transportation burbs to downtown

Ok, I%26#39;ve been lurking around, now it%26#39;s time for me to come out of the shadows...

We are a family of 5, kids are 15, 13, and 11. We are coming to Chicago 6/23 - 7/1. Somewhere in there we are going to Cedar Point in Ohio for 2 days, haven%26#39;t decided when yet.

We have pretty much decided that we are staying at a Comfort Suites in Schaumburg, Lombard, O%26#39;hare or Elgin. Prices are good, enough room for everyone to have a bed. If we pay the high prices downtown, we won%26#39;t be able to eat or buy anything! Although if anyone has great deals for 5 closer to downtown, we might consider it, since we are changing hotels anyway.

My question is basically based on how we are going to get downtown. I%26#39;ve checked out the metra, cta and pace sites, I want to know the most economical way to get around. We can either drive to a metra stop, but be stuck with limited schedules. Or we can drive to el stop. I know on the weekends we will probably drive in thanks to the advice I already read on here.

The visitor pass for the el and busses sounds like the way we will go, should we even consider metra?

Also the hotel at O%26#39;Hare has free shuttle to airport, and I think the one in shaumburg has free ride to the metra. We were going to plan on using those if we stayed at those hotels.

Thanks for reading my ramblings and helping!!

Lisa

transportation burbs to downtown

The Metra trains are more expensive and end at Union Station (or Ogilvie Station next door) on the West side of the Loop, so they do not go in quite as far in downtown as the CTA ';L'; and subway trains do. However, their benefit is that they are much more comfortable and offer bench seats that you can flip (if there%26#39;s two empty ones) so your whole party can sit and face one another. They also have bathrooms and two levels (so the kids could sit up top if they wanted to look out.)

transportation burbs to downtown

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