Chicago is an expensive city, not New York expensive, but still quite pricey. Downtown hotels below $100 a night are hard to find, restaurants are expensive and many of the best attractions come with entrance fees in excess of $20. The cost for a family visit can run up quickly. Luckily there are some free things for visitors to do downtown.
The lakefront: One of the cities' greatest attraction. The entire lakefront is a free public park. There is an 18 mile long bike and running path for the more active tourist. There are several very nice beaches. Ohio Street, North Avenue and North ave. beaches are the most popular downtown beaches.
Lincoln Park Zoo: One of the few free zoos in America. They have almost all of the animal attractions you would expect to see at a top notch zoo. Lions, tigers, polar bears, gorillas, red pandas and seals are among the crowd favorites.
Millennium Park: A recent addition to the cities' attractions it has quickly become the states most visited sight. The public art, mainly the "Bean" and the Crown Fountain is very popular. The Lurie Gardens are an urban oasis with the skyline as a backdrop. The Jay Pritzker Pavilion host free concerts all summer.
Navy Pier: While you can spend money on a lot of different things at Navy Pier there are a lot of things you can do without a dime in your pocket. It has some of the cities best views, people watching and a very good fireworks show on Wednesday and Saturday nights.
Chicago Greeter: On the the cities' more unbelievable free offers. They will conduct customized free tours of downtown or any of 25 different neighborhoods or 40 different interests, like food, buildings or history. Just go to their website and arrange your tour. They do require at least a weeks notice.
Festivals: There are a lot of great festivals. Unfortunately most of them come with a relatively high entrance fee. Luckily there are some free ones worth attending. The city sponsors several music festivals downtown. There Air & Water Show is a great free event that attracts a million visitors every year. There are also some free art festivals like, Ravenswood Art Walk and the Logan Sq. Art Festival, well worth a visit.
Window Shopping: Michigan Ave is one of the countries best shopping streets. There is a bit of everything from Niketown and Apple, to Tiffany's and Saks. There are a lot of great stores to just look around: Disney, Crate & Barrel, William Sonoma, Candality to name a few. You can spend a lot of money here but you can also have a good time just window shopping and people watching.
Architecture: Chicago is probably the countries greatest architectural city. There is everything from modern skyscrapers to turn of the century mansions to Frank Lloyd Wright houses. You can walk around the lakefront, river, Gold Coast neighborhood or the Loop and see some amazing buildings.
Lincoln Park Conservatory: Right next to the zoo it contains a large collection of tropical plants. There is an entire room dedicated to orchids. They put on nice shows in the spring and at Christmas.
Chicago Cultural Center: An amazing old building that used to be a library. They are free art exhibits, lectures and concerts. You can also head upstairs to see the world's largest Tiffany dome.
Free Museum Days: Check our Deals page for free museum days for Illinois residents.