C H I C A G O
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You are currently reading a thread in /trv/ - Travel
You are currently reading a thread in /trv/ - Travel
Hey /trv/
I'm 24 y.o. and will be traveling in July to Chicago with a group of students.
>have never been to the USA
>haven't traveled since I was a child
>am looking forward to enjoy the most of it!
What would you guys recommend?
>places to go party
>places to eat
>places to visit
>things to avoid
Basically, what would you tell YOURSELF, if you could go back in time, about Chicago?
>>1125925
>things to avoid
Everything. Food is bland and hotels are overpriced as fuck.
>>1127000
' ' is great you fucking pleb
>>1125925
tell us what country youre from and if there are any hostels youve checked out yet
Why would you punch a goat tho :(((
>>1125925
>places to go party
north side/downtown
>places to eat
north side/downtown
>places to visit
northside/downtown
>things to avoid
everywhere else
There will probably be a lot of festivals going on around that time so you could catch some live music and meet people. You could go to the Art Institute or take the river architecture tour. You could go on the Sears Tower skydeck. You could go boating on Lake Michigan or go to the beach. I dunno, Chicago is an infatuating city when you first arrive but I don't find it all that exciting. You'll probably find yourself at Millennium Park or Navy Pier first and foremost. Those are the two most basic tourist attractions the city has to offer.
Bring money.
>>1127070
The Northwest side and parts of the west side outside of Garfield Park are ok.
>Places to party
Depends on your age and whether you're old enough to get into clubs and bars. Milwaukee ave is decent and mostly safe at night with access to transit so that would be the best place to look.
>places to eat
There's plenty of options all around town. The usual toursit places downtown, lots of different types of food on the north side however. Just look at google maps of all the places along the brown and red line
>places to visit
Museum Campus
Michigan Ave
Grant/Milineum Park
Cultural Center
Art Institute
Lincoln Park + Zoo (it's free)
Riverwalk
Loop + Theatre district
Hyde Park/ UoC
Lakefront Trail
Milwaukee Ave
Old Town
Wrigley Park + Surrounding neighborhood
Sears Tower + John Hancock Center
Bump for OP because I'm moving to Chicago soon from Canada and just spent 3 hours trying to figure out how to get an apartment there
I'd recommend going to Portillo's located at 100 W Ontario St Chicago, IL 60654 United States
Chicago native/resident here.
>>1127076
>Wrigley Park
>>1127913
This is a good suggestion.
>>1127911
What's your budget? I would personally suggest looking for somewhere off the Brown Line.
River North has the best club scene (Paris Club, Underground, Sub 51, Sound Bar, etc.)
Wrigleyville has a crowded bar scene. I suggest Old Crow and Country Club.
Don't walk around by yourself after like 10-11 pm - no where is 100% safe.
Definitely go to the beach at Oak Street/North Avenue.
I'll monitor this thread if you have any questions
>>1128204
Canadafag here. Thanks a lot for the tips!
My budget is (ideally) like 900-1000 for rent, but because I'm all but forced to live in Hyde Park (coming to do postgrad at UChicago), I'm starting to seriously consider 1200-1300 just so I can get a half-decent place. I'm also reconsidering somewhere elsewhere in the city, but it's very difficult a) to negotiate with landlords as an international, and b) to vet places before I decide on them, without being able to visit.
What is the crime really like? Should you stay off the train system altogether past certain hours?
What's Hyde Park's reputation? I hear it's a fortified camp, but is it still dangerous?
Sorry to hijack OP's thread - if I'm doing so, I'll fuck off.
>>1128204
God those are some awful suggestion. River North is the official destination of new money corporateers from the rural midwest. You'll be bled dry under a false veneer of luxury, competely shit.
Wrigleyville is kind of the same, except its full of under-21's with fake ID's and Big 10 (aka midwestern state universities) frat boys who, even at age 30, refuse to give up the college dream. SWEET CAROLINE NUH NUH NUH, it'll make you want to kill yourself. When I was in HS we'd take the Addison bus to Wrigleyville (this was 10 fucking years ago) and by senior year we decided it was full of fags.
Go to dinner on Randolph St just W of Halsted. Perfectly acceptable food in a safe/professional environment. Chinatown is OK if you like that whole ethnic neighborhood feel, its one of the last ones we have after the great bougie invasion of the last 10-15 years culturally bulldozed everything in sight.
