ISO Chicago travel advice

[pilgrim719]

I'll be travelling to Chicago in July, most likely taking the Amtrak train to Union Station. I need to stay at either the Four Points Sheraton at Midway or O'hare, since I can get those hotels for free. I'm wondering which hotel would be better in terms of transportation to/from Union Station and to/from downtown Chicago?

It's a leisure trip to just walk around and see things, and I'll be getting a multi-day CTA pass, which sounds like you get unlimited use of the el trains (if I understood the web site correctly). I know there are free shuttles to each hotel from the corresponding airport, but is there a stop near those hotels on the el lines w/o having to go all the way to the airport and catching the shuttle to the hotel? Is one airport going to take significantly less time on the train to get downtown than the other?

I've been trying to find answers on the web, but no luck so far. I thought maybe some of the Chicago experts on the BB could help!

Kari

[sillybeans]

There is a Four Points right downtown (River North area) that's relatively new, if that's an option for you.

If you do the O'Hare option, you could have the shuttle bus take you to the Rosemont stop of the El, which would be less hassle than having to go to the airport. Transportation to O'Hare from Union is easier than Midway, as you can walk a couple blocks south and get the train at Canal street. For Midway, you'd have to transfer trains or take a bus or taxi.

Downtown is pretty even--may 10 minutes shorter in from Midway. There's more "stuff" around O'Hare--Midway is in a pretty industrial area. You could also get off the Blue Line El from O'Hare before you get to the loop and check out some of the neighborhoods, like Logan Square or Wicker Park/Bucktown.

I guess I'd vote O'Hare, in case you didn't figure that out!
HTH,
Tracy

[pilgrim719]

Thanks for your help, Tracy! Unfortunately the downtown Four Points is a higher category hotel, so I couldn't get as many nights free for the same amount of points at the other locations.

Sounds like O'Hare will be the best choice for this trip! I've never been to Wicker Park or Bucktown, and they should be fun to explore. I've only been to Chicago once before, and mainly hung around the downtown area.

Thanks also for telling me which stops to get off or catch the El train for the hotel and Union Station. I tried figuring it out on the CTA maps, but since I don't know which stops are near which addresses, it was hard.

Do you know if there's anywhere in Chicago to get a free walking map? I'm assuming I can get maps for the El system at any station, but a walking map would help navigate the downtown area. I know travel books have them, but I don't want to buy one of those if I don't have to.

Thanks again!

Kari

[sillybeans]

There are walking maps at various visitors centers--there's one right by my office at the pumping station across from the Water Tower (Chicago and Michigan aves), and another at the Historical Society (Randolph[?] and Michigan, across from Millenium Park). I know these areas have downtown covered, I don't know about the various neighborhoods.

Have your tried the www.choosechicago.com Web site? You may be able to order some free maps from there to help trip plan in advance. It looks like they might have downloadable maps on the site as well.

Your pass will give you free bus service, too, which isn't as speedy as the El but offers more options (like the Lincoln Park Zoo area, which is best reached via the 151 bus).

The Blue Line runs 24 hours, and while service is slower at night its very safe.

When are you coming? Chicago packs a year's worth or outdoor festivals into 4 months, so summer is busy and fun.

[Silvery Moon]

There is also Metra train service from Union Station to O'Hare, but it doesn't run often, and not at all on weekends.

http://www.metrarail.com/Sched/ncs/ncs_wkout.shtml

[pilgrim719]

Tracy, thanks so much for that link! It's got tons of info that is coming in handy, plus a lot of maps of different areas that I can print out and bring with. I also signed up for the free travel guide, which will come in handy I'm sure. I'll be there 7/16-7/20, so I'm not sure if any festivals would be taking place during the week or not. They tend to be weekend events out here.

The zoo sounds like fun -- I can't believe it's free! If the bus is the best way to get to the zoo, is it also the best way to get to Lincoln Park? There's a restaurant I'd like to go to in Lincoln Park. Oh, and I'm glad to hear the Blue Line is safe!

Silvery Moon -- Thanks for the tip about the Metra train, but unfortunately it looks like we'd have to wait a few hours after our Amtrak train arrives before catching the Metra. So I think we'll probably try to take the El train to the hotel instead.

Thanks again to both of you for your help!

