Well-nigh visitors to Chicago stay in the downtown chimera and leave but when the guidebook tells them to, which is a rookie mistake. With a stunning lakefront, an incredible park system, and 77 neighborhoods that each have a unique history and civilisation, at that place's a lot to run into and practice outside of the downtown cadre. Here are 9 amazing things to do in Chicago that y'all won't find in a guidebook.

1. Visit Jackson Park

The Museum of Science and Industry is in enough of Chicago guidebooks, but about visitors rarely brand information technology out into the incredible park that'due south just behind the museum. Jackson Park covers over 500 acres on the city'southward Southside and has lagoons, beaches, a harbor, a public golf course, and driving range. The highlight of the park is Wooded Isle and the Garden of the Phoenix, formerly known equally the Osaka Garden. This beautiful garden was built as a Japanese exhibition at the 1893 World'south Fair and will make you feel like you've left North America altogether.

ii. Wander the Boulevards in Logan Square

The same metropolis plan that gave ascent to Jackson Park also created the Boulevard system, nicknamed the Emerald Necklace for the way these green streets make their way through the city, connecting neighborhoods to parks. The neighborhood of Logan Square has a particularly nice stretch of boulevard, with some stunning architecture. Logan Foursquare is hands accessible past the Bluish Line train, or you can get out the 606 — the recreational trail congenital along an old elevated freight train line — where it crosses Humboldt Boulevard and you'll be right on the Emerald Necklace in between Logan Square and Humboldt Park. Logan Square is i of the urban center'due south hottest neighborhoods right now and is full of groovy bars, restaurants, and food trucks for when you lot've had your fill of walking.

iii. Golf at the Lakeshore

Playing a circular of golf on a piece of multi-million dollar real estate with spectacular views is ordinarily very expensive. Non in Chicago. Anyone with even a passing interest in golf should play 9 holes at Sydney R. Marovitz, a public golf game grade set betwixt Lake Shore Drive and Lake Michigan on Chicago's Northside. The course has stunning views of the lake, the skyline, and Montrose Harbor. Yous tin can book tee time on the website, and rounds get for almost $30.

4. Explore the Lakefront at Montrose Harbor

Montrose Harbor is not in the guidebooks, but it'due south a groovy identify to go when you're visiting Chicago. In that location's a embankment with a eatery that has live music every night in the summertime, soccer fields that hold some pretty intense pickup matches, picnic areas with grills, a allurement shop, the Lakefront jogging path, a forested bird sanctuary, and even a cross-country ski path in the winter. All of that comes with incredible views over the lake toward the downtown skyline.

5. Go to Humboldt Park

Humboldt Park (both the neighborhood and the park at its centre) is a perfect place to become in the city if yous want to encounter a slice of what Chicago really is about. Originally an area where German language immigrants settled, it has been predominantly Puerto Rican for the past few decades. Today, it'south gentrifying, bringing controversy, just also a boom of bars, restaurants, and new businesses. You can withal find proud Puerto Rican heritage, including some corking restaurants and food trucks. In the park yous can boat in the lagoon, picnic on the sledding colina, stroll through restored native prairie and marshland, and watch some pretty epic baseball and softball games.

6. See the famous murals in Pilsen

Pilsen is a neighborhood on the Southwest Side with a history somewhat similar to Humboldt Park. Originally an outpost of Czech immigrants, it'southward now the center and soul of Mexican-American Chicago today, merely it'southward too changing fast due to gentrification. Besides having a lot of truly outstanding Mexican food, Pilsen is probably Chicago's best neighborhood for murals and street art. This is the place to go for anyone interested in public fine art, and to encounter a vibrant Chicago neighborhood that'south changing but too holding onto its identity. Cheque out this website for a gallery of Pilsen murals, complete with addresses for each one.

vii. Get a Lake Michigan angling charter

A angling charter probably isn't what comes to heed for almost people when they visit Chicago, but the line-fishing hither is epic. Lake Michigan is regularly stocked with Coho and King Salmon, Steelhead, and Lake Trout — getting a dozen or more than large fish isn't at all uncommon. Dissimilar a lot of places, yous can keep everything yous catch, and it's actually quite clean and tasty.

8. Explore the tropics at the Garfield Park Solarium

The Garfield Park Conservatory is an underappreciated Chicago spot. Information technology'south ane of the largest public greenhouse spaces in the state and is but beautiful. The park and conservatory are part of the same Emerald Necklace arrangement mentioned earlier, and both can be accessed by car or past the Green Line train.

9. Paddle the Skokie Lagoons

The Chicago Botanic Garden is in plenty of guidebooks. The Skokie Lagoons, however, are not. The Botanic Garden is built on the north finish of these lagoons in the city's northern suburbs, just the rest of the surface area doesn't go the attention information technology deserves. It's ane of the best places to get out into nature in Chicagoland, and renting a canoe or kayak and paddling around here is an incredible way to spend half a day in Chicago. Pair this with a visit to the gardens and you've got yourself a perfect day.

More like this