Chicago is one of the largest cities of the USA and is located on the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan in the state of Illinois and it was our chosen destination to explore in June 2022.

The city has a welcoming and inclusive vibe, and it is surrounded by vibrant neighborhoods. It is well known for its gastronomy, the amazing modern architecture, the strong winter winds from Lake Michigan and for the most infamous American gangster, Al-Capone.  

What to do in Chicago

Chicago offers different types of attractions and offers fun and entertainment to all kind of public and style.

Chicago Skyline

The city is knowing by their amazing and modern architecture. When exploring the city, make sure you keep your eyes in alert to not miss any of the amazing and eye-catching building and skyscraper that you can spot around the city.

There a different ways to explore the city skyline. You can book an architecture cruise or rent a kayak to cross the Chicago river. You can also do everything by foot, walking in the Riverwalk. The Lakefront Trail also offer a nice view of those amazing constructions.

The Wind-city, as Chicago is also known, has one of the best skylines in the world. Among those famous skyscrapers are the Tribune Tower, Wrigley Building’s, John Hancock Center (or 875 North Michigan Avenue), The St. Regis Chicago and Marina City.

The view of the city from the 360 Chicago Observation is really amazing and worth the visit. Since I am afraid of height, we haven’t try the Tilt but who knows, perhaps we will take our chances in the next time.

Another well known skyscraper is the Willis Tower. This tower offers an unmissable experience of step in a glass-bottom balconies. You can buy the tickets for the Skydeck online or in the ticket office located in the tower.

Millennium Park

Located in the loop area, this public park offers a diversity type of activities. During the summer it is possible to watch a free concert like the summer music or jazz festival and during the winter it is possible to ice skating in the ice rink.

The Millennium Park is the home of the famous and iconic Cloud Gate, also known as “The bean” because it has a bean-like shape. It is a perfect spot to take picture’s and also enjoy see yourself and the skyline reflects on the sculpture surface.

Another Millennium attraction, the Crown Fountain is a interactive video sculpture. During the summer time, the faces displayed in the video splash water like a fountain.

Jay Pritzker Pavilion & The Great Lawn is another great spot to enjoy the city. This pavilion has an amazing audio system that was designed to mimic the acoustic of an internal theater and it is perfect to enjoy a live concert or summer festival. Bring a chair, your choice of beverage and food, pick a place and enjoy the show from the lawn or if you prefer, just grab one of the available seats.

Grand Park

Located in the heart of the Grand Park, the Buckingham Fountain is another Chicago landmark. It is definitely worth the visit to the one of the largest fountains in the world.

Museums and Aquarium

Located south of Grand Park are the Field Museum, the Shedd Aquarium and the Adler Planetarium some of the other attractions Chicago has to offer.

The Field Museum is one the world greatest museum of natural history. If you are a fan of natural history, you should visit this place. This is big museum, so plan at least 3-5 hours to give yourself enough time to explore all the different sessions this place has to offer.

Kids and adults will love the visit to the Shedd Aquarium where you can pet the stingrays or watch the belugas swimming in the water tank. This aquarium is very interactive and offers a lot of fun for their visitors.

Navy Pier

The Navy Pier is a lakefront area that offers a nice view of the city and also lots of fun with restaurants, events and attraction’s like the centennial Wheel. This pier played a important role during the World War I and was named in honor of those who server in this war. The pier is also home of the Children’s Museum.

Riverwalk

Leaving the Navy Pier, take the Illinois St and walk until you get to the N Michigan Ave from there you can take the Riverwalk and walk along the Chicago River. This area has a lot of nice bars and restaurants from where you can have a great time while enjoying the city skyline.

Chicago Theater

United Center

If you are a fan of sport, you should schedule sometime to visit the United Center. Home of the 6 times NBA champions, the Chicago Bulls and the 6 time Stanley cup winner, the Chicago Blackhawks, the center has a nice structure for those who want to catch a game or watch a show. Don’t forget to buy a gift in the Madhouse Team store located in the Atrium and also, to take a lot of picture’s on the memorial and with the Michael Jordan’s statue.

