My husband and I are celebrating our fifth wedding anniversary on May 24th and we wanted to do something special to celebrate. I've heard so many good things from many different people about Chicago, so we decided that we wanted to visit for our anniversary. As I did my research to plan our trip, I realized it was over $100 per night less expensive for us to go in April instead of May, so that is exactly what we did!
Last year, we took two trips where we flew. So we were in the mood to take a road trip this year. It ended up taking less than six hours to get there, which wasn't too bad at all. The easy drive was mostly a straight shot on I-80. It cost us almost $25 in tolls (one way), so be prepared for that if you decide to take your own road trip and need to use I-80. It is a toll road in both Ohio and Indiana.
We spent 5 days/4 nights in Chicago. Below are my reviews for our hotel, the City Pass discount book we purchased, and days 1 and 2 of the trip. Days 3 through 5 will follow in tomorrow's post.
HOTEL
We stayed at Hotel Palomar, a Kimpton hotel. This is the second time we have stayed at a Kimpton hotel, and I highly recommend them. They are "luxury boutique" hotels. The decor is a little funky and the service is outstanding. Definitely not a typical chain. They are also pet-friendly. But you wouldn't know it. In my experience both Kimptons have been extremely clean and quiet. I only ever knew a dog was there if I happened to see one.
We chose the King Spa Premier room at the Palomar. Our room was on the fourteenth floor. It was spacious and had a large bathroom with jacuzzi tub and separate shower.
We were lucky and happened to get a corner room, so we had two sets of windows overlooking the city. The Palomar is in the River North area of Chicago, so while we couldn't see the river from our hotel, we did have a nice view of the city. If you want a view of the river, check out Hotel Monaco instead. Our room also had a desk in the window overlooking the city, a sitting area with chair, couch and table, an in-room safe, and the Kimpton animal-print robes. We could hear some city noise from our room, but that is unavoidable when you stay in the heart of a city. Having anticipated this, I brought ear plugs with me. The first night I did not use them, and it stormed throughout the night. Additionally, the Palomar is close to a fire station. Between the thunder and sirens, I was woken up several times that first night (I am a very light sleeper unfortunately). Other than one really loud clap of thunder that woke him, my husband slept fine. After the first night, I used my ear plugs and slept well.
Kimpton hotels have a free wine hour from 5 to 6 pm daily. We did not attend either time we've stayed at a Kimpton, but they seem quite popular among guests. Kimptons also have free coffee and tea each morning until 10 am. We did enjoy this free service most days, and it was especially nice on the mornings we headed out into the cold, windy city. There are not coffee makers in each room but they are available upon request.
My only negative about the Palomar is the price of valet parking. It is $50 per night for valet parking, which to me is a lot. However, parking everywhere in Chicago is outrageous, so this seems pretty par for the course. The service of the valet was very good though- it never took more than ten minutes to get our car.
Overall we were very happy with our Hotel Palomar experience. For any future trips we take, I will definitely be checking to see if there is a Kimpton hotel to stay at.
CITY PASS
The City Pass is a discount ticket book that can be purchased online here. Basically, for one price, you get tickets for five Chicago attractions. Here's what you get:
Shedd Aquarium
Skydeck Chicago
The Field Museum
Museum of Science and Industry OR the John Hancock Observatory
Adler Planetarium OR the Art Institute of Chicago
For the two options, we chose Museum of Science and Industry and the Adler Planetarium. The City Pass allows VIP entrance to the exhibits, allowing you to bypass the general admission lines. For most attractions, the City Pass includes more than just general admission. For example, at The Field Museum, it is an all-access pass to all normal exhibits and ticketed exhibits, and includes a 3D movie. This is something to be aware of if purchasing the City Pass, so you can make sure that allow yourself enough time to get full use out of the City Pass, and get your money's worth. Also, do NOT tear out the tickets for the attractions. They do this at each attraction and the ticket is considered void if you tear it out yourself.
DAY 1
We left our house around 7am on a Wednesday. We took I-480 to I-80. We only hit a little rush hour traffic on I-480 and then it was a very easy drive from there. Not a very exciting drive, as most of Ohio and Indiana are farmland along I-80. But at least it was an easy drive.
During our drive in Indiana, about an hour away from Chicago, it started to rain so hard at one point, that we almost couldn't see to drive. It rained on and off into Chicago. Since our hotel check-in time is 3pm, we decided to visit the Museum of Science and Industry before checking in. They have an attached, underground parking garage, and it cost $20 flat rate to park.
Our City Passes included admission, a 3D film, and a flight simulator. We actually did not end up doing the flight simulator. When we went to Disney World last year, a ride at Epcot that simulated flying to Mars made me feel like I was almost going to pass out, so we decided to skip this flight simulator to be on the safe side.
Since we went on a weekday, there were several school field trips at the museum today. However, it wasn't so crowded that we couldn't enjoy the exhibits. We ended up eating lunch here at a cafe near the food court, which turned out to be a good choice, since while we were eating, a huge group of children exited the food court. The area by the cafe wasn't too crowded and we had no problem getting a table.
