Chicago, “The Windy City” as it is fondly called is also the home of the blues and the truth of jazz, the heart of comedy and the idea of the skyscraper. A luxurious city with real mid-western friendliness.  

Get in: 

There are two airports in Chicago. The O'Hare and the Midway with the Midway airport being the closest to downtown Chicago. The O'Hare is the main airport and services the international flights as well as some domestic flights. The Midway Airport on the other hand provides service for most domestic and discount airlines.

For those coming by bus, Greyhound and Megabus provide the bus services throughout the state.

Chicago is historically the rail hub of the entire United States. Amtrak and Metra suburban trains provide rail services.

By car, Chicagoans have a maddening habit of referring to some expressways by their names, not the numbers used to identify them on the signs you'll see posted on the U.S. interstate highway system, so you'll have to commit both name and number to memory. Best to bring a map. It can really help. 

Get around: 

Navigating Chicago is easy. Block numbers are consistent across the whole city. Standard blocks, of 100 addresses each, are roughly 1/8th of a mile long. Keep in mind also that "avenues" run north-south and "streets" run east-west, but there are numerous exceptions. On the South Side, "streets" may alternate with "places" of the same name (e.g., 48th Place). In conversation, however, Chicagoans rarely distinguish between streets, avenues, etc.

The best way to get around Chicago is by using the public transit. It's clean, reliable and best of all, it's cheap. Buses are fine too since they travel on most busy streets. In the suburbs, Pace runs the bus service and has some routes that cross with the city. Pace provides paratransit services should you need to go somewhere inconvenient via CTA.

Metra runs commuter trains for the suburbs, providing service within Illinois, to Kenosha, Wisconsin, and to the South Shore railroad, which provides service to South Bend, Indiana. Metra trains are fast, clean, and on-time, but unpleasantly crowded during rush hour.

Chicago also has a free trolley running in the Near North and the Loop. They use specially-marked bus stops, but they'll usually let you off wherever you want.

Why drive a car when driving can just give you headaches? Traffic is really bad. Add to that dazed pedestrians and you'll surely find yourself stuck somewhere. Stay away from driving.

Take a taxi if you want, it's actually cheap and readily available almost all over Chicago.

You can ride a bike too, thanks to the bike paths that are available. 

See: 

• museum campus
• Adler Planetarium
• Field Museum
• Shedd Aquarium
• Museum of Science and Industry
• Art Institute of Chicago
• Lincoln Park Zoo
• Some smaller museums with great content
• The city's architechture
• The ethnic neighborhoods

• Visit the beaches
• Stroll in the parks
• Join events
• Watch theaters
• Bike
• Water activities

• Illinois
• Wisconsin
• Indiana
• Michigan