Harry Caray’s

Named one of the best Steakhouses of Chicago, the restaurant located in the Chicago’s River North neighborhood also become famous among the tourist after the discovery of a secret room located in the restaurant underground. The room was associate with one of Al Capone’s partner, Frank Nitti. Inside of the room, a vault was found along with a secret passage that connects the room with Chicago’s underground tunnel. It is possible to visit the restaurant basement and see the discovered vault and also some documents and newspaper that were founded in the place.

Where to stay in Chicago

Chicago is a big city and like one of those, offers a huge variety of accommodations. Choose a place to stay depends on a lot of aspects like, your style, budge, travel propose, duration of the trip, preferences of locomotion and others. We know that our idea of best place to stay might not be the same as yours, but our goal with this post is to describe our experience and let you adapt it according to your needs and/or preferences.

We enjoyed Chicago a lot, and we spent a good part of our stay there walking around the city from attraction to attraction. In reality there is a lot of different ways to discovery the city as we will describe later on in this post, but me and my partner really enjoy discovery everything by foot. We think walk gives you a different experience and perspective about the place you are.

With our travel style in mind, we decide to stay in a hotel with easy access to the main attractions and that we can use as our base to rest after long time walking exploration. The chosen place was the chain hotel La Quinta Inn & Suites by Wyndham Chicago Downtown located at South Franklin Street. The hotel is not part of any luxury hotel chain but has good accommodations and offers a nice breakfast taking in consideration other chains at the same category. If you are looking for a well locate and affordable place to stay in Chicago, you definitely need to check this hotel.

Another good place to stay is the Hotel Felix. Located in the river north and close to the Magnificent Mile, this hotel offers good accommodation, has on budget prices and is close to the red, purple and brown subway line from where you can easily access downtown.

Chicago Gastronomy – Authentic Food and Places to eat

Chicago’s has an enormous variety of restaurants that feature from local to international cuisine. If you enjoy a good pizza or appreciate a nice pasta, Chicago is the right place for you. With one of the largest concentrations of italian-american in the USA, the Italian influence in this city is undeniable.  

If you are looking for the authentic Chicago traveler experience, you should try the Chicago- style hot dog, the Chicago-style pizza, also known as deep dish pizza, and the Italian beef sandwich.

Several places in the city offer Chicago-style pizza but one of the most traditional places is Giordano’s, with restaurants all over the city. On our trip in June, we tried the deep dish pizza there and we really enjoyed the experience.- put link to google review 

The deep-dish pizza has developed several different styles over the years but for the majority the cooking style is the same, the Chicago-style pizza is baked in a round, steel pan that resembles a cake or pie pan.

As we mentioned above, there are other several places where you can try this dish, like Uno Pizzeria, Pizzeria Due, Lou Malnati’s Pizzeria and Gino’s but since we haven’t tried, we cannot give our review. Perhaps we will leave a review the next time we are in town 🙂 

Chicago-style hot-dogs are made with all-beef hot dogs served on a poppy seed bun and layered with yellow mustard, dark green relish, chopped raw onion, pickle spear, sport peppers, tomato slices and topped with a dash of celery salt. This Chicago-classic gained popularity during the Great Depression because of the taste and price, it used to cost a nickel.

As a popular street food, you can find those spread along the city. 

Italian beef sandwich is another Chicago-classic that became popular during the1930s, but unfortunately we haven’t had the chance to try it this time. 

This sandwich is composed of thin slices of seasoned roast beef, simmered and served with your choice of peppers (hot or sweet) and au jus sauce (also known as gravy) on a long french roll. The Mr. Beef on Orleans and Al’s Beef are two places where you can try this classic.

Another famous restaurant in the wind-city is the Harry Caray’s steakhouse. With more than 7 unites spread all over Chicago this place is worth to visit not only for the steak but also to visit the famous Nitti – If you want to know more about this vault just check the Harry Caray’s session of this post.

Continuing to explore the the Italian cuisine, the boutique/restaurant Eataly is a good option. With stores located all over the USA and abroad, this is a goof option to buy Italian products and also try a good Italian pizza or pasta.

Top 5 places to visit during a Day Tour in Chicago

If you just have a day to spend in the wind-city, don’t worry, we got you covered. This is a day walking tour suggestion to enjoy the best the city has to offer. For this itinerary we took in consideration the hotel La Quinta Inn & Suites by Wyndham, where we stayed, as reference for depart and arrive.