Chicago advice

Thought it would be better to post here as it seems that there are quite a few Chicago threads from years gone by. Was hoping to get some advice from someone who lives/has lived in Chicago as this will be the fourth time to Chicago for my wife and I in the past 10 years. We love the area around the Loop as it's close and convenient to everything, especially on days in between shows. However, this year, I was looking outside the downtown area to see whether it might be worth it to try something different, perhaps to get a more residential feel of what it's like to live in Chicago. Are there any particular areas you might recommend staying? As I look north towards Wrigley, I see Lincoln Park, Montrose, etc... would those be good places to stay? I should say that while I love beaches, I live near the beach at home in Vancouver, so am wondering whether it would be a waste to go to Chicago and not take advantage of the art gallery, museums, etc..Also, being by the Loop puts us on the convenient Red Line. Not sure how we would get to Wrigley if we were in another area to the north. Anyways, any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance, Matt

The Majestic Hotel (10 minute walk to Wrigley Field) is great. A bit pricey, but worth it for the location and neighborhood.

The biggest piece of advice I can offer is... find Roosevelt Rd and stay north of it.

We booked a Airbnb apartment by Wicker Park. Any recommendations in terms of food/transportation/etc?

thx

mwplum said:

Thought it would be better to post here as it seems that there are quite a few Chicago threads from years gone by. Was hoping to get some advice from someone who lives/has lived in Chicago as this will be the fourth time to Chicago for my wife and I in the past 10 years. We love the area around the Loop as it's close and convenient to everything, especially on days in between shows. However, this year, I was looking outside the downtown area to see whether it might be worth it to try something different, perhaps to get a more residential feel of what it's like to live in Chicago. Are there any particular areas you might recommend staying? As I look north towards Wrigley, I see Lincoln Park, Montrose, etc... would those be good places to stay? I should say that while I love beaches, I live near the beach at home in Vancouver, so am wondering whether it would be a waste to go to Chicago and not take advantage of the art gallery, museums, etc..Also, being by the Loop puts us on the convenient Red Line. Not sure how we would get to Wrigley if we were in another area to the north. Anyways, any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance, Matt

If you're cool with airbnb, check out Lincoln Park, Lakeview, Roscoe Village or Wicker Park.  They are all reasonably close to Wrigley with access to the CTA.  All are great neighborhoods with plenty of great bars/restaurants.

I used to work for BCBSIL and spent alot of time at the big office on E Randolph. I've only been to Wrigley once tho and we stayed at the Hyatt Recency downtown and took took a taxi part way. reserved rooms at the Congress for the 18th show as a just in case hoping to not jinx myself lol. 

i stayed in rosemont which is right by the airport, tons of hotels there,. got a hotel shuttle from the airport to check in. took the public train into town for wrigley and took a cab back after the show. no car needed. cab back to the hotel at the end of the night was like $35 so im sure uber is cheaper. just an option. maybe not the best but it's all i gots

deadendp said:

If you take a car, watch where you street park it. We were able to park on N. Ravenswood Avenue during the day, but at night no parking is permitted on days of Cubs games AND in small print at the bottom of one sign we saw-- certain other dates included. PJ nights were included. Despite being told by a resident that it was okay to park there, read signs. We would have come back to a towed car. 

We parked further out on School Street in Roscoe Village, across the street from my in-law's previous house.  We knew that we could park there before. It was a mile and a half walk, but after the concert, it was therapeutic to watch the crowd melt away, leaving just my husband and me for the last few blocks on our own. 

I am extremely lucky in that I have friends that live a block away from Rosco Village Pub.  Park and stay for free, one mile walk to Wrigley!

FYI there are buses that run from Schaumburg and Lombard in the suburbs for like $4.00 each way. I found it was easier to just take the bus

ricardofurriel said:

What’s the best way to get to Wrigley and back from Wicker Park? Uber in and red/blue line back?

Uber would be the easiest way.  If you wanted to do public transportation, you could take the North Ave. bus to the North/Clybourn red line station and then take the red line over to wrigley.  Don't do blue line to red line....it's not worth it to go all the way downtown on the blue line to transfer to the red line.