Chicago itinerary

Hi 鈥?My wife and I are heading to Chicago for her birthday in less than two weeks for 6/7 days. This is our proposed itinerary. I鈥檇 be grateful if you would comment on anything you think we could do better or on anything we haven鈥檛 planned to do but shouldn鈥檛 miss. We鈥檙e staying in the Palmer House Hilton on East Monroe Street. Thanks for your help.

Day 1 (Sunday, 5 Apr); arrive Chicago 4.30pm, check-in at hotel, dinner in Giordano鈥檚 (the closest one we can find; pizza a must)

Day 2 (Monday); Walk through the loop to Sears Tower (check out the views from here and get our bearings), head over to Millenium Park, do the Art Institute and the Bean, dinner in one of the many steakhouses that evening

Day 3 (Tuesday); Head for Navy Pier for brunch, take the Wandella river and lake cruise, meeting a group of friends in one of the northern neighbourhoods for dinner and drinks

Day 4 (Wednesday); Walk MagMile for shopping and head to Lincoln Park Zoo for the afternoon. Head back to Hancock Tower for sunset from the lounge and then to the Adobo Grill for dinner

Day 5 (Thursday); Walk through the parks in Near South, catching the city views, taking in some of the museums on campus. Head to Cellular Field for 1pm Sox game and head back to the Loop/Near North for dinner 鈥?any suggestions here? 鈥?I was thinking of SushisambaRio.

Day 6 (Friday); Meeting with my wife鈥檚 cousin for the day (nothing planned as yet), possibly more shopping, and dinner in Tavern at the Park for my wife鈥檚 birthday dinner. I haven鈥檛 inquired about reservations as yet.

Day 7 (Saturday); Brunch in Frontera Grill, head back to the hotel and get ready for the airport at 4pm.

Chicago itinerary

Looks okay to me. The only thing to be aware of is that Wendella%26#39;s boat tours leave from a dock on the north side of the river at Michigan Ave., not from Navy Pier like the other boat tours do.

Chicago itinerary

Thanks, yes, noted that. No idea how long it might take to walk that though. Water taxi might be in order.

Is it possible to pick up the go-card or CTA passes for a week at the airport? Ordinarily I%26#39;d take a taxi from the airport to a hotel, but I want to jump on the CTA straight away and get a proper view coming into the loop. Thanks.

Yes, you can purchase 3 and 7-day transit cards from the vending machine at the rail station at ORD. The short yellow/chrome machines are the multi-day passes, the taller blue/chrome machines are regular passes. Enjoy your trip.

Great itinerary...just a thought...you have some of outdoorsy things (zoo, parks, cruise) and chicago can be much, much colder than Dublin in April. Just watch the weather and bring really warm clothes if necessary (the lake cruise especially may be frigid...tho maybe they%26#39;re enclosed this time of year?). Also, if your goal is to get a good look at the loop by train, the blue line goes above ground through some neighborhoods, but then goes underground once it nears the downtown area. You%26#39;ll actually see more of the loop and skyline by cab. Personally, I%26#39;d skip Navy Pier and have brunch at Heaven on Seven on Wabash, a few blocks from your hotel and in walking distance of your lake cruise. You might add in the Driehaus Museum if you like touring old homes. Tours are tuesday, wednesday and saturday...might work on your Day 4 as it%26#39;s on Erie. Sushisambario is a fine restaurant, but it%26#39;s in a lot of other cities. How %26#39;bout Mercat? Or Carnivale? Both are fun and loud and neuvo latin like Sushisamba. Tho no sushi. Mercat is walkable from Palmer House.

The best view of the city is from the steps of the planetarium. If I were you I would skip Tavern at the Park; I don%26#39;t think it is very good. There are a bunch of nice restaurants by Rush/Chestnut.

It looks like a fun week, but you%26#39;re missing the Art Institute, which is a must visit whenever we have out of town guests.I personally could do without the zoo, I%26#39;ve been to nicer.I think I%26#39;d pick the aquarium over that and yes, April weather can be iffy.

Thanks for the feedback, everyone.

The Art Institute is planned for day 2, as are the museum campus hot spots, to include the Aquarium, day 5.

Looking forward to getting there now.

Nice schedule,and, since you are from Dublin, a little rain and wind probably won%26#39;t deter you from following it. You might want to stay flexible if you can, as the weather can be really variable in early April. Navy Pier and the water tours are very cold on the worst April days. In the same vein, if the baseball game is on a cold day, bundle up like the worst day of your winter.

Day 5 doesn%26#39;t seem to work timewise - you are going to walk to the ';southside parks'; and then see some of the museums, then head off to Cellular Field for a 1 PM game? You sound like early risers, but the museums don%26#39;t open that early, and you may find the walk very chilly in the morning. Also, you don%26#39;t have time to see more than one museum, and get back to the Loop for the train to the Sox game. Finally, if you do keep up your schedule, you%26#39;ll want to change clothes before heading to SushiSamba, and it may all be too much.

Thanks, PGO. We%26#39;re far from early risers.

We%26#39;ll probably just take a walk towards the campus for the city views, but do we definitely have to head back to the loop to catch the red line to 35th/Sox? I thought we could just jump on further south of the loop. Possibly being clueless here.

It%26#39;s not necessary to walk back to the loop from the museum campus to catch the red line to the Sox game. Catch a northbound #146 CTA bus at the MC. Get off at the Roosevelt red line station. Transfer to a southbound (towards 95th) red line train.