We enjoyed this museum. It's large, and not just a typical science museum. There are definitely a lot of hands-on science exhibits, but the "industry" part of its name is represented well, too. There are sections on trains, aircraft, and a WWII U-boat. There is also currently the Animals Inside Out exhibit, but that is not included in the City Pass and we didn't pay extra for it because we didn't have time to see it; the museum is only open until 4pm during the week. Overall we really enjoyed our time here.
We stayed until just before closing time, then made our way to our hotel. It took a while to drive through the city due to all the traffic, but it wasn't too bad of a drive. Just a lot of typical stop-and-go city driving. It was about 4:30 by the time we checked in and got settled. It was still raining at this point, and we were a little tired from our drive, so we decided to have deep dish pizza delivered to our hotel.
We ended up going with the recommendation of our hotel bellhop, who highly recommended Lou Malnati's. We ordered a small "The Lou", which has spinach, onions, and tomatoes, and a house salad. The salad was good, but I was so disappointed in the pizza. It arrived piping hot, but was bland. It was not the Chicago deep dish experience I was hoping for.
After dinner we just relaxed, enjoyed our time with each other, and watched the storms from our room. It was a nice, low-key evening.
DAY 2
This was a lazy, relaxing day for us. We had room service for breakfast and after our food settled, we were feeling motivated, and made our way to the hotel's fitness center. I have to say, I was impressed. Not only with us for working out on vacation, but also with the fitness center itself. One wall was all windows, overlooking the city. This is where the cardio equipment was set up. There are three treadmills, three elliptical machines, and two bikes to choose from. There are also free weights, a weight machine, mats, medicine and kettle balls, jump ropes and hula hoops.Yes, I may have hula hooped for the first time in years! It was fun! Of course I waited until my husband and I were the only ones in the fitness center to try out the hula hoop. The fitness center also has two bathrooms, towels, water, free newspapers and fresh whole fruit. This was definitely the nicest hotel fitness center I've seen in my travels.
After we worked out, we originally planned to use the pool, which is adjacent to the fitness center. However while we were working out, I noticed a young man was in the pool area on his cell phone, and he was still there when we left. I left myself become self-conscious, and scrapped the idea of swimming altogether. Instead we went back to the room to get ourselves showered and ready for the day.
While I finished getting myself ready, my husband took a quick walk and got us takeout from Xoco. We placed our order online from their website. Since we had a large breakfast, we decided on a small lunch. We shared the Milanesa Chicken Torta and an order of guacamole, salsa and fresh-made chips. Everything was good. The salsas had a little kick without being overbearingly spicy. I would love to go here in the future to check out what else they have to eat.
Kimpton hotels have a free wine hour from 5 to 6 pm daily. We did not attend either time we've stayed at a Kimpton, but they seem quite popular among guests. Kimptons also have free coffee and tea each morning until 10 am. We did enjoy this free service most days, and it was especially nice on the mornings we headed out into the cold, windy city. There are not coffee makers in each room but they are available upon request.
My only negative about the Palomar is the price of valet parking. It is $50 per night for valet parking, which to me is a lot. However, parking everywhere in Chicago is outrageous, so this seems pretty par for the course. The service of the valet was very good though- it never took more than ten minutes to get our car.
Overall we were very happy with our Hotel Palomar experience. For any future trips we take, I will definitely be checking to see if there is a Kimpton hotel to stay at.
CITY PASS
The City Pass is a discount ticket book that can be purchased online here. Basically, for one price, you get tickets for five Chicago attractions. Here's what you get:
Shedd Aquarium
Skydeck Chicago
The Field Museum
Museum of Science and Industry OR the John Hancock Observatory
Adler Planetarium OR the Art Institute of Chicago
For the two options, we chose Museum of Science and Industry and the Adler Planetarium. The City Pass allows VIP entrance to the exhibits, allowing you to bypass the general admission lines. For most attractions, the City Pass includes more than just general admission. For example, at The Field Museum, it is an all-access pass to all normal exhibits and ticketed exhibits, and includes a 3D movie. This is something to be aware of if purchasing the City Pass, so you can make sure that allow yourself enough time to get full use out of the City Pass, and get your money's worth. Also, do NOT tear out the tickets for the attractions. They do this at each attraction and the ticket is considered void if you tear it out yourself.
DAY 1
We left our house around 7am on a Wednesday. We took I-480 to I-80. We only hit a little rush hour traffic on I-480 and then it was a very easy drive from there. Not a very exciting drive, as most of Ohio and Indiana are farmland along I-80. But at least it was an easy drive.
During our drive in Indiana, about an hour away from Chicago, it started to rain so hard at one point, that we almost couldn't see to drive. It rained on and off into Chicago. Since our hotel check-in time is 3pm, we decided to visit the Museum of Science and Industry before checking in. They have an attached, underground parking garage, and it cost $20 flat rate to park.
Our City Passes included admission, a 3D film, and a flight simulator. We actually did not end up doing the flight simulator. When we went to Disney World last year, a ride at Epcot that simulated flying to Mars made me feel like I was almost going to pass out, so we decided to skip this flight simulator to be on the safe side.
