Location: Grant Park
Top Things to do in Grant Park
10 Things to do in Grant Park That You Shouldn't Miss
The windy city is a cornucopia of modern art, fine dining, cutting edge comedy, and die-hard sports fans. Snap a photo of your reflection in the silver Cloud Gate sculpture at Millennium Park before heading to Grant Park to get hit with the refreshing spray of Buckingham Fountain. There are dozens of museums and theater companies in Chicago, so a cultural experience is never hard to find. You’re sure to laugh your head off at the Second City Theater, the professional launch pad of many famous comedians.
Restaurants in Chicago
1. The Art Institute of Chicago
Overall Ratings
5.0 based on 24,057 reviews
See why the Art Institute of Chicago is the only museum in the world to be top-ranked by TripAdvisor four years in a row! Experience the greatest Impressionist collection outside Paris, and view contemporary masterpieces in the spectacular Modern Wing. Stand before classics like Nighthawks, and travel the globe through galleries devoted to the art of ancient Greece, Japan, Africa, and the Americas.
Reviewed By nemeshek - Mexico City, Mexico
This is the best Chicago Museum for me. All the classical paints such as Francesco de Mura, Peter Paul Rubens, El Greco, Luca Cambiaso, Tintoretto, Paul Gauguin, Paul Cézanne, Edvard Munch, Claude Monet and Vincent Van Gogh are incredible. This is a must to visit in Chicago.
2. Petrillo Music Shell
3. Van Gogh's Bedrooms
Overall Ratings
5.0 based on 5 reviews
4. Museum Hack Chicago
Overall Ratings
5.0 based on 138 reviews
Museum Hack offers a high-energy, group-oriented tour experience certain to keep you entertained and teach you a bit along the way. Our Renegade Guides are experts at museums and storytelling; they combine the greatest art and artifacts humanity has ever created with the juicy, sexy, gossipy backstories that you won't hear anywhere else.
5. Chicago Prohibition Gangster Tour
Overall Ratings
5.0 based on 9 reviews
This tour is a 2 1/2 hour deep immersion into the Windy City's gangster history. Historian John Binder is the guide. He has been studying organized crime in Chicago for almost 30 years, has written two books (Al Capone's Beer Wars and The Chicago Outfit) on the subject, and has been conducting Mob history tours for over a dozen years. This is a fun and insightful look at the city's gangster past.
6. North Garden
7. Eatwith Chicago
Overall Ratings
5.0 based on 2 reviews
EatWith is the world’s leading community for authentic food experiences with locals, in 130+ countries. Through dinner parties, supper clubs, cooking classes, and food tours in private homes and special venues, EatWith connects hand-selected local hosts with travelers seeking unique, immersive food experiences.
8. Inside Chicago Walking Tours
Overall Ratings
5.0 based on 1,413 reviews
Walking, combo (walking + boat), and virtual tours that delight visitors with gorgeous, fascinating, hidden details behind many doors. This woman-owned biz was founded by a local whose experience as a teacher, writer, improv comedian, and tour guide combine to create tours that tell the story of Chicago in an engaging, educational, and entertaining way. Most architecture tours of Chicago -- boats, walks, segways, etc. -- present the city like an overwhelming, scripted laundry list that you'll soon forget. For us, there is a reason we are exploring a certain area, or following a certain path: the architecture that we explore is like the vocabulary of the larger story we are telling. We love to focus on the stunning interiors of buildings throughout downtown Chicago, but we also provide you with an "insider's scoop" on lots of the exterior architectural elements that most guides won't show you. Your guides will delight you with a side of Chicago you've never seen!
9. Thorne Miniature Rooms
Overall Ratings
5.0 based on 7 reviews
Reviewed By 866TaylorB - Chicago, United States
My wife and I have browsed the Thorne Miniature Rooms at the Art Institute of Chicago on previous occasions. But after seeing the display of the Thorne collection at the Phoenix Art Museum during our recent two-week vacation in Arizona, we decided to make another visit to larger Thorne collection in Chicago. It is an exhibit unlike any other, a child's dream. Thorne Miniature Rooms are a set of about 100 miniature models of rooms created between 1932 and 1940 under the direction of Narcissa Niblack Thorne, who was born in 1882 in Vincennes, Indiana. As a child, she began to collect miniature furniture and household accessories. Her uncle, a U.S. Navy vice admiral, sent her many antique dollhouse miniatures from around the world. When she was 19, she married Montgomery Ward department store heir James Ward Thorne, whose fortune helped to finance her hobby. Ninety-nine of the rooms are still believed to be in existence. The majority of them, a total of 68, are on display at the Art Institute of Chicago, located at 111 South Michigan Avenue. We saw 20 of them at the Phoenix Art Museum. The Art Institute's rooms document European and American interiors from the late 13th century to the 1930s and the 17th century to the 1930s, respectively. Constructed on a 1:12 scale, the rooms are largely made of the same materials as full-sized rooms and some even include original works of art, including paintings and sculpture, silver bowls and crystal chandeliers. They are among the most popular attractions at the Art Institute with an authentic appearance and attention to detail that boggles the mind.
10. Hyde Park
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 70 reviews
This neighborhood, located south of the downtown area, is best known for being the home to the University of Chicago.
Reviewed By 866TaylorB - Chicago, United States
Hyde Park on Chicago's South Side is a culturally diverse neighborhood that, most importantly, is home to the University of Chicago, one of the most prestigious universities in the world. Located seven miles south of Chicago's Loop, within an area that extends from East 51st Street on the north to the University of Chicago's picturesque Midway Plaisance on the south and from Washington Park on the west to Lake Michigan on the east, Hyde Park also is home to Frank Lloyd Wright's Robie House, the Museum of Science and Industry, Rockefeller Chapel, the Hyde Park Arts Center, the University of Chicago's Oriental Institute, Jackson Park and the site of the world's first artificial nuclear reactor. Not to mention a plethora of ethnic restaurants, trendy boutiques, shops, bars, hotels, museums and book stores. Hyde Park was founded in 1853 by real estate developer Paul Cornell, who purchased 300 acres of land between 51st and 55th Streets alongside the shore of Lake Michigan with the dream of attracting other Chicago businessmen and their families to the area. The development received a spike in 1891 when philanthropist John D. Rockefeller established the University of Chicago. In 1893, Hyde Park got another publicity boost when the World's Columbian Exposition came to the neighborhood. The Museum of Science and Industry, formerly the Palace of the Fine Arts, is the lone survivor of the 1893 event. In fact, there are so many historical properties in Hyde Park that it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1966. Visitors can roam the streets, from 51st to 55th to 57th, stroll through the University of Chicago's picturesque campus, take a lunch break at Medici on 57th, Valois, Piccolo Mondo, Virtue, Nathan's Chicago Style, Solonia, Harold's Chicken Shack, Leona's Pizzeria, Rajun Cajun, Thai 55, Nicky's Chinese Food or Chipotle Mexican Grill. Browse the German submarine U-505 at the Museum of Science and Industry, the Egyptian mummies at the Oriental Institute, contemporary art works at Hyde Park Art Center and Smart Museum of Art and learn about the history of Chicago at the Du Sable Museum of African-American History. Two other points of interest are former president Barack Obama's home and Promontory Point on Lake Michigan.
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