Kari

[sillybeans]

Re: Lincoln Park--it depends where the restaurant is. The El runs north/south aboce Sheffield Street, which is 1000 west (Chicago is a grid system--very easy to navigate!), with stops at Armitage (Brown Line) and Fullerton (Brown and Red lines). If you tell me what the restaurant is, I can probably give you an idea of the best way to get there.

The zoo is toward the lakefront, pretty far east of the El. That's why it's most easily reached by the 151, which drops you off literally at the zoo entrance. I'm a big walker, but sometimes all that schlepping gets tiring, and it's not a bad bus ride from downtown. Not to mention that it could be really hot (or really cold!) when you visit, so some air conditioning might not be bad.

HTH,
Tracy

[pilgrim719]

The restaurant is Chicago Pizza and Oven Grinder Company, at 2121 North Clark Street. I can't seem to figure out the system for navigating the streets of Chicago. Everyone says it's a grid and it's easy. So is NYC, but in NYC the streets/aves are all numbered in order so it's easy for me to figure out how to get where I want to go from most anywhere I start. Chicago, with all the named streets instead of numbered, seems confusing to me so far. What am I missing? I'm sure I'll have a "duh" moment at some point and realize how easy it is to navigate.

Kari

[erinl]

Well, first you have to know that 2000 North is Armitage Ave. So, you're restaurant is a block north of Armitage on Clark. I'd walk over there after visiting the zoo. Once you get to Chicago, you'll see that the street signs generally have numbers on them in addition to the names. For example, say you want to visit the hospital where my children were born. It is at 3000 N Halsted. You look at your map and find that Halsted is west of Clark. Now you know to walk North on Clark until you reach 3000 N (Wellington) and turn left until you reach Halsted. In front of you will be Illinois Masonic Medical Center.

[sillybeans]

... Until you realize that Clark is one of those darn diagonal streets, and you can't remember if it's east or west of where you need to be!

The El stations will all have the blocks north/south or east/west on the sign, which can help.

And if you're walking east, you should eventually run into the lake!

Agree the pizza place is a great stop after the zoo.

Have fun!
Tracy

[pilgrim719]

A belated thanks to both of you for trying to explain how to navigate the streets of Chicago! I googled it and read a bit, and everyone makes it sound simple, but it still is a bit confusing to me trying to count how many blocks away something is based on the address. I think I'll have to file it under the "It will all become clear once I get there" category.

Kari

[Grace]

The grid system is easy, except there is a "given" portion that isn't necessarily a given to you. You have to kind of "know" which streets are which number. For example, Madison street is street ZERO, east and west. State street is street ZERO, north and south. So 100 North State is one block north of Madison Street. But if you don't already know that Madison is street zero (how could you if you're not from here?), then knowing an address of 100 North State doesn't really tell you much.

You could spend some time memorizing the main streets (every 4 blocks is a main street). So, for example, going north starting from Chicago Avenue, which is 800 north meaning it's 8 blocks north of Madison street - another four more blocks north is 1200 North, which is Division. Four more blocks north is 1600 North, which is North Avenue. Four more is 2000 North, which is Armitage. 2400 North is Fullerton, 2800 North is Diversey, 3200 North is Belmont, 3600 North is Addison, 4000 North is Irving Park, 4400 North is Lawrence and on and on.

So if someone lives at 2850 N. Halsted for example, you know they live at Halsted and basically Diversey (a little bit north of Diversey). And if you know that Halsted is 800 West, that helps you even more. Then you know that 2850 N. Halsted is just a bit north of Diversey, and 8 blocks west of State street (except that State street doesn't go that far North - Lake Michigan cuts inland and where State Street would intersect Diversey is actually in Lake Michigan!). So that's why it's confusing. You do have to know the names of the streets and what "hundred" they are (as in Diversey is 2800) and where the street names change, and so forth. For example, 6400 West (64 blocks west of State street) is called Ridgeland along one portion of it, then changes to Naragansett through another section, and is then called Nagle through another portion. They are all 6400 West. The street runs in a straight line north and south, but as it runs through different towns it changes names. So that's why it's hard to use the grid system here.

I'm sure it's clear as mud now.

[pilgrim719]

Wow, Grace! Thanks for the in-depth description of the streets! It's definitely better than anything I found when I googled. They basically said State and Madison were zero, the lake is always to the east, 8 blocks = 1 mile, and it was easy to figure out the system. Um, yeah, sure it is! It would definitely help if I knew all those street names because I think that's part of what confuses me when I see addresses.

