Mother/Son Chicago Trip Questions

So my 11 year old son and I are making a 3 day stop in Chicago first of June. I have a couple of questions:

1. I was thinking of staying downtown 1 night and in a suburb for the other 2. What burbs would you recommend or would it be better to stay downtown the whole time (if i can get good rates)?

2. If we stay downtown is it safe for us to do activities at night or are there many kid friendly things to do?

3. What areas of downtown would you NOT recommend for a hotel?

4. What are your ideas for any activites/restaurants that we shouldn%26#39;t miss?

I know its a lot of questions and I really appreciate any input you can give me. I just want to make this trip a fun and memorable one for my son!

Thanks,

Shiloh

Mother/Son Chicago Trip Questions

The downtown and tourist areas are very safe. There is no reason to stay in the suburbs unless you want to go somewhere in particular, or are on your way in or out of town. Use the mapping features on this site or hotels.com to find a hotel - you%26#39;ll see that many are on the near north side, which is probably your best choice.

There are a couple of recent threads with children%26#39;s activities listed. Do some reading, and some consulting with the young man, and let us know if you have any specific questions.

Mother/Son Chicago Trip Questions

1. Why would you want to stay in the suburbs? Find a hotel downtown and stay there for the whole stay. Travelzoo.com has some specials, a friend of mine said she found the River Hotel for a good rate on Orbitz. It%26#39;s a brand new hotel so they are probably giving good introductory rates, the location is great. Priceline and Hotwire, if you%26#39;re willing to blind bid, can save you a lot of money.

2. Plenty to do downtown at night, movies, bowling, theaters, ESPN Zone or Dave %26amp; Busters

3. River North or Magnificent Mile are the areas I%26#39;d recommend, or just south of the River. Try to stay closer to Michigan Avenue or on Michigan Avenue if you can, you%26#39;ll find more foot traffic there and better access to public transport.

4. There%26#39;s no way to answer that without knowing budget, interests, etc. Have a look at an online guide (Frommers, Fodors, etc) or read through some posts here (trying searching for kids or kid friendly)

Downtown is very safe, if you can swing a good deal, i would stay downtown. If this is your first visit, consider hitting up the museums, your son seems like the great age for many of them, the citypass is a good value to visit many of them. As well as one of the observatorys, Sears, or Hancock.