a cab once ($3.80)to a restaurant and realized we could easily walk back to our hotel. Chicago is a great city to walk in.

Thank you "blep" for the info on which train pass to purchase. That will save us a few indecisive minutes! We'll do the regular pass too since we plan on doing some walking. Thanks again!

Collette; You are welcome. Almost everyone we saw stood looking at the machines in confusion. We certainly would've spent more money on the City Pass if it hadn't been for the nice help we got. He even told us the exact stop to get off at and walking directions from there. It was my first "no checked luggage" trip - I would love to travel that way every trip!

Just a quickie, blep------how did you pay for the pass? Do I need exact change, or can I use a credit card? Thanks again!

It is best to have the exact change; in our case we needed $6 (for 2 rides for each of us). If you don't have the exact amount you do NOT receive change. I don't remember seeing a credit card option, although I think you can buy City Passes ahead of time online.

I'll get exact change and we'll see how our BlueLine special from O'Hare to downtown turns out this weekend----thanks so much for all of the help!

Clockwork----no hesitating at the machines, $6.00 round trip, I'll definitely do the Blue Line train from O'Hare to downtown again! (if only the weather had cooperated while departing O'Hare on Sunday!!!) Thanks to all for helping make our trip almost perfect!!