After living in Chicago for a few years, there were some specific attractions that stuck out as the most interesting for my friends me. If you are going to be visiting Chicago for a few days—or even live there—these were some of the cooler things we checked out that might interest others.
1. Walk around and check out the sights
A pretty obvious move, and I would highly recommend the Millennium Park which is located right in the heart of downtown. From there you get direct access to many of the other surrounding parks, shopping, restaurants, and plenty more.
Cloud Gate—one of many sculptures scattered throughout Millennium Park
After walking around, you can head up the Mag Mile on Michigan Ave which houses many shopping opportunities with many name brand stores.
Additionally, the Navy Pier is worth checking out. It’s a little more removed from the Millennium Park and the Mag Mile, but I think it only took about 40 minutes of walking, or one could get a taxi or bus. The Navy Pier has opportunities to take a boat out onto Lake Michigan as well as some bars, a permeant fair with a Ferris Wheel, a Funhouse, and some other attractions. It also gives you a nice skyline view of Chicago.
2. Go up a tower
The Wallace/Sears Tower or the Hancock Center are the obvious contenders. I prefer the Sears tower, largely due to the glass boxes that jut out of sides which you can stand in and look directly at the streets below.
The view from the Sears Tower
The glass boxes
Some argue that the Wallace Center gives you a better view of Chicago. While it kind of lets you take it all in in one view, the Sears Tower just has the cool glass boxes and being right in the middle of downtown means you can look in any direction and see the city from the heart.
The view from the Hancock Center
3. Check out a museum
The Field Museum or Art Institute would be my best recommendations. There are plenty of great museums, but the Field Museum has Sue, the world’s most complete T-Rex! (In addition to many other cool exhibits.)
ROAR!
The Art Institute also has a lot of cool things to check out including many famous classic pieces as well as some more contemporary works.
4. Get some pizza
Chicago is known for the deep-dish pizza, so definitely give it a shot. I did, but I must regrettably confess that I didn’t care for it. As such, there’s not one specific restaurant I can recommend for a quality deep-dish pizza and you should probably look to Trip Advisor for a more specific recommendation.
For a chain throughout the Chicago area that served “normal” pizza, though, I will have to say that I quite liked Rosati’s. They aren’t the cheapest, for sure, but I always did find their pizzas to be tasty.
5. Chinatown
If you end up having time, I would also recommend going to Chinatown. It’s not highly recommended on many other websites for some reason, but I and my friends quite liked it. It takes a little bit to get there and I would suggest taking the CTA Red Line unless you want to walk for a while.
For my friends and I, it was a refreshing change of architecture, and the food was cheap and tasty. The shops had a good variety from cheap, knock-off items to more interesting esoteric items you wouldn’t find in a normal gift shop in the city proper.
Bonus: Blues club
I admit to not being a huge blues fan, but when I was there last, I went out with a few friends since Chicago is so well-known for its blues scene. I have yet to go to the House of Blues, but we went to a standard bar that had a blues band play, and it was really enjoyable. It filled up quickly, though, so I would highly recommend getting tickets if possible or arriving early to wait in line and ensure entry (which is what we did).
