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Cheap Chicago

Here are 10 tips to make a trip easy to afford.

Chicago is on a roll. Its Millennium Park is wildly popular, it's been crowned the western White House and it hopes to land the 2016 Olympics.

But long before Barack Obama made Chicago cool by association, people had noticed that it's a whole lot of fun. These days, tourists have to compete with hordes of conventioneers and suburbanites fleeing back to the city. Prices, of course, have gone up.

But Chicago is a populist town, and there's lots to do for free. Here are 10 tips for making a trip affordable.

1. Go when business people and vacationers don't. Hotels are cheapest in Chicago on the week before Christmas and in the depths of winter. I've also gotten very good deals on the long Memorial Day and Labor Day weekends and in late October (avoid the Chicago Marathon in mid-October).

2. Get there cheap. The Megabus still costs only $1 each way, if you book early enough, though $20-$60 is more typical. Amtrak also can be inexpensive if booked early, and Southwest Airlines offers good deals. Driving isn't cheaper, once you pay for parking.

3. Stay cheap.  The Hostelling International family hostel in the South Loop, three blocks from the Art Institute at Congress and Wabash, is quite posh, with pancake happy hours, an Internet room and a carpeted great room with foosball, ping-pong and a pool table. Volunteers takes guests on forays around town, to blues clubs or the Christkindlmarket.

In 2006 and 2007, it was voted Best Large Hostel Worldwide. Rooms are $28-$34 per person, including coffee and muffins, and there's a kitchen where guests can cook for themselves.

4. See what's free at the Chicago Cultural Center and, across the street, at Millennium Park. They both host lots of free performances. The ornate Cultural Center also is home to a Chicago tourism office. When you're there, pick up a copy of the Time Out Chicago Student Guide, which is full of tips. Navy Pier also offers many free events.

On Michigan Avenue, across from the John Hancock Building, the beautiful, neo-Gothic Fourth Presbyterian Church offers free noontime concerts on Fridays year-round.

5. Get deals. Buy half-price HotTix theater tickets on-line or at the Cultural Center at Michigan and Washington or the Water Works Visitors Center at Michigan and Pearson. 

Check the tourism office's Guide to Special Values, which lists many two-for-one deals to museums and attractions as well as discounts in shops and restaurants. In January and February, cash in on the city's Winter Delights deals.

6. Use coupons. If you plan to visit the big museums, buy a CityPass, $59 and good for nine days. It provides general and special-exhibit admissions to Shedd Aquarium, the Field Museum, the Museum of Science and Industry, Adler Planetarium and either the Hancock Observatory or the Sears Tower. The Chicago Entertainment book isn't as good as it used to be, but check the offers if you'll be doing serious sightseeing and eating.

7. Eat cheap. It's not hard. Along Michigan Avenue, look for Cosi, the Corner Bakery, Panda Express and Chipotle; you can eat well for less than $10 at all of them. And try L’Appetito, a great but unassuming Italian deli at the foot of the John Hancock Tower, and foodlife, a bazaar of made-to-order kiosks on the mezzanine level of Water Tower Place.

8. Use public transit. It's easy to use the CTA, which operates subway/El trains and buses. Get a Visitors Pass, $5 for one day, $9 for two and $12 for three. They're for sale at airports (also museums, Navy Pier and visitors centers), and you can order the passes at www.transitchicago.com.

9. Go to museums on discount days. The big museums used to have one free day a week, but now they vary their schedules, except for the Art Institute of Chicago, which is free on Thursday evenings. Mondays and Tuesdays in the off-season (which doesn't include December) are good bets, but sometimes museums schedule entire free weeks in fall.

Check Shedd Aquarium at  www.sheddaquarium.org; the Art Institute at www.artic.edu; Adler Planetarium at www.adlerplanetarium.org and the Field Museum of Natural History at www.fieldmuseum.org (usually, second Monday of the month).

Because waits already are long at the Museum of Science and Industry, www.msichicago.org, it may be best to avoid free day there.

10. Have a Chicago Greeter show you around. Volunteer Greeters offer free tours of Chicago neighborhoods; reserve seven to 10 days in advance.

Last updated on November 22, 2008