Chicago City Guide

Chicago Sights

The lake is an ocean, the buildings scrape the sky.

Loaf your way around the Loop, Chicago's 'inner circle', and imbibe its busy daytime hum and after-hours hipness. Put your head in the clouds at Sears Tower or treasure the impressionist collection at the Art Institute of Chicago, one of the world's premier museums.

Chicago Nightlife

The jazz got so jazzed up pop was invented.

The city where jazz and blues came of age is still the best place for world-class performances in either genre. Chicago theatre is booming with hundreds of performances, from big shows to backyard experiments: this is the home of Steppenwolf, after all.

Shopping Chicago

Buy anything you need and loads more you don't.

Antiques, booky nooks, fine art fairs - there's something deliciously stuffy about shopping in this Midwest bastion. The 'Magnificent Mile' indulges the American love of big shopping malls and big chain stores. Seriously well-stocked megastores fulfil any mainstream consumption fantasy.

Route 66 Sign

Place

Attention Rte 66 buffs: the Mother Road's starting point is here. Look for the sign that marks the spot on Adams St's north side as you head west toward Wabash Ave.

Chicago Theatre

Theatre/cinema, Architectural highlight

Everyone from Duke Ellington to Frank Sinatra to Prince has taken the stage here over the years (and left their signature on the famous backstage walls). The real show-stopper, though, is the opulent French Baroque architecture, including the lobby modeled on the Palace of Versailles. Opened in 1921, the theater originally screened silent movies with a full orchestra and white-gloved ushers leading patrons to their seats.

Oak St Beach

Beach

There aren't many cities outside of Florida that offer so much sand and (miniaturized) surf this close to their major business districts. Oak St Beach makes for a wonderful respite and offers a lower-key experience than certain beaches further north, where you're likely to get a volleyball spiked on your head if you're not paying attention. The 'beachstro' provides nourishment.