Chicago: Must See Attractions

Story and photos
by Kathleen Walls

I visited Chicago recently for the IPW Travel Writer's Marketplace. Chicago has an incredible number of museums and attractions. Thanks to a gifted CityPass, I got to see some. Unfortunately, because of Chicago's heavy traffic and expensive parking, when you can even find a spot, I missed seeing many I would have liked to visit. These are some I visited and enjoyed.

Field Museum

When you enter the Field Museum's Stanley Field Hall, your first view is of a 122-foot-long cast of a titanosaur named Máximo the Titanosaur and several prehistoric creatures. The Evolving Planet exhibit on the upper level took me on a journey, showing how life first evolved from Earth's beginnings to the present day. It walked me through the Late Cretaceous Period, 67 million years ago. I met lots of dinosaurs, including Sue, the most complete T. rex skeleton ever discovered.

On the main floor, there is one of the largest collections of mummies in the United States: 23 human mummies and more than 30 animal mummies. I admired the floor-to-ceiling hieroglyphs and a 4,000-year-old royal boat.

The museum is huge. Stanley Field Hall is a half-acre, with a length of 300 feet and a width of 70 feet. The museum has almost 40 million artifacts, so be sure to visit all three floors. There's a dining area on the bottom floor.

Parking is steep, like most places in Chicago. Soldier Field North Garage at the museum's main entrance charges $27 for up to 4 hours, $32 for up to 12 hours. East Museum Lot on the museum's east side charges a similar fee.

Griffin Museum of Science and Industry

The museum is a Beau Arts architectural masterpiece housed in the former Palace of Fine Arts from the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition.

Farm Tech follows milk from the cow to your kitchen. Poop to Power tells how manure is used to create power. There's a display of live baby chickens in a temprature controled enclosure.

Don't miss the Transportation Gallery. If you love old cares like I do, seeing a 1929 Duesenberg, a 1915 Brewster and other beautiful antique cars and marveling at the simplicity of the old cars compared to the computer driven ones today is a real treat. Then there are the trains and planes of the past and an amazing model railroad.

Extreme Ice explores glaciers and even lets you handprint on a real ice model. There's Colleen Moore's Fairy Castle, the art of Bicycles, and so many exhibits, so prepare to spend a few hours exploring this museum.

Lincoln Park Zoo

Founded in 1868, Lincoln Park Zoo has become one of the most popular cultural destinations in Illinois and the only privately managed, free zoo in the United States. I was happy to see spacious habitats for nearly 200 species.

I loved watching the male lion and two females. He was awake and looking over his territory atop a large bolder while the females were sound asleep a few feet away. There are several indoor exhibits like the Pepper Family Wildlife Center, an 1812 Beau Arts masterpiece, where you can observe the big cat habitats from inside the building while learning about their natural behaviors and characteristics. It has views of African lions, snow leopards, Canadian lynx, and red pandas. Placards tell about the conservation issues threatening these beautiful creatures.

The gardens and sculptures are gorgeous. The zoo is an accredited arboretum with more than 850 plant species. One sculpture that impressed me is the "Dream Lady," a bronze sculpture by Edward McCartan to honor 19th-century children's poet Eugene Field. The sculpture shows the "Dream Lady" from the poem "The Rock-a-by-Lady" standing protectively over two sleeping children.

A word of warning: I was there on a Saturday and drove around in circles on streets nearby for half an hour before I finally found a tiny parking spot I was just able to squeeze my Kia Soul into. It was probably metered by an app, but I didn't see any meter or sign saying it was metered, so maybe it was free. Otherwise, parking rates range from $35–45 per day in the parking lot. The zoo does allow free parking in its lot for the first half hour, but no way you could see much in that short time.

Route 66

Our guide, Mike McMains, drove us along a tour of Chicago's Route 66. Many people just associate Route 66 with the wide open spaces out west, but Route 66 started in Chicago in 1926  and ran through Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California. Originally, the start was at the intersection of Jackson Boulevard and Michigan Avenue, but the marker for the start is now at East Adams and South Michigan Avenue intersection, as Jackson is now an east-bound one-way street. (Blame Chicago traffic!)  

