Chicago Travel Forum

I have a choice between renting a condo for our Chicago vacation either in the Grant Park area or the Near North area. I can make either location work for what we want to do but I'm wondering if either one is a more safer location to stay at. Thanks!

What exactly do you mean by Near North area?
I'd recommend the northern areas. They are more residential and therefore have more options for dining, bars, etc.

Grant Park is fine in the day, but is limiting in the evenings when many of the professionals go home.

Near North could mean a lot of things, if you post an address or an actual neighborhood someone here should be able to tell you which is the better neighborhood. Assuming Near North means River North and Gold Coast, it would be a better location for dining and entertainment options. If it means Old Town or Lincoln Park, those are good too but you really need to see where the condo is located at. Is it convenient to public transportation, etc.?

Grant Park is not a bad area depending on how many blocks off Michigan Avenue you are, if you are close to Michigan Avenue, there are good transportation options to get you where you are going. Grant Park will put you closer to some of Chicago's popular attractions (Field, Shedd, Art Institute) but you'll likely find yourself heading somewhere else to eat and for evening entertainment although there are more and more restaurants as the south loop is developing.

It's in the Ohio, Clark St. area. Do the cabs run pretty frequent there? We would need to catch one at 7am on Saturday. Thanks for your help!

At Ohio and Clark you should have no problem getting a taxi at most anytime of the day, you should also be close to a bunch of hotels so if nothing else you could find one at one of the hotels. I would advise staying at Ohio & Clark over Grant Park, it's in River North and it's where you'll find a lot of restaurants and bars plus you are close to transportation should you want to go to a different area of the city.

Another vote for Ohio/Clark. It is more centralized versus Grant Part that would put in a corner, so to speak, of the downtown area.

Grant Park is not necessarily in a "corner." Also, it's quite safe here and there are lots and lots of restaurarants (as you might have guessed, I live on Grant Park in the south loop!) This is the place for those who want to go to the museums (Art Institute, Aquarium, Field Museum, Planetarium) or see the symphony. The Ohio/Clark location is no great shakes--what do you do there? Shop and go to Art galleries. So it all depends on what are your interests. Also, Grant Park is as safe or safer than Ohio/Clark, which is a bit farther west than my tastes would run.

One further note: depending on when you're going, the Grant Park Symphony and the Harrison Street Dances run all summer, and both are fabulous and are in south Grant Park.

I think it comes down to whether you want to stay closer to where the places you'll be seeing during the day or closer to where you'll likely end up at night. For me, I'd rather stay where I'm going to end up at night so I can go back and change clothes and walk to dinner. Ohio & Clark is in the middle of the tourist district, within a few blocks there are a ton of restaurants, both chain and independent, and several popular clubs.

I know there are several good restaurants in the South Loop/Grant Park area but I still think most people will head back towards River North or the Mag Mile to eat, drink and be merry.