Chicago

Chicago had 56.8 million visitors in 2025, by the count of Choose Chicago, the city's official tourism body, and they spent a record $21.5 billion. Its main airport, O'Hare, has about 128 direct flights a day to 62 international destinations.

Our Chicago itinerary puts them in order by day. The sights below are grouped by area, with the prices and hours their own sites print. We checked the figures on 30 October 2026 on the pages of the CTA, the Chicago Department of Aviation, the City, the Park District and the Illinois Department of Revenue.

We also read the sights' own sites, Amtrak, the National Park Service and NOAA. The websites of the Art Institute, the Shedd Aquarium and Wrigley Field blocked our reads, so this page gives no prices or hours for them.

How do you get from O'Hare and Midway to downtown by train?

O'Hare's CTA Blue Line reaches downtown in 40 to 45 minutes for $5, and Midway's Orange Line reaches the Loop in 20 to 25 minutes for $2.50. The CTA's comparison table rounds the O'Hare ride to 45 minutes. The Blue Line runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and every train goes through downtown.

The O'Hare station is on the lower-level concourse joined to Terminals 1, 2 and 3, under ten minutes' walk from baggage claim. International flights arrive at Terminal 5, where customs is. From there, the free Airport Transit System runs to Terminal 2; follow the signs for "CTA Trains". There is no Terminal 4. The Chicago Department of Aviation says it is rare for border control to take more than two hours.

Midway's station stands just east of the terminal building, along an enclosed walkway. Orange Line trains run all day but not overnight, when the N62 Archer bus takes over. On 30 October 2026 the CTA said the State/Lake station on the elevated Loop was closed for reconstruction into 2029. Its alternatives are Clark/Lake and Washington/Wabash.

The road distances are our own routing to Union Station. None of the CTA's figures include the tip. Our guide to tipping in the USA covers that part.

Which Ventra pass covers the $5 fare from O'Hare?

Any unlimited CTA pass covers the O'Hare fare: the CTA's own fare chart tells riders to board there with one at no additional charge. The cheapest, the 1-Day pass, costs $5, the same as a single ride from the airport. It runs for 24 hours from first use.

A paid ride includes up to two more rides within two hours. Passes work on CTA trains and buses and on Pace buses. A contactless bank card or phone wallet pays a single full fare at the reader. A pass, though, needs a Ventra Card or loading onto your bank card at a station machine.

The Ventra Card costs $5, returned as transit value if you register it within 90 days. Station machines also sell Ventra Tickets: a single ride at $3, or $5 at O'Hare, valid for up to three rides within two hours. The 1-Day ticket costs $5 at any machine, and the 3-Day ticket $15 at the machines at O'Hare and Midway.

Metra, the commuter railway, prices by zone, and downtown, Union Station included, is Zone 1. A one-way ticket from Zone 1 to Zone 2 costs $3.75, to Zone 3 $5.50 and to Zone 4 $6.75. A Saturday, Sunday or holiday pass costs $7 for unlimited rides that day.

Divvy, the bike share, charges $1 to unlock plus 20¢ a minute on a classic bike, or 44¢ a minute on an e-bike. Its Day Pass costs $19.90 and includes three hours on a classic bike, then 20¢ a minute.

Which Chicago sights close early, and which stay open late?

Chicago's museums close at 4 or 5 p.m., while its parks, observation decks and pier stay open into the evening. No official page we read suggests how many days to spend.

So the Museum Campus fills a morning, and the decks and the pier an evening. The Skydeck takes 45 to 60 minutes by its own estimate.

The CityPASS costs $144 for an adult and $114 for a child aged 3 to 11, valid for nine consecutive days from the first visit. It covers five attractions: the Shedd Aquarium and the Skydeck, plus three chosen from six.

The choices are the Shoreline architecture river tour, the Field Museum, 360 Chicago, the Museum of Science and Industry, the Art Institute and the Adler Planetarium. Whether it pays off depends on the Shedd's and the Art Institute's own prices, which we could not read.

What can you see free in Millennium Park and on the Riverwalk?

