In the dead of winter, get excited for the annual Restaurants Week that takes place in late January/early February for almost two weeks. If you find yourself in the windy city in the winter, don’t fear! The holidays are a magical time with the whole city decked out in the season’s finest and annual traditions like the Christkindlmarket in Daley Plaza, ice skating in Millenium park, and the Macy’s storefront windows.
It’s as if you’re in a canyon of skyscrapers alongside kayakers, yachts, and tour boats. In downtown, don’t miss the newly completed riverwalk where you can enjoy a glass of wine and a unique perspective of the Loop. And for the LGBT+ community, this means spending those long summer days in Boystown, the aptly named gayborhood, and Andersonville, a Swedish influenced neighborhood with plenty of LGBT+ haunts. Although Chicagoans will tout surviving blizzards and sub-zero cold snaps like a badge of honor, everyone lives for the season of rooftop happy hours, beach volleyball, and countless street and music festivals. Without a doubt, any local will agree that the best time to visit is in the summer (June-September). By now you can see that a trip to the Second City is really second to none.
Between downtown and the lakefront you’ll find Grant Park comprised of 319 acres (1.3 sq km) of green space to enjoy. Within minutes you can go from shopping designer brands on Michigan Avenue to enjoying some fun in the sun and sand. Speaking of accolades, the culture vulture will be thrilled to hear that in 2015 Trip Advisor named the Art Institute of Chicago the best museum in the world beating out the Louvre, the Met, and the British Museum.Ĭhicago is not only a metropolis of food, culture, and architecture, but there’s a beach – 18 miles (29 km) of lakefront in fact. In the May 2017 issue of Conde Nast Traveler, Chicago was named the “best restaurant city in America.” This is for good reason as it has become a foodie paradise boasting much more than deep dish pizza, hot dogs, and Italian beef sandwiches. Over the years, architect and urban designer, Daniel Burnham, who was also responsible for the famed Flatiron Building in NYC, reimagined this rough and tumbled industrial town to the modern city it is today.Įver since, Chicago has been renowned for world-class architecture, museums, and more recently, a thriving food scene. This extravagant event took place just two decades after the Great Chicago Fire that left a third of the population homeless. In 1893 Chicago was put in the world map as a destination of culture, architecture, and innovation as it hosted the World’s Fair: Columbian Exposition celebrating the 400 th anniversary of Christopher Columbus’s arrival in the New World.