Chicago is a great city to visit because it’s got lots of lively culture, is relatively compact and inexpensive compared to other cities like Los Angeles, has a huge international hub airport in O’Hare plus another big airport (Midway) that services the region, and has a huge suburban environment around it that offers cheap hotel rooms if you can’t afford to stay right in the city.
Airline tickets to Chicago at low cost are not hard to find at all; check out any discount ticket retailer online and you should be able to get a wide variety of options from any major city in the US and several international cities.
You might want to consider what neighborhood you’d like to stay in if budget is a concern. Hotels on Michigan Avenue will cost you a bundle but hotels in lesser-populated areas of the city you can find a room for under one hundred dollars when it’s not peak season.
Another great thing about Chicago is that while it’s a huge restaurant city, if you need to save money you can find great food there at low cost. Street vendors and ethnic restaurants provide fresh, hot food at a budget price. You can eat all kinds of good stuff all over Chicago without spending lots of money. There are vibrant Mexican, Polish, and Chinese restaurants among others.
Still another reason to visit Chicago is that you can entertain yourself for little or no cost there as well. One of the greatest pleasures in Chicago is just hanging out at the beach on Lake Michigan and watching people. If you get bored with that or the weather isn’t good, then stroll the shops on Michigan Avenue or visit a blues bar and you can probably get away with less than $20 per day on entertainment costs.
Chicago has great shopping, entertainment, leisure, museums, live music, art and more. While it’s becoming prohibitively expensive to visit European cities for Americans right now, visiting a city at home can be a great vacation, and Chicago is one of the best choices out there, especially if you’re on a budget.