If you want something authentic and rich and memorable from Chicago....you wont find it anymore. All of the old-timey niggas that kept Rose's and Checkboard Lounge afloat are now dead, and gone too are those two great institutions. Hope you have fun at Buddy Guy's, dont forget your souvenir cup!
A warm welcome to knockoff NYC. Instead of a global melting pot of cultures though, we have basically a Best of the American Midwest 24/7 talent show where Appleton WI gets to try out BIG CITY LIFE in 1/3 of the city, city workers and their families who want nothing to do with you in another 1/3 of the city, and violent warzones that are fun to gawk at but quite dangerous filling out the last 1/3. This doesn't include the massive superfund sites that are uninhabitable due to a century of ecological torture.
Enjoy.
>>1128210
Unfortunately I am not too familiar with the south side. Your budget should definitely be able to find you some student/post-grad level housing in Hyde Park. I am sure there has to be affordable housing down there for students.
Generally speaking, the crime (murders + shootings) is confined to the poorer (most) areas of the south and west sides. However, armed robberies and muggings are becoming more common in nicer neighborhoods, such as where I live in Lakeview.
Regardless of where you are, you should be on guard 24/7 - especially as a foreigner. Don't walk around at night with your headphones on. I wouldn't take the L by myself past 11 pm or so personally. It is pretty safe during the day though. The Green Line (which is what runs to U of C) is absolutely scary at night.
Hyde Park itself is safe, but walk a few blocks away from U of C and you might as well be in a 3rd world country. I'm not saying this to scare you off, but you be aware you are in a large city and there is lots of crime even in nice areas - start looking at Chicago blogs like Crime in Boystown.
>>1128223
He is a tourist - of course I suggested the tourist spots. Most tourists think Wrigleyville and RN clubs are awesome. I personally would rarely if ever go.
I would also say the city is almost 2/3 a violent warzone - take a look at the map, the south side ghettos are pretty big compared to the Near North side.
Not OP, but I'm going to Chicago for Riot Fest in September. I'll be staying in Oak Park for most of the week but probably getting a hotel downtown near the end. How is Oak Park?
Also, I'm hearing that the L isn't too safe to travel on after dark. Whats the other alternatives on travelling at that time? Are cabs/ubers pretty cheap to get from downtown to Oak Park?
>>1128243
I heard that the south side of Chicago is the baddest part of town.
>>1128963
Only 2 lines operate 24 hours a day, the Blue and Red Line. The Dan Ryan portion of the red line isn't the best place to be late at night but the O'hare blue line branch and the red line north of the loop should be fine. Expect lots of sleeping hobos though. The only part of the L you should absolutely avoid is the green line. ONLY ride the green line to get to the Garfield Park Conservatory.
>>1129130
For the most part yes. However there are some neighborhoods that have escaped at least some or most of the killings on the south side like McKinley and Hyde Park. I would say the overwhelmingly amount of shootings in the city happen in a few of the absolute worst hoods, mainly Englewood, Lawndale, Garfield Park, and Chicago Lawn to name a few. Hell, I imagine a pretty sizable percentage of shootings happen on 79th and/or Lamron streets alone.
Austin is currently the most violent part of the city. God Austin is just fucking horrible right now.
Englewood isnt as rough as it used to be, I mean they're building a whole foods right smack in the middle of it. In the 90's year, they had that whole 90 murders in 90 days thing but when a hood gets THAT violent it gets major attention and a lot of resources. Same thing happened to Cabrini, except they just bulldozed it.
West Garfield Park is even improving. There are doctors living W of Western over there, which seems unimaginable to me. EGP is still horseshit, some hipsters tried to move in there as first-wavers and got robbed a lot.
Then Green Line, and all L trains, are generally safe. You are just as likely to be robbed at Belmont as you are at Ashland/63rd. Dont buy the GREEN LINE DANGER, you'll be fine. People will act like they've never seen a white person before in some areas, but you wont be attacked.
>>1129130
and if you go down there, you better just beware...
>>1127911
>2014 homicides in Canada
516
>2014 homicides in Chicago
427
You don't know what you're getting into.
>>1129447
Nice Googled statistics but nah, you're the one who doesn't know.
The vast majority of those homicides are in the south side, AKA Chi-raq. It's a ghetto that nobody goes to. Avoid that like everyone else does and you'll be fine.
Portillos
