Help me plan our Chicago trip

[lovinmyboys]

I am taking my 4 boys (ages 10, 8, 6, 4) to Chicago. We are staying downtown. Suggestions for things to do and places to eat? Any other tips?

[happi duck]

Millennium Park!

 

(photos of "the bean", splash fountain if it's warm enough, big, cool playground, usually art on display, sometimes music)

[Cecropia]

Museum of Science and Industry

[Annie G]

Museum of Science and Industry

 

That's exactly what our kids loved at those ages. And now the grands are loving the Museum of Science and Industry. 

 

They also like Giordano's pizza, playing at the bean, and the aquarium. 

[Lucy the Valiant]

If you have a local ASTC pass to your own museums, check into reciprocity in Chicago - ours worked BEAUTIFULLY, and saved us quite a bundle in admission! Also, the Lincoln Park Zoo is free and open every single day - if your guys are into zoos, we enjoyed that one quite a bit. :)

[Pegasus]

We LOVED our family vacation in Chicago.  We stayed downtown and took public transit everywhere.  Very convenient but it can be very crowded. Will you be alone with all 4 boys?  I'd be very careful at not getting separated as you get on and off buses and the L.

 

There are a couple competing pizza places that folks will recommend in Chicago.  Depending on how long you will be there, you might want to try them both: Lou Malnati's and Giordano's. 

 

Lots of amazing museums and other sites to visit. We stayed a week and barely made a dent. We visited the Museum of Science and Industry our last day and could have easily spent another day (or two) there.  We also hit the downtown aquarium - very nice.

 

My main tip, learn from our mistake and use the recommended routes for public transit.  The hotel and visitor center provided recommended public transit routes to take to get to all the common tourist destinations.  By the end of the week, we got cocky and decided we could map out a more efficient route.  The problem turned out that we did not really know the area and ended up getting off a bus in a depressed neighborhood.  We walked a couple blocks to pick up our next bus route.  It ended up fine but it was a risk we shouldn't have taken with young children in tow. Yes, we got to the museum a little faster but I would stick with the official recommendations!

Edited September 19, 2016 by Pegasus

[MrsMommy]

I grew up in the Chicago suburbs, and just took my children back to the city to visit it for the first time in May. My favorite building in the US is the Tribune Tower. It has pieces of famous places from around the world adhered to the outside. It's amazing to see all the different countries represented! The Shedd Aquarium is also a fun place to visit. The Art Institute has free admission for children, so even if you don't stay long, it's pretty worthwhile. And I second visiting The Bean and the Museum of Science of Industry...both are fun places!

[Pippen]

To the above, I would add a visit to The Lego Store!

[EmilyGF]

Do remember that Chicago blocks are long and that it is easy to walk a lot in Chicago. 

 

Downtown: Pizzeria Uno or Due

Maggie Daley Park and the Bean at Millennium Park for great photo ops

Museum of Science and Industry (you could take the Metra Electric from Millennium Park to 57th and then walk, or drive and park in the garage)

Field Museum is close to downtown if you prefer that

Architecture Foundation is across from the art institute and has a scale model of downtown and is free :-)

walk around some sky scrapers (love the Federal Buildings by Mies van der Rohe, if I remember correctly)

Pizzeria Uno/Due are really close to a Trader Joe's so you can stock up on snacks/breakfasts/etc

Eataly is fun if you are on the Mag Mile

 

Not sure how long or educational you're trying to make it!

 

Emily

 

[Karen A]

This was mentioned above, but let me second Millenium Park, particularly the Maggie Daley playground, the Bean, and the spitting fountain.  If it's warm bring a change of clothes cause kids like to get wet in that fountain.  IIRC you have to cross the bridge from the Bean sculpture to get to the playground.  The aquarium is great.  My family also loves the Field Museum, which has a huge dino collection, if that's a thing with your boys.  Also, you can look into taking a water taxi to get to some of your destinations,that is more fun than a bus https://www.chicagowatertaxi.com/Chicago-Boat-Tourists/, and not too much more expensive.  I usually love the architecture boat tours, but your kids are too little to enjoy that.  You could look into the CityPass (I think that's what it's called) to see if you can get admission discounts to Museums.  Also of note, right across the street from Mil. Park is the Chicago Cultural Center, also free that you could take 5-10 mins to walk through.  It's a beautiful building that used to be the library.  Has mosaics, a pretty dome, and a gallery that sometimes has cool stuff.