Millennium Park and the Chicago Riverwalk are both free and open daily from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m., by the City's pages. Cloud Gate stands in the park at 201 East Randolph Street. The sculpture weighs 110 tons and measures 66 feet long by 33 feet high, and the City calls it Anish Kapoor's first outdoor work in the United States.

The City also says the image of Cloud Gate is copyrighted and trademarked to Kapoor, and that commercial use needs his approval. That is why no photograph of it appears on this page.

Millennium Station, under the park, serves Metra Electric and South Shore Line trains.

The Riverwalk runs 1.25 miles along the river in four districts. The City's safety page says peddling on the Riverwalk is prohibited, asks visitors to keep their bags close and warns against jumping into the river. In an emergency, call 911; for non-emergency city services, 311.

The Art Institute's site blocked every read, so we cannot give its price or hours.

How much does the First Lady architecture cruise cost?

The Chicago Architecture Center's river cruise starts at $57, by its own page, which gives no date for that price. The cruise lasts 90 minutes on the boat First Lady. It leaves from the southeast corner of the Michigan Avenue Bridge at Wacker Drive, at 112 East Wacker Drive.

Tickets come from Ticketmaster or the Center's box office, and the Center says tickets bought through StubHub are not valid. Arrive 30 minutes before departure; boarding starts 15 minutes before, and a missed boat is neither refunded nor exchanged.

The Chicago Architecture Center says its cruises run daily, March through November, and lists a late-autumn schedule from 2 to 22 November 2026. It printed no last sailing, so check the date before you plan on a late November cruise.

Is the Skydeck or 360 Chicago the cheaper view?

360 Chicago is the cheaper deck online: from $27 for an adult, against from $32 at the Willis Tower Skydeck. Neither "from" price says whether tax or booking fees come on top. The City's 9% amusement tax exists, but no page we read says which tickets carry it.

The Skydeck, at 233 South Wacker Drive, opens every day of the year. From 1 October to 28 February it opens from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., and to 9 p.m. on Saturdays, with last entry 30 minutes before closing. A child aged 3 to 11 pays from $22, and Expedited Entry costs from $55. Its glass balcony, The Ledge, sticks out 4.3 feet from the 103rd floor.

360 Chicago is on the 94th floor at 875 North Michigan Avenue, 1,030 feet above the Magnificent Mile. It opens daily from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m., with last entry an hour before closing. A child pays $19, and the deck says buying online saves up to $11 a person.

What do the Field Museum and the Adler charge visitors from abroad?

The Field Museum charges visitors from $30, and the Adler Planetarium from $25 for an adult and $13 for a child. Both run free days, but only for Illinois residents, so a visitor from abroad pays the full price.

The Field Museum, at 1400 South DuSable Lake Shore Drive, opens daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. It closes on Thanksgiving and Christmas Day, and on some dates it stays open until 9 p.m.

The Adler Planetarium opens from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. from Friday to Monday, and from 4 to 10 p.m. on Wednesdays, with timed entry. On Tuesdays and Thursdays the public enters from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., after school groups. Last admission is an hour before closing, and dome shows cost extra. The Adler closes on Thanksgiving and Christmas Day.

The Shedd Aquarium's site blocked every read, so we give no price or hours for it.

Are Navy Pier and Lincoln Park Zoo free to visit?

Navy Pier and Lincoln Park Zoo both charge nothing to enter. The pier opens all year except Thanksgiving and Christmas, and the zoo every day of the year, with no reservation needed.

From 8 September to 31 December 2026 Navy Pier opens from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. from Sunday to Thursday. On Fridays and Saturdays it stays open until 10 p.m. The Centennial Wheel turns daily, but the other Pier Park attractions close for the winter.

On Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings after 5 p.m., guests under 18 at Navy Pier need an adult escort. The pier's Route 66 sign is on our page about Illinois. The drive itself is in our road trip Route 66 from Chicago to Santa Monica.

Lincoln Park Zoo, at 2400 North Cannon Drive, opens its gates at 10 a.m. and closes them at 5 p.m. Its animal buildings close at 4:30 p.m. The zoo's car park charges $35 to $45 a day.