Mike stopped the trolley or let us get out at important stops on Route 66 when traffic and parking allowed. One place on Route 66 that impressed me is Chess Productions, where Muddy Waters, Etta James, Bo Diddley, Chuck Berry, one of my favorites, and many other musicians recorded. It's now a museum but it was closed when we were there.

Another important stop just off the historic route is the Martin Luther King Jr. Legacy Apartments. The story behind the apartments is that this was once an area of poor Black residents. Housing markets, like many other things, were badly skewed against Black people in Chicago. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. came to Chicago in the winter of 1966 to raise awareness about housing restrictions on Chicago's black residents. He rented an apartment at this location.  

During the riots after King's death, much of that apartment complex was destroyed. Later, civil rights groups proposed a housing complex as a memorial to Dr. King's civil rights legacy to provide badly needed affordable housing to North Lawndale. By April 2011, it was still one of Chicago's poorest neighborhoods.  

Nearby, the Firehouse Community Arts Center, is a hub for youth from across the city, dedicated to preventing violence through arts and community engagement. The historic firehouse has several murals decorating the building and helping tell its story.

The Firehouse Center is not the only place to find murals on Chicago's Route 66. I love the one commemorating Route 66's coming 100-year anniversary in 2026 by local artist Ben Marasco. It features several local businesses along the route: Art Institute of Chicago, Lou Mitchell's, The Berghoff Restaurant, and Lulu's Hot Dogs where it is painted at 1000 S. Leavitt St.

Architectural Riverboat Tour

Another way to explore Chicago's architecture without the traffic and parking problems is take the Shoreline Sightseeing River Tour. We saw 40 Chicago landmarks on our 75-minute tour. Our guide was knowledgeable as she pointed out landmarks like the Sears Building, Tribune Tower, and the Wrigley Building. She told a lot about the history of the buildings and the architects who designed them. We glided past 100-year-old Art Deco, Neo-Classical, and Gothic Towers, and some of the tallest modern-day structures. The tours depart from Michigan Ave Dock near the Magnificent Mile or the Navy Pier.

Navy Pier

Navy Pier claims to be the most visited attraction in the Midwest. Built in 1916, it was originally named Chicago Municipal Pier. It was renamed Navy Pier in 1927 since Navy personnel trained there during World War I and later during WWII. The pier served various other functions and fell int disrepair. It reopened in 1995 as the entertainment and event destination it is today.

We ended our IPW Marketplace there with a closing reception. It's filled with rides, attractions, dining and drinking spots, cultural activities and art; it's almost a city in itself.

A friend and I did Flyover, a realistic immersive experience where you are flying over the interesting points of Chicago. I closed my eyes several times and suppressed a shriek. It's something the most adventurous must do in Chicago.

Besides the Flyover, there are Centennial Wheel, Drop Tower, Carousel, Light Tower, Tea Cups, and a Funhouse. Dining choices are numerous ranging from hot dogs to the upscale rooftop dining. Even Jimmy Buffett ventured here with a Margaritaville. There're a Children's Museum, a Butterfly House, and dozens more fun and games here.

The pier is free to enter, but the parking ranges from $21 for 59 minutes to $65 for 18-24 hours.

Wrigley Field

Our IPW opening event was held at Wrigley Field. The famous home of the Chicago Cubs baseball team was built in 1914, making it the second-oldest ballpark in the major leagues.

Outside, several entertainers greeted us and welcomed us to Wrigley Field. A stilt walker was pretending to pitch a baseball at us. Inside, we enjoyed a hearty buffet brunch while free to wander the field and watch some ball players doing exercising and practicing their pitches and catches.

There are so many other places I wanted to see but didn't get to so plan ahead if you are visiting Chicago.

The most economical way to see Chicago attractions is using CityPass. The pass entitles you to a onetime admission to 5 attractions; Shedd Aquarium and Skydeck Chicago and then choose three of the following: Shoreline Sightseeing Architecture River Tour, Field Museum, 360 Chicago Observation Deck, Griffin Museum of Science and Industry, Art Institute of Chicago, or Adler Planetarium. It's a saving of almost half what you would pay by visiting these museums individually.

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