I am thinking of taking the family to visit Chicago right after Christmas for a long weekend before New Year's Eve. I will be driving there from MO. Any recommendations on hotels? I would like free parking, so probably be looking at staying in the suburbs somewhere and taking public transportation (safe?) downtown to the sights. Budget of $150 or less a night.
Thanks.
I would look at Evanston. Nice area to stay in. Easy train ride on the Purple then the Red line into most major sites. I would bet hotels are pretty cheap then but haven't looked. You can also stay in Skokie and it's a short drive and park to the train stops.
Just a quick pull at a nice hotel there had it at $95
I’m not really up on the hotel scene in the suburbs, but you will be perfectly safe on any Metra train. Metra is the suburban commuter train. The BNSF, UP-N, UP-NW and UP-W lines will have the most options running in and out.
Check out the train schedules ahead of time before making a decision if you decide to go that route.
If you go for the “El”, the blue line and red line are 24 hours. They’re both safe on the northern routes. Don’t take the Blue line west of the loop and don’t take the red line south of the loop. The purple line, brown line, and the yellow line are all safe pretty much no matter what. Pay attention but you should be good.
If you stay in Rosemont, there is a blue line stop there. Evanston has the purple line. Skokie has the yellow line. All safe suburbs, but they’re on the other side of town. I’ll leave the south side options to Robbie to tell you about.
My suggestion would be to find a place in the west, northwest, or northern suburbs close to a Metra train station. But there's no way I'd stay in the south suburbs even though I live there.
jimbbski said:My suggestion would be to find a place in the west, northwest, or northern suburbs close to a Metra train station. But there's no way I'd stay in the south suburbs even though I live there.
What!?!
There is a really cool hotel in Homewood called la banc (or however you spell bank in French). Was an old bank in the mini downtown of Homewood IL. Literally a 1 minute walk to a metra station that will take you directly to millennium station at the heart of Chicago in 40 minutes. Oh and it passes all the great museums along the way. Get the weekend pass for $12 or whatever and ride as many times as you want. Downtown Homewood has great food (high, middle, and low end), good bars, a brewery or two, a Starbucks, lots of neat little shops, and beautiful holiday decorations. It's also very close to my house. Let me elaborate on the food. In downtown Homewood: the original Aurelio's (maybe the best Chicago pizza - not silly thick crust like the rest), a high end French place with awesome drinks and steaks, a down and dirty BBQ place that rocks, a super crunchy hippie local food spot, a higher end diner serving excellent breakfast all day, a couple dive bar pizzerias and a cheap burrito place (not a national chain). There's probably more I'm forgetting. All within a 3 minute walk of the hotel. Portillos (famous Italian beef sandwiches) about a five minute drive away. And if you're willing to drive there is any possible national chain you could want within 10 minutes.
Also probably cheaper per night than the generic and stuffy best western or Hyatt you'll find in Evanston.
I don't understand the south side fear/hate, but it allowed me to save $500k on my house and live in an excellent school district right on a train line. So yeah, be very afraid of the southern suburbs.
South side Chicago proper however, does get a bit sketchy - lots of cool stuff still, but proceed with caution.
On Aurelios—it isn’t the best pizza, but it is the best chain. We get it regularly. I’d like to try the original.
Robbie said:jimbbski said:My suggestion would be to find a place in the west, northwest, or northern suburbs close to a Metra train station. But there's no way I'd stay in the south suburbs even though I live there.
What!?!
Also probably cheaper per night than the generic and stuffy best western or Hyatt you'll find in Evanston.
I don't understand the south side fear/hate, but it allowed me to save $500k on my house and live in an excellent school district right on a train line. So yeah, be very afraid of the southern suburbs.
South side Chicago proper however, does get a bit sketchy - lots of cool stuff still, but proceed with caution.
My grandma was born and grew up in the gage park area; she and my grandpa (who hailed from the far NW side) watched the entire area go from nice to dangerous. It has improved significantly since then; but the stigma carries on.
As for the southern suburbs, for many for a long time it has been too far a commute as many of the major white collar employers have been in the northern and northwestern suburbs. For me, it is simply distance from family.
I would suggest S 'burbs. It's easily a half an hour or more closer to St Louis than Evanston, and as even my friends in the N 'burbs say "you can't get there from here"/
SW suburbs would seem like the logical solution, but if you are planning on trying to get downtown on the weekend, our Metra line (SW Service) doesn't have many trains on Saturday, and none on Sunday.
