Hiring a car / Destinations

I am thinking of hiring a car when im in Chicago for a couple of days and want to now if there is any places of interest within a 150 mile radius of Chicago.And is driving straight forward enough in the city as i have never drove in the us before.One last thing would it br easy for me to pick the car up at o%26#39;hare airport or in the center of town (north clarke street)many thanks.

Hiring a car / Destinations

Many places in the US have great drives. Chicago area is not one of them. Certainly there are nice enough destinations--Lake Geneva is a resort town about 1.5 hours north, Harbor Country is a larger resort area about 2 hours northeast. Springfield is the capital of Illinois and has historical significance (notably Arbraham Lincoln musuem), and there is Galena which is a couple hours west. All nice, all fun, nothing ';must see';. To me, a great drive is the coastal highway in California or I recently drove from Boston to Philly and had many stops along the way. Driving from Miami to the keys is extraordinary and of course, driving throughout the islands of Hawaii is what dreams are made of. And then my personal favorite is driving through the southwest, up to Sedona from Phoenix or over to Santa Fe and then Taos from Albuquerque. So, if you can swing flying somewhere with spectacular drives, I would do that instead.

Hiring a car / Destinations

A couple thoughts:

There are some interesting/fun places to visit near Milwaukee and just north of there (e.g. Cedarburg). Less than 100 miles.

Starved Rock State Park near Ottawa, IL is pretty. As HappiTraveller notes, no drive from Chicago will likely be awe inspiring in scenery. However, if you take SR 71 between Ottawa and Utica, it is a pretty drive.

You can take the CTA blue line to O%26#39;hare and rent a car there, or many major services offer pick up points downtown.

Driving in the actual city is crowded and some drivers aggressive, but otherwise straight forward.

http://www.enjoyillinois.com/home.aspx

http://tourism.state.wi.us/

http://www.michigan.org/default.aspx

FYI - assuming that your road trip is after your Chicago visit, arrange to pick up your car downtown and return it at O%26#39;Hare.

If you have never driven on the right, Chicago is not the place to start.

It depends on what you are interested in seeing/doing. If you like the city you could always visit Milwaukee. We have a beautiful art museum right on the lake, the Miller brewery with a tour, and a new Harley museum (I haven%26#39;t been there yet so I can%26#39;t say how good it is). Depending on your interests there are other places in Wisconsin I could recommend, but mostly around Chicago you%26#39;ll just find suburbs and shopping malls.

The drivers in downtown Chicago can be a bit agressive, but not moreso than London in my opinion. Once outside of the city you%26#39;ll be on the freeway and that will be easier.