Planning a Weekend in Chicago

Early stages right now. Flights from Cleveland are cheap to Midway on SW. So that is why we are coming to Chicago. Wife and I are 34 and just want to do tourist stuff and eat at some nice restaurants.

Where should we stay? Not really talking specific hotel. Just a general area.

As I said we want to visit the ';regular'; tourist sites. It seems like we can take the ';L'; everywhere. So no rental car.

Any suggestions? Thanks in advance.

Rich

Planning a Weekend in Chicago

Please be more specific - are you looking for suggestions about museums, shopping, restaurants? What are your interests?

The main tourist sites are easily accessible by public transit or by walking, depending where you%26#39;re staying.

There%26#39;s really two main options downtown - the River North/North Michigan Ave. area to the North of the river or the Loop area to the South of it. The Loop is generally closer to museums, but offers less than the North Michigan Ave. area in terms of nightlife, as some areas of the Loop can be very quiet later at night.

If you would like specific hotel suggestions, please provide your budget and dates of travel.

Planning a Weekend in Chicago

Well it%26#39;s just a ';romantic'; get away weekend. We havent been away together since the kids were born. Basically we are just going to get away. Museums, sight seeing, a good restaurant here and there, maybe shopping, etc. We are not really drinkers, so the night life isnt that big of a deal for us, though we might have a nightcap or something.

Basically what I want is an recommendation of an area for our hotel. Like you said, we can probably access most things via the el. I guess the hotel I want would be in relatetively a safe area, easily accessible to an el station, and in an area that doesnt turn into a ghost town when it gets dark. For example, downtown Cleveland is basically a ghost town at night if there is no Indians or Cavs game at night.

I can get discounted rooms if it is a Marriott affiliated hotel. So that is where we will probably stay. I am not sure when we are coming.

Room rates downtown (and on North Michigan Avenue) are highly variable depending on convention bookings. So you may need to explore several possible weekends and MAKE SURE YOU CHECK RATES for hotels before you book your flight. You may want to post your prospective dates and see if anyone here has a hotel deal for you.

The downtown hotel market is very competitive, and you will get a nice room at all but a handful of hotels.

Nice Marriott properties are plentiful in the tourist areas. To me, the best location is at or near Michigan Avenue and the river. Look at Renaissance on Wacker Drive, Marriott on North Michigan, or the Courtyards (2 of them). All of these are within a half-mile of the area I mentioned. You%26#39;ll be able to walk to restaurants, parks, the beach, museums, boat tours, etc. I hope you have a great visit. Those brief times away from the kids are so important!

Thanks.

I will check those hotels out. Based on what you said they seem to be in the perfect place.