How much tax goes on a Chicago hotel bill and a restaurant meal?

A hotel room in the city carried a total tax of 17.4%, by a 2023 letter from the Illinois Department of Revenue. Shops charge 10.5% sales tax, and restaurant meals add a further 0.5% city tax.

The letter, dated 30 August 2023, splits the 17.4% into 11.9% collected by the state, the city's 4.5% and Cook County's 1%. The state's share bundles its own hotel tax, a municipal hotel tax and the taxes of the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority and the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority.

The department calls such a letter general information that is not binding. Cook County amended its hotel tax in December 2023 and prints no rate, so its current share is unconfirmed.

By our arithmetic at 17.4%, a $200 room carries $34.80 of tax a night, and a $300 room $52.20. Since 1 May 2026 hotels with 100 rooms or more in 16 central ZIP codes add a 1.5% Tourism Improvement District charge. The codes are 60601 to 60607, 60609 to 60612, 60615, 60616, 60653, 60654 and 60661. No page we read says what the 1.5% is charged on, so the all-in rate at those hotels is unconfirmed.

A smaller hotel, or one outside those ZIP codes, does not add the charge. Vacation rentals and shared housing pay a 6% city surcharge on top of the 4.5%.

The 10.5% sales tax has applied in the Cook County part of the city since 1 August 2026, up from 10.25%, after a rise in the regional transit tax. A $100 purchase therefore costs $110.50.

By our arithmetic, a $20 restaurant bill comes to $22.20 with both taxes, before the tip. Choose Chicago says waiters, bartenders and taxi drivers generally receive 20% of the amount before tax. Our guide to sales tax in the USA explains why shelf prices leave the tax out.

How cold is a Chicago winter, and when can you swim in the lake?

Winter at O'Hare averages a high of 32°F and a low of 19°F in January, on NOAA's 1991 to 2020 normals, and July averages 85°F and 66°F. The lake beaches open for swimming only in summer, from the Friday before Memorial Day through Labor Day.

O'Hare gets 38.4 inches of snow a year, most of it from December to March, and 121 nights at or below freezing. It averages 16.7 days a year at 90°F or more. February and January are the driest months and May the wettest, with 37.86 inches of precipitation a year in all. Choose Chicago's weather page calls October the driest month, which NOAA's normals do not bear out.

The lakefront has 26 miles of beaches, free to enter, with lifeguards from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. in season. On 30 October 2026 the Park District said the 2026 swim season had ended and that swimming was strictly prohibited. Swimming outside a guarded beach is prohibited at any time.

The city is on Central time. Clocks went back an hour on Sunday 1 November 2026 at 2 a.m., from UTC−5 to UTC−6, and New York stays an hour ahead.

How far is Indiana Dunes National Park, and which trains go further?

Indiana Dunes National Park is the closest national park to the city, the National Park Service says, about 48 miles from Union Station on our own routing. The South Shore Line from Millennium Station has stops inside the park, among them Beverly Shores. The railway's site blocked us, so we cannot give its fare or journey time.

Indiana Dunes National Park charges $25 for a private vehicle for one to seven days, or $15 a person up to $25 a family. It is not on the 2026 list of parks that add $100 for visitors from abroad. Our guide to national park fees for international visitors explains where that surcharge applies.

Union Station, at 255 South Canal Street, closes daily from 1 to 5 a.m. The parcel check takes bags for $20 each. Thirteen Amtrak routes include the city, and we did not read any fares.

The Hiawatha runs seven round trips a day to Milwaukee, six on Sundays, in 1 hour 29 minutes; our page on Wisconsin continues from there. For the Lincoln Service to St. Louis, Amtrak's timetable dated 30 October 2026 gives 4 hours 46 minutes to 5 hours 5 minutes per train. Its route page gives 5 hours 30 minutes for the Illinois services in general.

The Lake Shore Limited leaves daily at 9:30 p.m. for New York City, but we could not confirm its journey time from Amtrak's pages.