Chicago, Illinois

Chicago, Illinois
Things To Do


Photo Courtesy World Choice Travel

Adler Planetarium and Astronomy Museum
1300 South Lake Shore Drive
The first planetarium in the Western Hemisphere, Adler has hands-on and historical exhibits as well as sky shows.

Art Institute of Chicago
111 S. Michigan Avenue, Chicago
Masterpieces from Monet and Degas are housed in a vast, world-class collection that also features African, American-Indian and Asian works, decorative arts and sculpture, photography, prints, textiles, and contemporary American painting. Free lectures are open to the public on Tuesday evenings.

Balzekas Museum of Lithuanian Culture
6500 South Pulaski Road
Dedicated to the preservation of Lithuanian art, history, customs, and traditions, Balzekas also has a Children's Museum of Immigrant History.

Brookfield Zoo
First Avenue and 31st Street
Brookfield
Located 14 miles west of the Loop, it is accessible by Metra. A number of large exhibits. Includes dolphin shows.

Buckingham Fountain, Chicago
Chicago's landmark is considered one of America's finest fountains due to its Beaux-Arts-style design, finely wrought bronze sculpture, and innovative use of technology.

Burnham Skate Park
31st Street and Lake Shore Drive
Admission is free; the park is closed in winter.
This 20,000-square-foot park for skateboarders and in-line skaters features benches, curbs, rails, and smooth, curved metal surfacing for protection.

Chicago Children's Museum
700 East Grand Avenue
Located on Navy Pier.
The exhibits encourage children to look, touch, and explore.

Chicago Architecture Foundation
Address: 224 South Michigan Avenue
Free admission to enter
More than 40 different architectural tours, varying in price.

Clarke House Museum
Address: 1827 South Indiana Avenue
Chicago's oldest surviving building, and the only place to see how an early Chicago family lived.

Chicago Botanical Gardens
100 Lake Cook Road, Glencoe
Admission charged per car.
Whatever your taste in gardens, you will find it here. The 385-acre property includes a suitably romantic English Garden, a thoughtful Japanese paradise, and indoor greenhouses that duplicate the atmosphere of the desert as well as the rainforest. A 45-foot waterfall cascades through the Waterfall Garden and the pools in quiet areas. A visit to the Chicago Botanical Gardens is a learning experience as well. Courses and lectures are almost always available, and a walk through the Endangered Species Garden teaches about preservation of plant species.

Chicago Public Library
Harold Washington Library Center
400 South State Street
The world's largest public library has more than two million shelved volumes available to the public.

Chicago Cultural Center
78 E. Washington St., Chicago
The Loop
Elegant, ornamental details abound in this building, including sparkling mosaic tiles, sculptured ceilings, inscribed literary quotations, and a sweeping white Carrara marble staircase. The Preston Bradley Hall, on the third floor has the world's largest Tiffany stained-glass dome. Another magnificent stained-glass dome is on the second floor in the GAR rotunda. The structure was constructed in 1897 to serve a dual purpose. The Randolph Street and Washington Street sides are different for this reason One was the entrance to the city's central library, and the other to the Grand Army of the Republic museum. The Cultural Center houses public spaces, with free concerts and performances of all kinds, including live music every weekday at 1 in the Randolph Café.

Citicorp Center
500 W. Madison St., Chicago
Near West Side
Across the Chicago River from the Civic Opera House, the functions of commuter train station and office building unite. The center combines a boxlike office tower with glass half-cylinders rising from the lower levels. Horizontal and vertical bands of mirrored and smoked glass alternate up the building for a ribbon effect. It looks very much like the grand old European railroad stations. The gates to the tracks are elevated above street level to allow traffic to proceed east and west via underpasses.

Daley Center
Bounded by Washington, Randolph, Dearborn, and Clark Sts., Chicago
Named for the late mayor Richard J. Daley, the father of the current holder of the office, this boldly plain high-rise is the headquarters of the Cook County court system, but it also draws visitors' attention because of what stands outside: a sculpture by Picasso. Known simply as "The
Picasso.

"DuSable Museum of African-American History
740 East 56th Place
The DuSable Museum is dedicated to the collection, preservation, and interpretation of the history and culture of Africans and Americans of African descent. The museum sponsors a film series, jazz and blues concerts, and film and theater events geared to children.

The Field Museum
1400 S. Lake Shore Drive, Chicago
Admission charged.
The Field is Chicago's crowning museum of natural history, with exhibits on everything from dinosaurs to African culture to gems and minerals. Visitors can observe as geologists work on a million-year-old fossilized dinosaur, painstakingly removing its bones from the rock and assembling them for display. The "Life Over Time" display documents the changing weather patterns that contributed to the formation of the earth's environment, and other exhibits explore the various cultures of the world's population.

Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio Foundation
Address: 951 Chicago Avenue, Oak Park
Admission charged.
This building served as both the Wright family residence and Wright's studio around the turn of the century.

Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust
931 Chicago Avenue, Oak Park 60302
The Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust operates two historic house museums: The Robie House in Hyde Park and the Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio in Oak Park. The Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio was the architectural laboratory for the architect. The Preservation Trust offers guided architectural tours of these buildings daily, along with special educational programs for youth and adults.

Robie House
5757 S. Woodlawn St., Chicago 60637
Robie House represents the culmination of Wright's renowned work in the revolutionary architectural genre known as the Prairie Style. This spectacular structure features 174 exquisite art glass windows and doors. Tours offered daily, as well as public programs and special events-all of which focus on Wright's legendary creativity.

Glessner House Museum
1800 S. Prairie Avenue, Chicago 60616
Glessner House Museum is a National Historic Landmark, designed by Henry Hobson Richardson and built in 1887. Guided tours of Glessner House and the neighboring Clarke House Museum are available, Wednesday-Sunday at noon, 1 and 2pm. Museum programming examines the architecture, art, history and culture of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries through lectures, discussions, performance events and exhibits.

Grant Park, Chicago
Dedicated in 1844, this park covers 319 acres along Lake Michigan and is home to the Shedd Aquarium, the Adler Planetarium, the Field Museum and the Art Institute.

The Hancock Observatory
875 N. Michigan Avenue
John Hancock Center, Chicago
Admission charged.
It's not the tallest building in Chicago, but the 100-story Hancock Tower is worth a visit for its magnificent cityscapes and the interesting interactive exhibits on its 94th floor. Visitors take a speedy elevator ride to the observation level, where "Soundscope" viewers give a narrated account (in one of four languages) of what you're seeing through the telescope. Adults will enjoy the Signature Lounge, a 96th-floor watering hole with a lakeside view.

Harold Washington Library Center
400 S. State St., Chicago
The Loop
The center's holdings include the Chicago Blues Archives, the Jazz/Blues/Gospel Hall of Fame, and the Balaban and Katz Theater

Hull House Museum
800 S. Halsted Street, Chicago
Cost: Free
Hours: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday-Friday; 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday
Honored with the Nobel Peace Prize in 1931, Jane Addams did what no one before her had thought to do. She moved into one of Chicago's tenement neighborhoods and opened a "settlement house" to help meet the economic and social needs of her neighbors and to encourage their involvement in improving their own community. During the height of its activity, Hull House included a library, gymnasium, theater and an art gallery. The museum, snuggled in the heart of the University of Illinois-Chicago, consists of two of the original 13 buildings, one an Arts and Crafts-style dining hall built in 1905.

Hyde Park, Chicago
This neighborhood, located south of the downtown area, is best known for being the home to the University of Chicago.

John G. Shedd Aquarium
1200 S. Lake Shore Drive, Chicago
Admission charged.
Visitors to the Shedd Aquarium should be sure to stop by around feeding time to watch divers distribute dinner to the various eels, rays, sea turtles and fish that make its Tropical Coral Reef home. Nearly 8,000 aquatic animals - fresh and salt-water alike - are part of the Shedd's collection, and nearly 2 million visitors make the journey to the world's largest indoor aquarium each year.

Kohl Children's Museum
165 Green Bay Road
Wilmette
Admission charged.
Children ages 1—8 can touch and explore the exhibits and participate in planned daily activities.

Lincoln Park Zoo
2001 N. Clark Street, Chicago
The oldest zoo in the country, Lincoln Park Zoo is still free to visitors. But its greatest asset is its vast collection - 1,200 animals - and its dedication to teaching conservation and protection of wildlife. The zoo's Lester E. Fisher Great Ape House is considered one of the finest gorilla exhibits in the world. Other visitor favorites include the Sea Lion Pool, the Bird House (where feathered friends surround their homo sapiens visitors) and the Penguin and Seabird House. And of course, there are plenty of elephants, giraffes and rhinos

Magnificent Mile
North Michigan Avenue, Chicago
A mecca for shoppers, Magnificent Mile runs along North Michigan Avenue to Lincoln Park and rivals Rodeo Drive and Worth Avenue for world-class shopping and restaurants. Comforting names like The Gap accompany upscale Armani on the list of 60 well-known retail establishments to line this spending paradise. Three shopping malls are also nearby, and each is worthy of the Magnificent Mile's high-class shopping reputation, and magnificent restaurants and five-star hotels.

