Suburbs

Can anyone tell me the closest suburb to downtown, that has a ';nice mall';. By nice mall I mean a mall with upscale shopping stores and more specifically some nice restaurants (i.e cheesecake factory, pf changs, etc).

Also how far and any info related to public transportation to downtown would be great!!

Suburbs

Woodfield in Schaumburg has what you%26#39;re looking for. Someone else will have to answer the trans. question though.

Suburbs

The closest place I can think of would be Schaumburg. Woodfield Mall has both a Cheesecake Factory and a PF Changs as well as other upscale restaurants. Metra trains from Schaumburg to Union Station take about 45 minutes to 1 hour depending on time of day.

An outdoor mall much closer to Chicago than Schaumburg - http://westfield.com/oldorchard/

CTA and Pace buses go direct to the mall. Visit transitchicago.com for details.

Or Oakbrook Terrace Mall in Oak Brook, have never taken public transport there, it%26#39;s closer to downtown than Woodfield. Like Old Orchard, it is also outdoors.

Several of the LEYE restaurants in the mall-Wildfire, Papagus, Mon Ami Gabi plus a Cheesecake Factory.

I agree that Oak Brook is a nice mall, and closer to the city than Woodfield. You could probably take a metra train then a bus from there to the mall. Another option that would be easy as far as transportation, is going to downtown Oak Park. Its not a mall, so might not be what you are looking for, but it has lots of shops and dining options. You can take the Metra and it drops you right by everything.

http://www.visitoakpark.com/index.cfm

Downtown Elmhurst is also like this, so you can look into that too, and its on the same train line.

If you%26#39;re going to be downtown, why do you want to schlep an hour out to the suburbs to shop or find a restaurant?

If you%26#39;re looking for upscale stores, there are few things you won%26#39;t find on Michigan Avenue. It has Saks, Neiman%26#39;s, Bloomingdale%26#39;s, Nordstrom, Tiffany, Cartier, Gucci, Chanel, Polo and Burberry just to start. It also has more moderately-priced stores like H%26amp;M, Filene%26#39;s Basement, Gap and Marshall%26#39;s. If you head west on Oak Street from Michigan, you%26#39;ll find Barney%26#39;s, Prada, Versace and Hermes.

Cheesecake Factory, PF Chang and many much better restaurants within a few blocks of Michigan Avenue or in the Loop. Check www.metromix.com and you can search by neighborhood, cuisine or price.

%26lt;%26lt; If you%26#39;re going to be downtown, why do you want to schlep an hour out to the suburbs to shop or find a restaurant? %26gt;%26gt;

Excellent point. For that matter, if you%26#39;re coming to Chicago, not sure why one would focus on chain places like Cheesecake Factory or PF Chang%26#39;s that exist anywhere.

There%26#39;s so much in Chicago that%26#39;s unique to Chicago, at least for now.

If you鈥檙e just looking for a mall type atmosphere i.e. indoor shopping, you could try gochicagocard.com/shopping/Nordstrom-Michiga鈥?/a>

It鈥檚 much smaller than a traditional mall but is upscale and has that indoor shopping type feel; it鈥檚 larger than it appears from the outside. If you want a large mall atmosphere Id have to say www.shopwoodfield.com in the west suburbs of Chicago, typical suburban shopping mall, nothing special imho.

Thanks everybody.

I am planning on doing a lot of downtown things, but don%26#39;t think I have the downtown hotel budget. I am just looking for an area that I can do stuff at night (eat, shop), while still realtively easy to do downtown stuff during the day. The only reason I mention PF Changs, Chessecake, is becasue from my experience traveling in the SE, is that malls with those type of restaurants are usally ';good'; areas with other nearby restaurants and shopping. I am hoping to find a suburb that keeps me busy in the evening, but relatively close to downtown via public transportation. I know I can stay downtown all night, but I am sure that after a day walking the city, a rest and shower would be nice, but then I would have to schelp back into downtown.

I am almost certain that we will be going to Chicago in late June, but still haven%26#39;t decided on # of days. Once I am finalized I will see if you guys can help me with Priceline/Hotwire, but it seems that the parking fees would definfitly push me over my budget hopefully 100-150 a night) if i stay downtown.

Any more info would be great.

Across the street from Old Orchard is a recently renovated Doubletree Hotel. Within two blocks are a Hampton Inn and an Exptended Stay Amercia.