I call the suburb voted best ever - Naperville. You can take the BNSF train in most all hours of the day.
Free parking? Not in the downtown area. Have fun!
Datsun310Guy said:I call the suburb voted best ever - Naperville. You can take the BNSF train in most all hours of the day.
Free parking? Not in the downtown area. Have fun!
Naperthrill? Bleyach.
In reply to mtn :
My great grandfather was a 50 year Gage Park resident and my mom taught at GP high school - a bunch of kraut eating Slovaks.
I wonder in an odd way if your relatives knew any of mine?
In reply to Robbie :
LeBanque Hotel looks good, thanks for that. But $250 per night for a double queen is out of my range. Will keep looking, thanks for the information.
Honestly you should check out some of the Chicago proper hotels. Start with the Tremont. I’ve booked rooms there for $90 a night. Your potential downfall is going to be that I’m not sure they have double rooms. I’ve had relatives say nice things about the Cambria too.
also check out Airbnb and the like. Some may include parking. For the others, get SpotHero and start using it.
mtn said:Honestly you should check out some of the Chicago proper hotels. Start with the Tremont. I’ve booked rooms there for $90 a night. Your potential downfall is going to be that I’m not sure they have double rooms. I’ve had relatives say nice things about the Cambria too.
I have no advice for Chicago specifically but i would consider this. The past few times I’ve stayed in cities of booked rooms on Priceline near what I wanted to see. The car stays at the hotel for a reasonable rate and we took public transportation, walked or took taxis to whatever we wanted to see. Cutting out the travel time from the hotel and searching for parking reduced stress and being able to take short breaks in the hotel during the afternoon was a nice perk. I felt it was worth the little bit extra I was spending. We found we’d stay out later and see more sights, and most hotel staff is quick to offer suggestions if there’s anything you want.
Stay near Portillos.
pinchvalve said:Stay near Portillos.
If you’re in the burbs, you’re probably near one. If you’re in the city, you’ll be near one. There are better options for this kind of food, but every Chicagoan loves Portillos for a reason.
If you want to find the better local places, here is how:
Find a hole in the wall to eat meat.
Your keys to spotting this place are:1) Vienna Beef logo on their hanging sign
2) Their name includes one or more of the following
a. Chicago
b. Windy City
c. Beef
d. Dog
e. Gyros
f. The name of the street you’re on
g. The name of a street you’re not on
h. Any ethnic sounding name followed by an “ ‘s ”
3) Their staff appears to all be related or from the same ethnicity
4) They have any of the following
a. Signed pictures of the old mayor
b. Railroad paraphernalia
c. A picture of a giant hotdog, possibly floating in Lake Michigan
d. A menu hanging above the counter that appears to have ~50 items
e. An elderly lady working the cash registerYou should expect to eat here a few times. You will want to try a hot dog (plain), another hot dog (everything), Italian beef (hot peppers), Italian sausage (peppers), gyros (everything, pronounce it “euros” or someone will slap you in a just world).
In reply to mtn :
Portillos to Chicagoland is like In and Out to California. I will never understand the lines at either.
mtn said:
If you want to find the better local places, here is how:
Find a hole in the wall to eat meat.
Your keys to spotting this place are:1) Vienna Beef logo on their hanging sign
2) Their name includes one or more of the following
a. Chicago
b. Windy City
c. Beef
d. Dog
e. Gyros
f. The name of the street you’re on
g. The name of a street you’re not on
h. Any ethnic sounding name followed by an “ ‘s ”
3) Their staff appears to all be related or from the same ethnicity
4) They have any of the following
a. Signed pictures of the old mayor
b. Railroad paraphernalia
c. A picture of a giant hotdog, possibly floating in Lake Michigan
d. A menu hanging above the counter that appears to have ~50 items
e. An elderly lady working the cash registerYou should expect to eat here a few times. You will want to try a hot dog (plain), another hot dog (everything), Italian beef (hot peppers), Italian sausage (peppers), gyros (everything, pronounce it “euros” or someone will slap you in a just world).
I saw that in the Chicago pizza thread, ha.
Robbie said:jimbbski said:My suggestion would be to find a place in the west, northwest, or northern suburbs close to a Metra train station. But there's no way I'd stay in the south suburbs even though I live there.
What!?!