Since we went on a weekday, there were several school field trips at the museum today. However, it wasn't so crowded that we couldn't enjoy the exhibits. We ended up eating lunch here at a cafe near the food court, which turned out to be a good choice, since while we were eating, a huge group of children exited the food court. The area by the cafe wasn't too crowded and we had no problem getting a table.
We enjoyed this museum. It's large, and not just a typical science museum. There are definitely a lot of hands-on science exhibits, but the "industry" part of its name is represented well, too. There are sections on trains, aircraft, and a WWII U-boat. There is also currently the Animals Inside Out exhibit, but that is not included in the City Pass and we didn't pay extra for it because we didn't have time to see it; the museum is only open until 4pm during the week. Overall we really enjoyed our time here.
We stayed until just before closing time, then made our way to our hotel. It took a while to drive through the city due to all the traffic, but it wasn't too bad of a drive. Just a lot of typical stop-and-go city driving. It was about 4:30 by the time we checked in and got settled. It was still raining at this point, and we were a little tired from our drive, so we decided to have deep dish pizza delivered to our hotel.
We ended up going with the recommendation of our hotel bellhop, who highly recommended Lou Malnati's. We ordered a small "The Lou", which has spinach, onions, and tomatoes, and a house salad. The salad was good, but I was so disappointed in the pizza. It arrived piping hot, but was bland. It was not the Chicago deep dish experience I was hoping for.
After dinner we just relaxed, enjoyed our time with each other, and watched the storms from our room. It was a nice, low-key evening.
DAY 2
This was a lazy, relaxing day for us. We had room service for breakfast and after our food settled, we were feeling motivated, and made our way to the hotel's fitness center. I have to say, I was impressed. Not only with us for working out on vacation, but also with the fitness center itself. One wall was all windows, overlooking the city. This is where the cardio equipment was set up. There are three treadmills, three elliptical machines, and two bikes to choose from. There are also free weights, a weight machine, mats, medicine and kettle balls, jump ropes and hula hoops.Yes, I may have hula hooped for the first time in years! It was fun! Of course I waited until my husband and I were the only ones in the fitness center to try out the hula hoop. The fitness center also has two bathrooms, towels, water, free newspapers and fresh whole fruit. This was definitely the nicest hotel fitness center I've seen in my travels.
After we worked out, we originally planned to use the pool, which is adjacent to the fitness center. However while we were working out, I noticed a young man was in the pool area on his cell phone, and he was still there when we left. I left myself become self-conscious, and scrapped the idea of swimming altogether. Instead we went back to the room to get ourselves showered and ready for the day.
While I finished getting myself ready, my husband took a quick walk and got us takeout from Xoco. We placed our order online from their website. Since we had a large breakfast, we decided on a small lunch. We shared the Milanesa Chicken Torta and an order of guacamole, salsa and fresh-made chips. Everything was good. The salsas had a little kick without being overbearingly spicy. I would love to go here in the future to check out what else they have to eat.
The rain continued on and off all day today. The temperatures were more mild than yesterday but with the rain, it was muggy. There were some breaks in the rain, though, and we did venture out in the afternoon.
Our hotel is a very short walk to Michigan Avenue, The Magnificent Mile of shopping. Fortunately for my husband, I'm not big on shopping while on vacation. But we did take a walk to see part of it today. We needed to go to the Harley Davidson store to pick out t-shirts for my dad and a friend. There were hordes of people on The Magnificent Mile. I was happy to leave. But again, shopping on vacation is not my style. If you enjoy it, then this is the place to be. On our way back to the hotel, we stopped by Starbucks and enjoyed some iced macchiatos.
This evening, we had reservations at Quartino for dinner. Per the recommendation of one of my coworkers, we decided to dine here. It is an Italian restaurant that offers small to moderate-sized plates meant to be shared. Your food arrives as it is cooked, not necessarily all at the same time. This is meant to encourage you to share. We ordered polenta fries, asparagus risotto, and the vegetarina pizza, which has cauliflower, eggplant, zucchini and asparagus on it, and is topped with arugula. We also shared fresh bread with olive oil while we waited for our food to arrive.
Everything was very good. Thankfully we had enough room to share a dessert. We ordered the Fantasia Coppa di Frutti, which is raspberry, orange, and lemon gelato topped with fresh fruit and a biscotti. It was a wonderfully refreshing way to end our meal. After, we headed back to the hotel for another relaxing evening.
Everything was very good. Thankfully we had enough room to share a dessert. We ordered the Fantasia Coppa di Frutti, which is raspberry, orange, and lemon gelato topped with fresh fruit and a biscotti. It was a wonderfully refreshing way to end our meal. After, we headed back to the hotel for another relaxing evening.
Check back tomorrow for Part 2 of my Chicago trip recap, which will include reviews of Shedd Aquarium, Adler Planetarium, The Field Museum, Skydeck, and the restaurants we ate at during the remainder of our trip.
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