Chicago Travel Answers

A sweatshirt in July in Chicago, no way, can be verfy hot, and muggy, short sleeve shirts is all you need, oh yes, you will need pants.

@yvr - I've lived in Chicago almost my entire life and have worn a sweatshirt every once in a while on the 4th of July. When that cool wind comes down Lake Michigan from Canada it can be a might chilly during the evening. Pack one just in case you run into one of those chilly Chicago nights. And just because it is warm during the day doesn't mean that a quick wind change will blast you with the cool air. In regards to Chicago festivals. Here is a link to some of the festivals going on during the summer. chicagonow.com/show-me-chica... You should also check out Millennium Park right downtown which usually has something going on every night during the summer. Any other questions about Chicago that a Chicago native can answer let me know.

I see that you are into historical and culturally significant things. With that in mind do go to the Chicago Historical Museum which does an excellent job at introducing you to the history of Chicago and significant events from its founding to the present time. You should also consider an architectural cruise on the Chicago River which will give you a great history of Chicago building architecture starting from the worlds first skyscraper which was built in Chicago. I also see from your profile that you are from Scottsdale, Arizona. Going back to my previous answer about the sweatshirt without a doubt pack one. My wife has aunts who live in Florida and whenever they come up to Chicago in the summer they are always wearing sweaters.

Today is a perfect example of Chicago weather and how fast thing can change day to day. On Monday it reached a record high of 97 degrees with winds from the southwest ( gulf of Mexico) Today it is in the mid 50's with winds from the north (Canada). By the weekend it will be back to a more normal 70.

@riorich55: Thanks a lot for the advice! We were on the fence about an architectural cruise. It sounds like it's worth checking out. If I have any more questions, I'll be sure to ask!

The architecture cruises are a great way to see the city, if you are a real architecture geek then the Chicago Architecture Foundation ones are the best. If not, then any of them will do although I didn't care much for Seadog. Some of the cruises go on the Lake, some on the River, some go on both. If you're not really into architecture but want to go on the River, there are the cheaper water taxis, you can go all the way to Chinatown on them. The Taste of Chicago starts July 11 if you are still in town, the new Mayor has revised the format (charging for shows, less food vendors, some of them one day only) so I'm not sure if it's going to be worth going to or not. One of my favorite ways to see the lakefront is by bicycle, you can rent them at various locations on the lakefront. The area by North Avenue beach and Ohio Street beach are very crowded though so you have to be very careful in that section especially on the weekend.

I'm with Riorich on the sweatshirt, especially if you have a lightweight one. I'm personally very sensitive to temp changes and always bring a lightweight sweater to restaurants and other air-conditioned venues also. Bring bug spray in case you want to go to one of our free Grant Park concerts. Go to Chicagogreeter.com if you'd like a free tour and tour guide in an area of the city that interests you or just area of interest. Many are listed. But don't wait because this service is becoming extremely busy.

@ThingsToDo - I agree this is a very interesting activity that I have heard about and would like to try sometime. Unfortunately, what you did is advertising and your post will be deleted shortly.

Which post is advertising? Hopefully not the Chicago Greeter one. This is a free service, I'm a docent (which means I don't get paid) and it's the number one activity on TripAdvisor. Too many people coming here don't know about it. But if you consider letting people know about a free service as advertisement, then go ahead and delete the post. Or maybe you were talking about another post. Hope so.

They already deleted the post that was pure advertising. No the Chicago Greeter program is a great service.

Whew! I was worried. Actually I'm also now a paid tour guide for a company that does Chicago History tours (and which shall remain nameless.) But I still do some Greeter gigs. It's now become so popular that they can't always staff the requests. You should be a docent!

I would really like to do that, but getting into the city from Naperville is the big problem. I know you have people come in from the suburbs to do the tours, but at this stage of my life I still need to be gainfully employed.

I'd suggest being a paid guide, but the pay is too low! Only for us retired folks.

I just wanted to pop in and say that I'm back! We had a wonderful time and thank you to everybody that provided suggestions. I'll be doing some reviews and posting some pictures over the next couple of days. @Sharonov - that's really neat about being a volunteer docent. One of the things that we did was one of the architecture tours put on the by Chicago Architecture Foundation. It was really good and I highly recommend. Thanks again folks!

Well you certainly didn't need a jacket this July. Glad you enjoyed our city.