City Information  Biljett -   Queensway Travel

Airport
O’Hare International Airport is 26km north-west of the city centre. Flight time from London is 7 hrs 35 mins. Midway Airport is located 16km south-west of downtown and handles domestic air traffic.

From O’Hare Airport

The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) runs a schedule of rapid transit trains from the airport to major points downtown. This is probably the best method of getting into the city, provided you are not weighed down with luggage. The 26-km trip takes 35-45 mins with fares costing $1.50. Trains depart from the lower level of O’Hare every 5-10 mins (every 30 mins between 0100 and 0500).

Alternatively, Continental Airport Express runs a minibus service every 15 mins to all the main downtown hotels and the north and north-west suburbs, including Oak Brook, from 0430-2330. One-way tickets downtown are $20; round-trip $36. They can be purchased in the baggage claim areas of Terminals 1, 2 and 3. Taxis are found on the lower level of each terminal between 0060 and 0100. The trip downtown takes about 40 mins at a cost of about $40 (including tip).

From Midway Airport

CTA’s rapid transit train takes 30 mins and costs $1.50. Trains leave from the station at the east side of the airport. Continental’s Airport Express minibuses connect to downtown for a one-way fee of $15 ($27 round-trip), departing every 15 mins. Taxis are found outside the main terminal building. A cab ride into downtown takes about 30-40 mins and costs $25-$30.

Orientation

Central Chicago covers an area of 10km2, spreading inland from Lake Michigan. The central downtown business zone is called The Loop, so named because of the elevated train tracks that encircle it (Lake St on the north, Wabash Ave on the east, Van Buren St on the south and Wells St on the west). Lincoln Park is one of the city’s major recreational areas, featuring gobs of restaurants and pubs, several sandy beaches, a farm, zoo, conservatory, public golf course and natural science museum. It nestles along the lakefront from trendy Oak St Beach to the Ardmore-Hollywood Beach.

The rest of the near-city is divided into smart, residential neighbourhoods (viz Gold Coast, Near North, Old Town, Streeterville) and colourful ethnic enclaves (Chinatown, Pilsen, Little Italy, Greektown). Trendy River North, adjacent to The Loop on the north-west, is an eating and entertainment mecca as well as one of the city’s premier gallery districts. Printer’s Row, a residential area just south of downtown, offers several good restaurants and a jazz club. Artist-filled Bucktown/Wicker Park, north-west of downtown, offers a melange of bars, coffee houses, galleries and restaurants.

For information on the city, contact the Chicago Office of Tourism at or drop into the Chicago Water Works, 163 E Pearson, open every day except Thanksgiving and Christmas 0700-1900.

Getting Around Lågpris Flygbiljett -     Queensway Travel

The CTA runs the bus, subway and elevated (El) networks throughout the city and its suburbs. Route maps and timetables can be picked up at the airport station and many hotels. Single trip fares are $1.50 (exact fare only) plus 30 cents for a transfer ticket valid for two changes within two hours; easier all round are fare cards, which can be bought in any denomination beginning at $3 (the $10 ticket includes $1 free). Visitor passes (obtainable at either airport) are good value for frequent use and are available for one, two, three or five days for $5, $9, $12 or $18 respectively.

Taxis can be either hailed in the street, taken off ranks or summoned by telephone. The most reliable companies, according to our sources, are American United, Yellow and Checker. If travelling to the suburbs, use the METRA (Metropolitan Rail) which links downtown with outlying regions. To reach the northern and north-western suburbs, take trains from North Western Station on West Madison St. For the western and south-western ones, depart Union Station on South Canal, and for the southern suburbs leave via either Randolph St Station on E Randolph St or LaSalle St Station on S LaSalle. Inter-City Amtrak trains connect all major cities from Union Station.  Information on how to get from one place to the next on public transport (CTA or METRA) can be had by calling 836 7000 from 0445 until 0130.

What is Interesting

The Art Institute Of Chicago: In addition to its role as the French Impressionist capital of the Midwest, the permanent collection of this enormous complex showcases works in every medium by most of the world’s great artists and temporary blockbuster exhibitions by others. A favoured lunch spot in the summer and autumn is the alfresco Garden Restaurant, which also features jazz, cocktails and nibbles on Thursdays from 1600 to 1900. The Restaurant on the Park offers delectable luncheon dining year-round. Open Mon, Weds-Fri 1030-1630, Tues 1030-2000, Sat 1000-1700, Sun 1200-1700,  free admission on Tues.

Marshall Field’s: Modern US retailing was invented here in 1852 in Chicago’s best-known department store. The 13-storey light well, Tiffany mosaic glass dome, majestic gilded pillars, and graceful fountain reflect the simple elegance of the merchandise that awaits in over 180,000m2 of selling space. The staff in the seventh floor Walnut Room don’t care how long you tarry over lunch, and the Food Court across the way should not be missed. Field’s Visitors Center, located on the seventh floor, has a cloakroom and concierge services, and gives out discount coupons and a complimentary gift. Down Under, the store’s imaginative title for its basement operations, has its own food court, gourmet section and restaurant and is along the route of the Pedway. 111 N State St, Tel: 781 1000. A smaller, though equally elegant, Field’s is one of two anchor stores in Water Tower Place, 835 N. Michigan,

The Museum of Contemporary Art: Set between two parks in an urban canyon with the historic Water Tower to the west and Lake Michigan to the east, the fortress-like building designed by German architect Josef Paul Kleihues showcases the important movements that have occurred since MCA’s founding in 1967 – minimalism, post-minimalism conceptualism – as well as art made in Chicago, artists’ books and works from earlier periods, especially surrealism. Inform, a user-friendly personal audio tour, gives information about works in the permanent collection and major temporary exhibitions. The restaurant, Puck’s (as in Wolfgang) at the MCA overlooks the sculpture garden and the gift shop features smart, one-of-a-kind designs. Open Tues 1000-2000, Weds-Sun 1000-1700, closed Mon.

Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio and Ernest Hemingway Birthplace and Museum: It’s well worth the 20-min El or METRA ride to leafy Oak Park, the first suburb west of the city, to visit the homes of two of its most famous native sons, Wright and Hemingway.

Prairie School architect Wright lived and worked at 951 W Chicago for the first 20 years of his career until he ran off with Mamah Cheney, the wife of one of his clients. The surrounding Prairie School Historic District contains 25 Wright-designed structures, including the famed Unity Temple, and a rich selection of other restored homes. Guided and self-guided tours are available every day and the gift shop is remarkable. Admission $3.

Hemingway called Oak Park a community of ‘wide lawns and narrow minds’. The wide lawns remain and so does the home where he was born at 339 N Oak Park Ave on 21 July 1899. At No 200 is the museum, with photographs, letters and other memorabilia relating to the great author, as well as a good bookshop. Open Thu, Fri, and Sun 0100-1700, from 1000 on Sat, admission $3. Website: www.hemingway.org.

Navy Pier: This historic, one-time commercial shipping port, training site for WWII sailors, and campus for the University of Illinois, is now a delightful 50-acre playground for adults and children. Filled with parks, promenades, gardens, restaurants, shops, and entertainment attractions – Chicago Shakespeare Theatre Company, Skyline Stage, IMAX Theatre, Chicago Children’s Museum, boat cruises, a 15-storey ferris wheel, a carousel, and miniature golf course (skating rink in the winter) – it extends nearly a mile out into Lake Michigan and has spectacular views of the city’s skyline. Website: www.navypier.org.

Shopping        Flyg och bil-        Queensway Travel

For serious shopping indulgence, dust down the credit card and head for the ‘Magnificent Mile’ along N Michigan Ave from the Chicago River to Oak St. Elegant shopping shrines offering up a dizzying array of top notch goodies – 900 N Michigan (with Bloomingdale’s as its anchor), Water Tower Place (Marshall Field’s and Lord and Taylor), Neiman Marcus, Chicago Place (Saks Fifth Avenue) and the newest kid on the block, North Bridge (Nordstrom’s) – sit cheek by jowl with jumpin’, jivin’ NikeTown, the Disney Store, and Crate and Barrel, Chicago’s version of the Conran Shop. For the best boutiques, head for Oak St, a short walk west of Michigan Ave. State St in the Loop vies for the title of Chicago’s most famous street, the setting for numerous department stores à la Oxford St. Discount shopping is available there at TJ Maxx and Filene’s Basement (with locations on State St and Michigan Ave).

Where to Tour

Get yourself over to the Chicago Architecture Center at 224 S Michigan to explore Chicago’s diverse and legendary architecture on one of CAF’s regular walking tours of The Loop, North Michigan Ave, or Streeterville, distinctive tours of nearly two dozen neighbourhoods and special tours ranging from cemeteries and gardens to grand hotels and churches all around town. If walking’s not your forte, you can see the sights by boat, bus or bike.

If you want to walk without a guide, the eye-popping, 17-storey atrium of the James R Thompson Building (seat of Illinois government in Chicago) is an entertaining place to start. In addition to the building’s spectacularly controversial architecture, it houses shops, an art gallery, a gift shop featuring the work of Illinois artists, a station for CTA trains (including those to O’Hare and Midway airports), and a food court. Stoke up at the lower level food court before entering the labyrinthine Pedway, an underground escape from the traffic, winter cold or summer heat above. It leads to the City Hall, County Building, Daley Center (where the county courts are located), two subway stations, Marshall Field’s, Cultural Center (and its Museum of Broadcast Communications filled with radio and television memorabilia and where you can make your own news broadcast video to impress the folks back home), Randolph St Train Station, Prudential Building, AON Center, and Fairmont Hotel with a variety of fast food shops, cleaners, travel agencies, etc along the way.

If you stay above ground, a ‘museum without walls’ of outdoor public art awaits. Dubuffet’s Monument with Standing Beast guards the Thompson Center, and one of Chicago’s most famous symbols lies right across the street at the Daley Center Plaza. The Picasso (you decide if it’s a bird or a woman!) protects the local courts and Under the Picasso, a series of free cultural performances, is held each weekday. Miro’s Chicago dominates a tiny square across Washington St and Chagall’s bejewelled mosaic Four Seasons overlooks the dramatic plaza of the First National Bank just down the street on Dearborn. Pop inside the lobby of the Marquette Bldg at 140 S Dearborn for an Illinois history lesson, mosaics of Père Marquette and explorer Louis Jolliet.

Cap off this brief cultural stroll under Calder’s brilliant, flame-red Flamingo straddling the Federal Plaza across Adams. If you’re not worn to a frazzle, walk a few blocks west to the Sears Tower to see where you’ve been (and four states as well on a clear day) from atop the world’s former tallest building. Or crash a few steps east on Adams at The Berghoff for turn-of-the-century ambience and a schnitzel and beer.