10 “MUST-DO’S” FOR A WEEKEND IN CHICAGO

Chicago, Illinois. A great city in the US and a wonderful city right here in the midwest! It was the PERFECT getaway for my birthday weekend a few months ago. Things to do were endless, but we were able to get an amazing amount of things checked off our lists in just two short days!

I’m going to start rattling suggestions (in no particular order), and list food and hotel at the bottom with some links. Feel free to comment with any questions 😊

1. THE BEAN

This was a great stop. We kicked off our first full day with a walk to the Bean. With it still being COVID times, there was fencing not allowing visitors to go touch the Bean. BUT, it made a great photo opportunity!

2. THE STARBUCKS ROASTERY RESERVE – DOWNTOWN

Trust me, I am not a coffee person… but this place was so cool! I know what you’re thinking… Starbucks are everywhere, BUT – this was a 4-story Starbucks that had different menus dedicated to different levels. The top floor being the bar 😉

3. WRIGLEYVILLE

Taking the train from downtown to Wrigleyville was a blast. They don’t have trains in Indianapolis, so it’s a pretty fun and new experience – cheap too! There were no games or anything that weekend, but it was a lot of fun to just see Wrigleyville without all the craziness – the field, the shops, the bars, and the neighborhood. We also made sure to buy a couple of souvenirs at the Cubs Team Store too!

4. LINCOLN PARK

From Wrigleyville, we took the train to Lincoln Park. We planned on just walking around the park and hopping back on the train… but we stumbled upon the Lincoln Park Zoo. To be honest, we didn’t think we’d visit the zoo… just because, well, Indianapolis has a zoo. But, a spur of the moment decision (and the fact that it is free admission), we spent some time at the zoo! Got some amazing shots of the animals and it had really beautiful botanical areas!

5. OLD TOWN

Again, we planned to take the train to Old Town, but since we were already on a roll walking through the zoo, we found ourselves walking all the way to Old Town. It was such a fun area! We found a pizza joint, called Happy Camper, and cured our hunger right away. There were a lot of shops, restaurants, bars, etc. I found a Quizno’s Subs – haven’t seen one of those in years, so that was neat 😂 It was like 2 or 3 in the afternoon by this time, so I’d be intrigued to see that area in the evening.

6. LAKE MICHIGAN

After Old Town, we walked a couple more miles to the shores of Lake Michigan. Chicago has beautiful walkways along the water. It was incredible to see, because they had walkways that were for people on bikes/running and then more “tourist” type walkways for folks just there for the views.

These paths had a BEAUTIFUL view of the downtown skyline and Navy Pier. We walked for a bit and found a nice spot to sit and take it all in. We had done a lot of walking by this time and were excited to sit and take some pictures on the camera.

7. 360 CHICAGO

The 360 Chicago Experience was our only scheduled event of the day! After sprinting to the former John Hancock Tower, we made it to our reservation to ride the elevator 94 floors up to view the beautiful city of Chicago!

It was incredible. Mitch and I bought our tickets that included admission to the observation deck and a complimentary adult beverage at the top. The view was unbelievable. You can spend as long as you want at the top viewing every angle of Chicago from over 1,000 ft up. We spent over an hour at least in 360 Chicago – taking pictures, people watching, and just taking in an amazing view. I cannot recommend this experience enough.

8. NAVY PIER

Ended our first full day in Chicago with walking over to Navy Pier. We only had one intention for Navy Pier and that was to ride the ferris wheel. After waiting in line for about 30 minutes, we hopped on. It was so fun. I’m afraid of heights, but the view was immaculate. The sun was going down, and you could see this beautiful sunset and see the city lights coming to life. We were able to spend quite a bit of time in the ferris wheel, and we just talked and had plenty of opportunities for pictures and videos.

9. MOLLY’S CUPCAKES

Okay, I know I said I would include hotel and food at the end, but this place was AMAZING. First off, after 16+ miles of walking on Friday, Molly’s Cupcakes was the perfect treat to celebrate a long, fun day of exploring + my birthday. Second, it was one of the only dessert places that was open late on a Friday night within walking distance downtown! They were decadent cupcakes – so many flavors & so much frosting 😋. We got 3 cupcakes to-go and took them back to the hotel. See the picture here for your mouth to water.

10. SHEDD AQUARIUM

We didn’t have much on the agenda for our last day (Saturday) in Chicago. We checked off so many things on Friday, so we left Saturday sort of open-ended. Shedd Aquarium was the only activity scheduled for Saturday. I hadn’t been since I was 10, so I was excited to visit.

We were amazed by how big the facility was. Upon walking in, we immediately see a seal/sea lion show. It wasn’t too crowded, which was really nice. We kept moseying through the aquarium, and there were so many exhibits. Some bigger than others, but the amount of aquatic wildlife they had was truly fascinating. It was also super educational. Definitely a fun trip for anyone of any age.

Memorable. Fun. Wonderful. All things to describe a short weekend in Chicago. We have the benefit of living 2.5 hours away, but it was nice to have a quick weekend getaway. There are so many other things to explore, but we’ll leave that for another time.

I’m going to list food and hotel information below. If you have any questions about Chicago, traveling, or well… anything!… let me know 😊 Leave a comment or connect with me on Instagram. Thank you for reading!

HOTEL: Omni Hotel in Downtown Chicago. Linked here.

FOOD: