Where to stay? First time in Chicago with 2 kids (8+5).
 

We are driving into Chicago, visiting this city for the first time.

What would you recommend to be the best part of the city to stay? I don't want to drive around too much. I have heard that their public transit should be fine to get to the places we want and also don't want to pay astronomical city parking rates.

Thanks.

What do you plan to do while there? The museums? The aquarium? The zoo? Shopping? This will be helpful in assisting you with a decsion.

It would also be helpful if you said when you are going to be visiting. Chicago is a big convention city so hotel prices fluctuate greatly.

With respect to parking fees, there's nothing which we can do about that. If a visitor insists on driving into the city, it will cost them anywhere from $25-55+/night (without in/out privileges) to park their car. There are very, very few hotels which offer free parking, although sometimes you can get a deal with a hotel where the parking is at a reduced rate (say $35/night instead of $40-50/night - again no in/out privileges). This is for a regular automobile.

If a visitor is driving a van, minivan, motorhome, or truck (including pickups), they will have to carefully check to see where they can park (if at all). It depends on the height, length and weight restrictions, you see.

That being said, you will find most of the "deals" (if there aren't any large conventions going on) in the Magnificent Mile, River North and Loop areas of the city. Those are the areas where most of the tourists stay. They are centrally located for getting to the attractions of the city.

That's not to say those are the only choices. For example, especially since you have children, you might be interested in staying at the Belden-Stratford, which is located in the Lincoln Park neighborhood. This is about a 10-minute bus ride (the #151) north of the top of the Magnificent Mile, but it's right across the street from Lincoln Park, the park. The Lincoln Park Zoo is immediate, as well as the Lincoln Park Conservatory and the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum. The lakefront and beaches are only a few blocks away as well.

We've visited Chicago twice with our children, once when they were five (they are twins) and again a few years later. Great place to visit with kids! We stayed at the Homewood Suites near Michigan Avenue (maybe Grand Street, if memory serves) the first time, and then at the Doubletree Suites on Michigan Avenue the second time. I would recommend either one. Both give you more space than a regular room, and little nice things like a refrigerator and a second TV. Also, the location of either is excellent -- you can walk to lots of museums, etc, or easily catch a cab. Generally, you'll not want to drive. Easier to use public transportation.

We stayed at Seneca Suites hotel. It is a very nice and elegant hotel, 50 meters from Magnificent Mile and near Hancock Tower. Very clean, nice decorated apartments. Our suite had one bedroom with a king bed, a huge living , kitchen fully equipped. The price was incredible 125 $/ night.

We will be travelling at the beginning of August. We plan to get the Chicago Citypass which includes admission to:

Shedd Aquarium
The Field Museum
Adler Planetarium
Museum of Science and Industry
Skydeck or John Hancock Oberservatory

Based on the above listed attractions, can you recommend the best area and place to stay.

Definitely someplace on the Mile. All of exiled's recommendations work.

I got the CityPass in Chicago and it was definitely worth it We did the Sheed and the Field Museum. Both were absolutely great. We then used the tickets for the Skydeck on the Sears Tower. They give you a discount to the one you don't use the included tickets for. We ended up going up both. If I had to choose, it would be the Hancock but the glass floor at the Willis looks enticing. I probably would back out...Biggest benefit of the CityPass is the dedicated entrance lines.

I want to recommend the Chicago Arch. Foundation boat tour but your kids may be too young for it and may find it boring. Maybe just take a water taxi to Navy Pier.

Also make sure that you walk thru Millenium Park.

How much time are you going to have? I would also include a tour of Wrigley Field. Game would be great but tickets are tough and expensive.

If the Cubs are in town, I second a visit to the stadium. I mean this in the nicest way...but with the Cubs doing so poorly, the tickets are a lot easier to come by. We live near the stadium and are offered free tickets to just about every home game these days. It's a slice of history to visit the park and is a fun atmosphere.

We also stayed at the Homewood Suites and it is great. Breakfast and afternoon drinks and light dinner included(breakfast everyday, dinner Monday-Thursday). It is nice to have a suite with children to have extra room. I am sure parking will be expensive.

We used the Homewood Suites for two trips with kids...great location, the rooms are a nice size and the amenities are terrific. As I recall they also have a rooftop pool. We didn't have a car (took Amtrak--big fun!) so I can't speak to the parking. You might take a look to see what the rates are for it on Quikbook.

Here's another vote for the Homewood Suites. The amenities and space are great and one thing I haven't seen mentioned is that they have full-sized kitchens. We didn't cook, but we had a large refrigerator which came in handy for us. It's located just down the street from the Grand St. subway station and near a bunch of bus lines too.
I went online to the Chicago transit website before we went to Chicago and was able to map out the best way to use public transportation to get to all the various museums and restaurants we wanted to go to. (We also had the CityPass.) It was good to know how we were getting to places BEFORE we arrived in Chicago.
If you don't have time to visit all the museums offered on the City Pass, the one that I would skip is the Adler Planetarium. Even though my kids were older than yours when we were in Chicago, they found it boring. On the other hand, they really enjoyed the Lincoln Park Zoo and it's free.