Millenium Park
Located in downtown Chicago on Michigan Avenue between Randolph and Monroe Streets, the 24.5-acre park is an unprecedented center for world-class art, music, architecture and landscape design, where you can experience everything from interactive public art and ice skating to al fresco dining and free classical music presentations by the Grant Park Orchestra and Chorus. Among the park’s prominent features is the dazzling Jay Pritzker Pavilion, the most sophisticated outdoor concert venue of its kind in the United States, designed by Frank Gehry, one of the world’s greatest living architects. A pedestrian bridge, also designed by Mr. Gehry and spanning Columbus Drive, provides access to the pavilion, acts as an acoustical barrier between the audience and traffic noise, and links Millennium Park to the rest of Chicago's lakefront park system.  The park also is home to one of the world’s largest outdoor sculptures by the British artist Anish Kapoor; the tradition-setting Lurie Garden designed by the team of Kathryn Gustafson, Piet Oudolf, and Robert Israel; and the Crown Fountain designed by Spanish artist Jaume Plensa.

Mexican Fine Arts Center
1852 West 19th Street
Exhibits on traditional and contemporary Mexican art range in medium from prints and drawings to papier-mâché and from ceramics to historically significant photographs. Every autumn the museum hosts the city's most visited Day of the Dead exhibit.

Museum of Broadcast Communications
Michigan Avenue at Washington Street
(in the Chicago Cultural Center)
Free admission
The MBC examines popular culture and contemporary American history through the sights and sounds of television and radio. Featured are hands-on exhibits, broadcasting memorabilia, and a public archives collection of more than 60,000 radio and television programs and commercials.

Museum of Contemporary Art
220 East Chicago Avenue
The MCA exhibits painting, sculpture, photography, video and film, and performance created since 1945. It includes a terraced sculpture garden and has a great view of Lake Michigan.

Museum of Contemporary Photography
Columbia College
600 South Michigan Avenue
Free admission, The permanent collection focuses on American photography produced since 1959.

Museum of Science and Industry
57th Street and Lake Shore Drive
More than 800 exhibits and 2,000 interactive units include a display exploring the inner workings of the brain, an exhibit of a captured German U-boat, and a trip down a replica coal mine. There is also an Omnimax movie dome.

Museum of Surgical Science
1524 North Lake Shore Drive
admission charged.
With its collection of 7,000 surgery-related objects, manuscripts, and artworks, this museum shows the discoveries and failures that have shaped modern surgery.

National Vietnam Veterans Art Museum
1801 South Indiana Avenue
Art of 115 men and women who served in Vietnam.

Navy Pier
600 East Grand Avenue, Chicago
Cost: Free
Stretching more than a half-mile (3000 feet) into Lake Michigan, the Navy Pier is a popular attraction for guests and locals alike. The pier area welcomes more than 5 million visitors who come to ride its 150-foot Ferris wheel and old-fashioned carousel, see an IMAX movie, take sightseeing and dinner cruises or stroll its lovely lakefront location.  Its concert dome, Skyline Stage, seats 1,500 and presents performances from May through October. The 170,000-square foot festival hall hosts several distinguished annual events, and a six-story glass atrium contains Crystal Gardens, the pier's one-acre enclosed botanical garden.

Oak Street Beach, Chicago
Great place for water sports and biking.

Sears Tower
233 S. Wacker Drive, Chicago
Admission charged.
The tallest building in North America and still one of the tallest in the world, the Sears Tower soars 110 stories to 1,454 feet. Completed in 1973, the tower was built by 12,000 workers in fierce Chicago winds, which became a more significant challenge the higher the structure rose. The newly opened Skydeck on the 103rd floor offers 80-mile views on a clear day. It also presents a number of educational exhibits on Chicago history, the Great Chicago Fire and the city's founding fathers and mothers.

Spertus Museum (Institute of Jewish Studies)
618 South Michigan Avenue
Admission charged.
Spertus Museum welcomes students from all backgrounds to its galleries, using its collections to introduce basic themes in Jewish religion and culture.

Swedish American Museum Center
5211 N. Clark Street
Chicago, IL 60640
This museum aims to preserve the Midwest's rich Swedish heritage by collecting, interpreting, and displaying materials related to Swedish-American history.

Terra Museum of American Art
664 North Michigan Avenue
Free for students with valid ID

Ukrainian National Museum
721 N. Oakley Boulevard
Chicago, IL 60612

Tribune Tower, Chicago
The neo-gothic tower's signature is the exterior collection of stones from other famous edifices, like the Parthenon, St. Peter's Basilica, Notre Dame, the White House and most recently, the Berlin Wall.

University of Chicago
5801 South Ellis Avenue
The public attractions include museums (Oriental Institute and Smart Museum of Art), galleries, and a Frank Lloyd Wright home (Robie House). It also is the site of the magnificent limestone edifice, Regenstein Library, which features over 7 million volumes in addition to priceless archives. The Rockefeller Memorial Chapel is a mini cathedral with memorable stained glass windows, a 92-bell carillon and a 10,000 pipe organ.

Wrigley Building, Chicago
This white, terra-cotta landmark was built in 1922 as headquarters for the Wrigley chewing gum company.

Wrigley Field, Chicago
One of America's smallest, oldest, and best-loved ballparks, Wrigley is home to the Chicago Cubs
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