Every large city has a center city or downtown or old town section where most sight-seeing goes on. A visitor’s area that may be concentrated enough for walking around. Some cities are more compact than others; for instance, Madrid is very compact measuring about one mile across. On the other hand, Barcelona has areas of interest spread out through the city. Public Transportation becomes important in these cities.
Chicago has a very concentrated central visitor’s area. Roughly, 2.3 miles from Oak street in the North to Roosevelt Ave South. The width of Chicago’s visitor area varies from about 1.25 miles from Navy Pier to the West to around less than a mile from Lake Michigan to the Chicago River’s west arm. Very walkable; but, Chicago has an excellent public transit network. Buses run very frequently, so they are not jammed packed. Wait 2 minutes for the next one (most of the time). Also, The “L” or Elevated subway is easy to use.
Within this visitor’s area, you will find the North Michigan Avenue shopping area “Magnificent Mile” and the Museum of Contemporary Art. In the Central Loop area you have Millennium Park, the Art Institute of Chicago, famous works of architecture, theaters, restaurants, department stores, public parks and spaces, a River walk, a bicycle trail along the lake, beaches and hotels.
In October of 2017, I spent five nights there, staying at the InterContinental hotel on N. Michigan Ave, next to the Tribune Building, close to the Wrigley Building and the Chicago River. A great location. I walked most of the time, taking buses and L’s when needed.
There are several areas of interest outside of this central visitor’s area. All accessible by public transit or taxi or Lyft or Uber.
Lincoln Park is a great public park above the Oak Street Beach area. A short bus ride or bike ride (rental bikes all over the city)
I typically like to ride North to Lincoln Park, dock the bike and walk around, then get another bike. A daily rate is cheap.
Wrigley Field is accessible by an El line (Red), with the Addison stop, less than a block from the field. You’ll see it from the platform.
Below Wrigley is the Belmont stop for a hip shopping area with nice stores and restaurants.
The Museum “campus” is just east of S. Michigan Ave.. You can walk or take a bus right to it or a Red Line subway.
Further south area historic Frank LLoyd Wright houses and the University of Chicago campus, just west of the Museum of Science and Industry, on the grounds of the old 1893 Columbia Exposition, with a great lake and garden and beach. A bus will take you right to the MSI.
Families with children have lots of choices. Parks and museums and Navy Pier.
I will be writing more posts, detailing different sights and areas that I visited.
I just spent another five days in Chicago. Some new sites visited and old sites revisited. Plus Plenty of pictures. Coming Soon!