Planning a Trip

As a major American city, Chicago is easy to reach by air, with two major airports (O'Hare and Midway) and hundreds of flights arriving each day. Once you arrive in town, it's fairly simple to get to the major tourist attractions using public transportation, including buses and the "El," a system of subways and elevated trains. Taxis are easy to flag down on any busy street. If you're staying downtown, you won't need to rent a car while you're here.

When planning your trip, I'd recommend booking your hotel as early as possible, especially during the busy summer tourist season. The more affordable a hotel, the more likely it is to be sold out in June, July, and August, especially on weekends. It's also worth checking if a major convention will be in town during the dates you hope to travel. It's not unusual for every major downtown hotel to be sold out during the Housewares Show in late March or the Restaurant Show in mid-May.

If you're planning on catching a show while you're here (and I highly recommend you do), it's a good idea to buy tickets before you arrive. You can browse a list of what's showing at the League of Chicago Theaters website, www.chicagoplays.com, then visit individual theater websites to buy tickets online. The day before your trip, be sure to check Chicago's local weather forecast. The temperatures here can be unpredictable, so you'll find packing a lot easier if you know whether to expect snow, rain, or sweltering heat. (That said, bring a range of clothes if you're going to be in town for awhile -- you should be prepared for anything!)

Visitor Information & Maps

Before your trip, visit the website of the Chicago Office of Tourism, Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington St., Chicago, IL 60602 (tel. 877/CHICAGO or TTY 866/710-0294; www.choosechicago.com), to find out about upcoming events and attractions (they'll also mail you a packet of materials if you want). Click the "Maps & Transportation" link at the top of the home page for links to maps of Chicago neighborhoods. You can even create your own personalized map of sights you'd like to visit. The Illinois Bureau of Tourism (tel. 800/2CONNECT or TTY 800/406-6418; www.enjoyillinois.com) will also send you information about Chicago and other Illinois destinations.

Once you're here, you may want to visit one of the Office of Tourism's visitor centers to pick up information on special events. The main visitor center, located in the Loop and convenient to many places that you'll likely be visiting, is on the first floor of the Chicago Cultural Center, 77 E. Randolph St. (at Michigan Ave.). The center has a phone that you can use to make hotel reservations, and several couches and a cafe where you can study maps and plan your itinerary. The center is open Monday through Friday from 8am to 6pm, Saturday from 9am to 6pm, and Sunday from 10am to 6pm; it's closed on holidays.

The Chicago Water Works Visitor Center is in the old pumping station at Michigan and Chicago avenues in the heart of the city's shopping district. The entrance is on the Pearson Street side of the building, across from the Water Tower Place mall. It's open daily from 7:30am to 7pm. This location has the added draw of housing a location of Hot Tix, which offers both half-price day-of-performance and full-price tickets to many theater productions around the city, as well as a gift shop. Part of the building has been converted into a theater, including a small cabaret space for tourist-oriented shows and a larger playhouse for the acclaimed Lookingglass Theatre Company.

Insider Tours -- Free! -- Want a personalized view of the city -- aside from your trusted Frommer's guidebook? A program called Chicago Greeter matches tourists with local Chicagoans who serve as volunteer guides. Visitors can request a specific neighborhood or theme (everything from Polish heritage sites to Chicago movie locations), and a greeter gives them a free 2- to 4-hour tour. (Greeters won't escort groups of more than six people.) Specific requests should be made at least a week in advance, but "InstaGreeters" are also available on a first-come, first-served basis at the Chicago Cultural Center, 77 E. Randolph St., from Friday through Sunday. For details, call tel. 312/744-8000, or visit www.chicagogreeter.com.

Hey, Google, did you get my text message? -- It's bound to happen: The day you leave this guidebook back at the hotel for an unencumbered stroll through [neighborhood in your destination], you'll forget the address of the lunch spot you had earmarked. If you're traveling with a mobile device, send a text message to tel. 46645 (GOOGL) for a lightning-fast response. For instance, type "carnegie deli new york" and within 10 seconds you'll receive a text message with the address and phone number. This nifty trick works in a range of search categories: Look up weather ("weather chicago"), language translations ("translate goodbye in spanish"), currency conversions ("10 usd in pounds"), movie times ("harry potter 60601"), and more. If your search results are off, be more specific ("the abbey gay bar west hollywood"). For more tips and search options, see www.google.com/intl/en_us/mobile/sms/. Regular text message charges apply.