So, after reading your post about 5 times now, I think I'm going to write down some notes to bring with and hope to find a good walking map once I get there. I'm hoping everyone will be very nice and helpful out there when I stop them and ask for directions all the time.

Kari

[donnamp14]

Kari- We are headed to Chicago in July, also. It's our first trip there. DH has a conference. (Noting your location, does the name "CASE" mean anything to you?)

Great descriptions, everyone. I'm going to print them out and bring them!


-Donna

[pilgrim719]

Kari- We are headed to Chicago in July, also. It's our first trip there. DH has a conference. (Noting your location, does the name "CASE" mean anything to you?)

-Donna

Hmmm...nope. Should it? I've only lived here about 3 years now, so I'm still sort of a newbie.

Kari

[donnamp14]

We're going to a CASE conference, on collegiate fundraising research. Thought maybe we'd been in the same neck of the woods. Oh, well.... Chicago looks like fun, doesn't it?
-Donna

[pilgrim719]

OH! Did you mean my location in Chicago and not where I live in NY? Gotcha...nope, not going to Chicago for a conference. Stricly a leisure trip to celebrate my birthday. We've already determined there's too much to see and do in such a short time. Are you staying in the same area or will you be closer to downtown? We couldn't see spending money to stay downtown when we could get this hotel for free, so hopefully we aren't too far away from things to really enjoy our trip.

Kari

[Grace]

Hi Kari

I was just thinking about which hotel you were going to and I couldn't think which one it was (I live right here)? So I looked it up. I hesitate to even post this because I don't want to sound negative or rain on your parade, but I think I would feel worse if you went there and didn't find what you expected (and I knew it and didn't say anything). If you know all this, and don't care (because the price is right and you want to spend your $ on other fun stuff, which I understand), then just nevermind!

But I wanted to let you know that the hotel is not in a very good place (not dangerous, just nothing but highways and cargo buildings and traffic and airplane noise - it's kitty corner from the fence around the airport). You can't get to the blue line too easily either - I think you have to take a shuttle back to the airport to get to the trains.

There is nothing to see there, no trees, nowhere to walk, it's just a big industrial area. I just don't want you to have expectations of it being in "beautiful Chicago" because that part's not beautiful!!

[pilgrim719]

I appreciate you saying all that, Grace. I already knew that it wasn't in the heart of Chicago, and not walking distance to anything. I suspected there wasn't much in the area, other than the airport. But we're on a limited budget as we're saving for Disney next January. We were able to get this hotel for free, cheap train tickets, and cheap CTA passes. I figured while it may take longer to commute to different locations (downtown, Lincoln Park, Wicker Park, etc), it was doable, and better than not going at all. I've been to Chicago once before and stayed at the W downtown, but never ventured outside of the main area.

I've done a lot of day trips from here to NYC, spending about 2 1/2-3 hours in a car/train each way, and still had lots of time to have fun walking around for the day. I'm hoping the Chicago trip will be the same way, and we'll still be able to see several things during the week we're there. I'm hoping the shuttle to the airport to catch the Blue Line is easy to use, and that I can figure out the train/bus system well enough ahead of time to get us where we want to go.

Thanks for your concern, Grace! I'm glad you said all that because I'd rather have all the info I can get before going somewhere. Hopefully my expectations are reasonable and we'll be able to have some fun on this trip!

Kari

[Grace]

Oh good! I'm glad you already kind of knew. I totally get it about cutting back in some areas in order to do other things - DH and I still do that all the time too! We're going to Disney in September too and we have never stayed on Disney property before - always went for a less expensive hotel off property. This year we are staying on property only because we are going with friends who get a 50% airline discount on Disney hotel rooms. So with the discount, the rooms are doable.

I was just worried that the way they describe things on websites may have painted a different picture than reality! I know you'll have a GREAT time here, and the commuting isn't too bad at all.

[pilgrim719]

Thanks, Grace! I'm sure we'll have fun, and it's good to hear the commuting isn't too bad. We just need to figure out how to get where we want to go and we'll be fine.

Where are you staying at Disney? I've been 4 times and always stayed on Disney property. I've stayed at several resorts, and have toured most all of them. You will love being right there!

Kari