There is a really cool hotel in Homewood called la banc (or however you spell bank in French). Was an old bank in the mini downtown of Homewood IL. Literally a 1 minute walk to a metra station that will take you directly to millennium station at the heart of Chicago in 40 minutes. Oh and it passes all the great museums along the way. Get the weekend pass for $12 or whatever and ride as many times as you want. Downtown Homewood has great food (high, middle, and low end), good bars, a brewery or two, a Starbucks, lots of neat little shops, and beautiful holiday decorations. It's also very close to my house. Let me elaborate on the food. In downtown Homewood: the original Aurelio's (maybe the best Chicago pizza - not silly thick crust like the rest), a high end French place with awesome drinks and steaks, a down and dirty BBQ place that rocks, a super crunchy hippie local food spot, a higher end diner serving excellent breakfast all day, a couple dive bar pizzerias and a cheap burrito place (not a national chain). There's probably more I'm forgetting. All within a 3 minute walk of the hotel. Portillos (famous Italian beef sandwiches) about a five minute drive away. And if you're willing to drive there is any possible national chain you could want within 10 minutes.
Also probably cheaper per night than the generic and stuffy best western or Hyatt you'll find in Evanston.
I don't understand the south side fear/hate, but it allowed me to save $500k on my house and live in an excellent school district right on a train line. So yeah, be very afraid of the southern suburbs.
South side Chicago proper however, does get a bit sketchy - lots of cool stuff still, but proceed with caution.
After giving it further thought I do have to agree that of the southern suburbs I know Homewood it's one of the better ones and true the Metra station is right downtown and will take you to downtown Chicago.
Tinley Park is not bad but further west, there is a train station in town too. Not sure on hotels,
mtn said:pinchvalve said:Stay near Portillos.
If you’re in the burbs, you’re probably near one. If you’re in the city, you’ll be near one. There are better options for this kind of food, but every Chicagoan loves Portillos for a reason.
If you want to find the better local places, here is how:
Find a hole in the wall to eat meat.
Your keys to spotting this place are:1) Vienna Beef logo on their hanging sign
2) Their name includes one or more of the following
a. Chicago
b. Windy City
c. Beef
d. Dog
e. Gyros
f. The name of the street you’re on
g. The name of a street you’re not on
h. Any ethnic sounding name followed by an “ ‘s ”
3) Their staff appears to all be related or from the same ethnicity
4) They have any of the following
a. Signed pictures of the old mayor
b. Railroad paraphernalia
c. A picture of a giant hotdog, possibly floating in Lake Michigan
d. A menu hanging above the counter that appears to have ~50 items
e. An elderly lady working the cash registerYou should expect to eat here a few times. You will want to try a hot dog (plain), another hot dog (everything), Italian beef (hot peppers), Italian sausage (peppers), gyros (everything, pronounce it “euros” or someone will slap you in a just world).
These kind of places are also scattered all over the suburbs as well. I know of at least 8-10 in my area and yes I just don't see the attraction of Portillos. Wait in long lines to get food you can get anywhere else and for less and faster too.
If you are thinking Tinley, the station on Oak Park avenue is in a beautiful area that I am sure you wouldn't mind spending a little time in, but the nearest cluster of hotels that I know of is over a mile away at the Harlem exit of I-80. You would have to pay for parking at the train station, take an Uber, Lyft, or cab, or take a pretty long walk.
Plusses are easy access from the expressway, one of the shortest trips from your home in St Louis, and a pretty cool area to take the train from. AirBnB might be available closer. The Rock Island runs all weekend, as well, which is something I can't say about the SW Service that has a station a block away from my home.
In reply to Cooter :
Thanks for that. I was looking at the Tinley area.
There is a lot of good polish meat and grocery products very close to the logan square stop on the blue line northwest of the loop.
Logan Square is a cool area--- if you can find reasonable lodging. It's very much still in the city, and not a suburb.
There's plenty of nice / quaint towns along the Metra line. Staying in Glen Ellyn, Arlington Heights, Barrington, Itasca, or any of the NW suburbs will be safe, and they have older downtown areas just off the rail lines. Jumping on the train from any of these places will get you downtown in an hour or less.
If you haven't been to Chicago before--- especially in Winter--- check out the museums. The Chicago Institute of Art is fantastic, as is the Field Museum (natural history). My favorite was always the Museum of Science and Industry---- which has a working coal mine, and a captured WWII German U-boat you can crawl inside. Plenty to do along the lakeshore--- as that's where all the major museums are located.
You can pretty much tell where people are from in this thread when they keep mentioning traveling to the far side of the city (45-90 minutes further) so that you can be "safe". 
Pretty much the same people who think they are going to get knifed the minute they get south of 290...
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