[bluemongoose]

We just went there. If you can afford it, swing for the city passes. It gets you into several of the museums as well as the aquarium and the planetarium. We well worth it.

[lovinmyboys]

We are staying downtown and I was just planning on staying parked at the hotel. Is that feasible? Is the public transportation pretty easy to use?

 

We do have a membership to an ATSC museum so I believe we can get into the museum of science and industry, the planetarium, and the field museum for free.

 

We are going to be there for 5 days.

[Okra]

A third vote for Millenium ParkPark with the spitting fountain.  Your age children will most likely get wet, so yes a change of clothes is great.  And, another vote for the Museum of science and industry.  We went to Chicago with children, and this was the thing they all loved most.  My older children absolutely loved the chicken hatching room in the late afternoon where the chicks were hatching.

 

Also, a trip to Lake Michigan was well loved by the children.

 

Personally, while not my childrens' favorite thing, I would take them to the Chicago museum of Art.  They have some amazing things to see there.

[happi duck]

The Art Institute is incredible! Even if you just see a handful of the most famous works or one collection it would be worth it imo.

 

If the weather is nice Buckingham Fountain is along the lake front. I think there's a schedule for when it dramatically shoots water and then at night there is also lights and maybe music...not sure.

 

Near the fountain and Shedd Aquarium there are boat rides available. I'm a sucker for those so I always like that kind of stuff. Can't remember how spendy it is.

 

From Navy Pier we once went on a ride on a sailing ship. The Windy? I remember it as expensive but we liked it a lot. Navy Pier has a huge ferris wheel that I'm too scared to ride. Some people love Navy Pier but it's not my favorite.

[J-rap]

Millennium Park, Buckingham Fountain, and our favorite museum is the Museum of Science and Industry.  After that, we enjoy the Field Museum and the Art Institute.  At your boys' ages, they may not enjoy the Art Institute so much, except there's a really neat exhibit in their lower level on miniatures (as in miniature houses).  It's actually pretty amazing!  Across the street from the museum is a store that we love to wander through... It has lots of interesting products and displays that even kids enjoy.  (Maybe an architecture-type store?)  Eat some deep-dish pizza while you're there.  There's a movie theater on Michigan Ave. if you just want to take a break!

 

We've been there many times, and lived downtown for a month a few years ago.  We nearly always parked our car and just relied on walking and public transportation.  The Museum of Science and Industry is more out of the way, but there is still public transportation there if that's what you want to do.

 

[mom31257]

We just went this summer and took the train in from the suburbs, but we used the buses downtown some of the time. It was easy to get a pass. There's a Ventra app for checking on times of all the transportation there. 

 

We especially loved going to Greek Town. Mariano's Fresh Market is a grocery store that had the best gelato any of us had ever had. Artopolis was a great restaurant, too. 

 

My favorite restaurant was actually a more fast food place in the downtown area, Naf Naf Grill. It has falafel and shawarma, and it's set up like Chipotle. You go through a line and add the toppings you like. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Alice]

We went last year with kids aged 11, 8 and 5. 

 

All three of them put the Mirror Maze at the Museum of Science of Industry as their #1 top thing we did. We also went to the Field Museum which was incredible and the Planetarium. 

 

They also liked the Art Institute a lot more than I expected. None of them really like art museums that much even though we go them fairly often. They liked it so much in fact that they went back a second day without me (I was there for a conference and my husband took them out every morning alone). We listened to the book 68 Rooms by Marianne Malone before going. It's a mystery about kids that get shrunk down and explore the Thorn Rooms at the Art Institute. They liked the book and that made seeing the rooms that much cooler. If you are a Bank of America member and happen to be there on the first weekend of the month, it is also free. 

 

Other activities that they liked: biking along Lake Michigan, the fountain at Millenium Park, and the water taxi ride. We did the water taxi ride at night and it was really beautiful. We took it from near our hotel (which was close to Millenium Park) to Chinatown and then ate in Chinatown. We also enjoyed Navy Pier and the Ferris Wheel, although I think that was my husband's favorite more than the kids. 

