We are taking at trip in early August and flying into Chicago, renting a car and eventually heading down to Cincinnati. We will be catching the Astros playing in both cities. Does anyone here know of good places to stay in either city or the surrounding area? We thought we would spend a couple of days sightseeing in Chicago, then try and stay on the lake for a bit before heading to Cincinnati. Any advice is welcome. It is so hard to sort through travel info on the web, if you know nothing about an area.
Hey, good to hear your plannin to come out to my town. I moved up from Houston about 6-7 years ago, and have bounced in and around Chicago enough to know it pretty we'll i'd say by now. What kinda stuff are you into? I know the sports angles, but any theater? Music? Hidden spots? Food? I know i went to NY couple of months back, and traveling and sightseeing always depends on what sights your interested in seeing, it'd be pointless if I told you a bunch that you already may know, or may not be interested in at all lol. Also how much dough are you lookin to blow? Stayin' in downtown can be a bit pricey, but let me know what your into and I can suggest low budget and high budget options. I got a condo in the city myself, beautiful view of the lake and south skyline, right in the heart of the south loop, but I ocassionally stay at hotels for conferences, so I know a rough est of the rates.
This is a cool hotel only a couple blocks from Grant Park with a subway station right out front... The Palmer House Hilton Good access to just about the whole town from there via foot or subway...
I'm going to be in Chi-town that weekend as well. we're hitting up Lollapalooza and an Astros/Cubs game. staying at the Hard Rock.
It is a family trip and I am into scenery as much as anything. A museum or two is ok, but I don't want to spend all my time in one. My son is a fairly serious bass (orchestra) player and there is supposed to be a great music hall there. We are looking at staying in Chicago (hotel or bed and breakfast type place) for 2-3 nights. I have never been there, so I don't know how the city is organized. $100-150 per night would be nice, but that may not be an option. I also like to stay at places that have kitchens, so we don't have to eat all meals out. Lake recommendations are also welcome.
Which game are you going to and how did you get your tickets? I am finding the Cubs tickets to be pretty expensive. I wanted good seats, but gave up on that after pricing them.
Once you get to Chicago don't rent a car until the morning you're leaving. It's a pain to park and when you do park it will cost you $$$. You can use the El Train to get to the stadium. In the city you can walk a lot or use a free trolly tram that goes to all the popular spots (Sears tower, navy pier, museums, etc). Do one of the boat tours that takes you on the river that goes through the city and out into the lake.
my buddy is making all the arrangements. if we don't make a game, it's all good. we are trying to get tickets for the Monday night game
Lollapalooza would be awesome if your into music, and have the money to fork over. Outdoor festival at the new Millenium Park Amphitheater, with top acts performing from all music genres, I think headliners are Rage Against the Machine, Kanye West, some others, should be able to google it. (www.lollapalooza.com) On the Lake, here's your options: Millenium Park - come visit the park, and the crazy mirror Bean looking sculpture, along with these two walls that are waterfalls, and have random faces of Chicago citizens show up on them, and if your lucky, and walk up to them and the face may spit some water on you. Ohio St Beach/North beach - Best beaches in chicago, hands down. Great sand, great view, volleyball nets up (usually chicago park association teams are playing though), and a restaurant right off the lake. Lake Shore Drive - just drive up and down it, it's beautiful. Navy Pier - The pier is always fun, the huge ferris wheel has been a classic stop for decades, also usually smaller rides set up there along with small food booths and stuff. Also has an awesome IMAX theater, playin batman dark knight most likely while your there. Shedd Aquarium - Right on the lake, cool spot for the kids with sharks, turtles, penguins, fish, all kinda stuff. Dolphin show of course.(http://www.sheddaquarium.org/) Field Museum of Natural History - Right by the Aquarium, always has exhibits goin on (Recent ones were the King Tut one, and the Human Body one) More for the history, natural sciences, biology (http://www.fieldmuseum.org/) Museum of Science & Industry - Right by aquarium once again, this one more catered to science, technology, has some old warships, and other neat things (http://www.msichicago.org/) In the city: Chicago Symphony Orchestra - one of the world's finest. (http://www.cso.org/) Chicago Shopping - Too much too list, usually tourist spots are Michigan Ave, State St, Watertower Mall Chicago Theater District - If your into theater, great place for plays, some of the more popular ones right now are "Wicked" and "Jersey Boys" Lincoln Park Zoo - The zoo right IN chicago Brookfield Zoo - A little outside chicago There's a BUNCH of other spots in the city (Wrigleyville, Lincoln Park, Old town, Gold Coast, etc) but they're more appropriate if traveling as a couple or as a bachelor, etc. You can still take the family to some of em, but they're more so surrounded by the single, or young 20-35 professional/college crowd. Lotta bars, clubs, higher end shopping, etc Sports Stadiums (My personal favorite): I used to love comin to Chicago (when I lived in houston and we flew up once in a while to visit family) and having my dad take me around to the sports stadiums. United Center - The jordan statue still stands. The neighberhood around it used to be a bit tougher, now has considerably become more cleaned up. Soldier Field - looks ugly now with the new UFO style thing they built in it, but still a sight none the less. Comiskey/US Cellular Field - A little outta the way, it's in the southside, which isnt THAT bad but if your a tourist, I'd recommend waiting til your 2nd or 3rd time aroudn when your more comfortable with Chicago. Wrigley Field - heaven for baseball lovers and post game drinkers alike As for hotels: Palmer House is NICE. The "W" is NICE. Those are always near the top when lookin at Chicago hotels. I would recommend goin to Hotels.com or Expedia.com, because almost every major hotel in Chicago stays consistently booked, and is VERY difficult to walk in and get a room. Also these sites usually can break you off the best deals, and when I was in NYC, I had a friend who worked as a doorman in a Times Square hotel, but couldnt get me a better rate then the one I got online. Let me know if you have any other questions!
YAY Cincinnati! If you want to stay downtown there are a couple of fairly reasonable places to stay. Pretty much anywhere down there is about the same, but I would suggest the Hilton or the Westin. They both overlook Fountain Square which is basically the heart of downtown. My best suggestion is staying on the Covington side of the river (I am from Kentucky after all) If you do I suggest the Embassy Suites then you can walk across the "singing bridge" to the game. When I stayed there last it was in good shape, the prices were reasonable and you can walk to Great American or Paul Brown Stadium. If you don't want to stay downtown then I suggest near Kenwood or Tri-County. Both of those areas are safe and there are lots of restaurants and dining choices (and shopping) within a close proximity. Or you can stay in Kentucky, where I suggest checking out Florence hotels.
bump, because I don't want to lose all this good info. Any more advice is appreciated. Especially if you know of a good lake or scenic place to stay between the two cities.
There's a pretty cool bed and breakfast in my neighborhood you should check out: http://www.wickerparkinn.com/ You have to try Pequod's on Clybourn in Lincoln Park (best deep dish pizza in the city -- way better than the chain restaurants around downtown flooded with tourists (i.e. Gino's East, Giordano's, Uno, etc.): http://www.pequodspizza.com/ There's a bar at the top of the Hancock Tower (96th floor) on Michigan Ave that has free entrance with a great view of the city and lake. Enter the building from the east entrance and just tell the guys working the front desk that you're going to the Signature Room -- it's free to get up there, and you don't have to pay the useless fee all the tourists do for the "observation deck" which is actual one floor below the bar. Other restaurants I recommend are Frontera Grill (Mexican), Tango Sur (Argentinian), Coast (Sushi), Piece (Thin crust pizza), Cafe Ba-Ba Reeba (Tapas), Original Pancake House (the one in Hyde Park on the South Side is the best, close to the University of Chicago)...hope that helps
Friend and I just locked it up so we're off to the Windy City for 3 days from Aug 2-5. Can't wait cause we will be able to do two things we've wanting to do for yeeeeeaarrrrssss: going to see Rage Against the Machine in concert and going to see a game at Wrigley Field with the Cubs and Astros. Love to run into fellow Clutch Fans that are going to be up there as well. I'm going to be wearing my red Astros jersey at Lollapalooza that Saturday so I'm sure I'm going to stick out like a sore thumb (and loving every minute of it).
I stayed in a Days Inn in Lincoln Park for a reasonable price. It was in the middle of a nice area and near the EL. I took that thing everywhere (Houston should've decided on this) and was able to walk to Wrigley Field.
We are going to try and go to the Monday night game. Do you have you're tickets yet? I'll send you an email, maybe we can hook up for a beer before the game or something.
RATM? I was actually disappointed I couldn't go, but the fact that your going to that crap fest puts my mind at ease. Who's going again? I can't imagine Tom liking Rage.
What makes Lollapalooza a crap fest (other than Rage, which I'm not a fan of)? Radiohead and Kanye West are headlining two of the nights as well, it's always fun watching Kanye perform in front of his hometown. It should be a good time.