 

To eat: Joy Yee in Chinatown was delicious. We had friends from Chicago that took us to a different location of the same restaurant and we liked it so much we went back a second time. We also really liked Margie's Candies, which is an old-fashioned ice cream and candy store. It's kind of an outlier though and not in the main downtown area so might not be worth going to . 

 

Public transportation was super easy. 

 

It was a great trip. Just last week my 6 year old told me that she "loved Chicago so much that I miss it every day." So I'd say it was a successful trip. 

[MercyA]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the Chicago Children's Museum at Navy Pier. It's not huge, but very well run and a lot of fun! I'd say it's best for kids 8 and under, but I'm sure your 10-year-old would enjoy it, too. Teachers (including homeschoolers) get a 50% discount on admission, so be sure to take a teacher ID if you have one. I highly recommend it.

 

There's a lot of neat things to see at the Field Museum, but it's mostly things to look at rather than things to do. 

 

I'd skip the Aquarium. They keep wild-caught dolphins there and tried to obtain wild-caught belugas several years ago. It's very sad.

 

Hope you have a wonderful vacation! I love Chicago! 

[Happy]

We were in Chicago last month--without kids, so that changes my perspective.

 

I loved the Field Museum. THey have a traveling exhibition of the Terra Cotta Warriors from China. I've long wanted to go to see them in China--but that is not happening. :)  The exhibit was an additional fee, but so worth it in my opinion. Your littles might be too little for it. The museum also has some terrific dinosaurs and an interesting Ancient Egypt exhibit. The food in the little café was good as well.

 

We loved the Navy Pier and the tall ship, Windy. It's a great way to calmly get out on the lake and see the Chicago skyline.

 

The tall building--with the observation deck is very cool if it's a clear day. Chicago 360 is the only name I remember.

 

A walk along the river is fun...we loved the architecture boat tour. Great way to see the city.

 

We stayed downtown...just a block from Eataly. Walking to the Mile was easy. We Ubered everywhere else.

 

 

[lovinmyboys]

Thanks for the help! Is there an easy way to figure out the buses? I am kinda stressed about that part.

 

I see you can buy day passes. Where do you buy those? Will the people at the hotel be able to explain it? Do bus passes work on the train?

 

I have traveled with my kids before, but I haven't taken them on public transportation since D.C when I had only a toddler and baby. I remember that being pretty easy. I think I just used the maps on my phone. This for some reason seems more confusing.

[EmilyGF]

Thanks for the help! Is there an easy way to figure out the buses? I am kinda stressed about that part.

 

I see you can buy day passes. Where do you buy those? Will the people at the hotel be able to explain it? Do bus passes work on the train?

 

I have traveled with my kids before, but I haven't taken them on public transportation since D.C when I had only a toddler and baby. I remember that being pretty easy. I think I just used the maps on my phone. This for some reason seems more confusing.

Public transit these days is super easy: just key into google maps where you want to go from and to, and choose the transit option (it looks like a street car, for me it is between the car and the person walking). It'll give you options like what day and time, and then bring up a variety of options that include things like buses, trains, and walking. 

The Metra Electric (which you might take to the MSI) is separate from the El/Bus, but the El/Bus are on the same card. You can get a Ventra card and load it and then use it for everyone. Be sure to ask for a cheaper fare for the kids.

 

Emily

[jelbe5]

Maggie Daley Park, just east of Millennium Park.

 

CTA (Chicago Transit Authority) has a system of busses and trains known as the "L" which is short for "elevated" . . . even though some of the trains run underground. The "L" is not to be confused with the Metra trains, which are primarily commuter trains.

 

If you are staying downtown you will probably use busses to get to most local attractions. You might find this helpful, especially the "Downtown Sightseeing Guide".

 

http://www.transitchicago.com/maps/

 

http://www.transitchicago.com/assets/1/brochures/16JD_011_Downtown_sight_seeing_guide.pdf

 

The hotel you are staying in should direct you to how/where to buy the transit passes and may even sell them onsite.

Edited September 20, 2016 by jelbe5