One June morning, I went to Chicago, where I live, to see what the tourists were as much as. My mission was to hitch them while sticking to a strict travel budget. So I began with a free Chicago Greeters Tour the Downtown Loop, ground zero for visitors and residential to popular attractions similar to Millennium Park and that Art Institute of Chicago.
Operated by Choose Chicagotown’s tourism marketing organization, the Greeter program matches visitors with a neighborhood volunteer for a guided walk. Our guide, Janice Rosenberg, led me and eight visitors from Spain, Mexico and France on a 90-minute walk across the Loop. She identified famous spots like Anish Kapoor’s Millennium Park sculpture, “Cloud Gate,” referred to as “The bean”, and hidden gems just like the “Rushmore” mural by painter Kerry James Marshall, dedicated to the women who shaped Chicago. Ms. Rosenberg also identified hallmarks of classic Chicago architecture, including windows designed to capture lake breezes before air conditioning was widespread, and explained to Europeans that a department store built in 1893 “is old to us.”
It was a rich dose of Chicago history and culture at an unbeatable price (tips are appreciated, though; I contributed $5).
Big cities are generally good places to travel cheaply as a traveler. Transportation options are usually affordable. Chicago’s L-Bahn, for example Cost $2.50 per ride; day passes are $5.
And Chicago, which has recently become popular among the city’s fans, Restaurant-oriented The FX series “The Bear” is set in the Midwest, a region known for its frugality. There are many things to spend money on – the venerable Lyric Opera of Chicago or Michelin-starred restaurants – but you can experience excellence in music, art, theater, food and more without breaking the bank.
I recently spent a week living like a tourist in Chicago—and saving money. Here are some of my money-saving recommendations.
Motels and rental accommodation
How much travelers spend on accommodations in Chicago depends on when they travel. Average daily hotel rates in 2023, according to commercial real estate analytics firm CoStar Group, ranged from $114 in cold January to $197 in mild June.
Affordable options include the vintage style of the 1960s The Oasis is located in Ohio. in River North offered clean, spacious rooms (I paid an average of $127 per night including breakfast). Those driving into town will find that parking in the lot ($29) is cheaper than many parking garages in the area.
I tested another economical option and booked a night at Withouta service that rents furnished apartments online and automates communication, including sending access codes at check-in (a downtown studio recently cost $129). The only downside was finding someone who could give me local tips. When I asked where out-of-towners could park their cars, one of the chatbots told me to do a Google search.
Eat standing up
Ms. Rosenberg ended her Chicago Greeter Tour at Daley Plazawhich is filled with food trucks every Friday from May to October. She encouraged visitors to enjoy the inexpensive meals while admiring the 50-foot-tall, nameless Picasso sculpture.
For a more evergreen option, I walked a couple of blocks to Loop’s Revival Food Hall and be Thanks Restaurant for the Secret Sandwich ($11.50), a baguette spread with savory duck liver mousse and layered with pork belly.
My favorite, frugal way to sample Chicago’s culinary diversity is to seek it out in a sandwich, a takeout staple that is cleverly adapted into a number of styles, including Vietnamese French Dips, Japanese egg salad “Tamago” And Mexican Tortas.
Chicago’s homemade Italian beef sandwich – made popular by “The Bear” – costs $9 at Mr. Beef on Orleansthe inspiration for the series.
I asked Mike Gebert, writer of the local restaurant newsletter Grocery storefor his suggestions.
“For me, a part of the key is just not driving downtown for all the things,” said Mr. Gebert. “I search for places within the neighborhoods.”
His neighborhood theory fulfills my sandwich thesis at with at Ukrainian Village (also featured in The Bear), where I went for breakfast the next day. The restaurant is known for its Filipino tasting menus in the evenings, but serves baked goods and diner food during the day, which have long lines. I avoided them by ordering its breakfast sandwich with longanisa sausage, egg and cheese ($11) online and picking it up for takeout.
Later that day I drove just a little further northwest on the blue line L to Logan Square Neighborhood for one more Chicago original, the Jibarito ($8.95) at Jibaritos and moreThis Puerto Rican invention uses fried plantain slices as a substitute for bread, and when combined with grilled chicken, pork or beef, it makes a delicious mess.
The off-season is the best time for entertainment. At 2:30 p.m. on a Saturday afternoon, I was too late to get a seat at the Green Mill Cocktail Lounge in the Uptown district for the weekly variety show at 3 p.m., the paper machete. I joined the standing room only crowd and the free two-hour production, which hilariously combines stand-up comedy, playback, live music and a comical commentary by the bird puppet, Chad the Bird in a historic jazz club.
After the pandemic, magic flourished in Rhapsody Theatre in Rogers Park. I drove to this far north neighborhood to see a Saturday night show at the 1912 theater, restored in 2022. The show is by Ricardo Rosenkranz, a local doctor and magician who often performs there (tickets start at about $30, but are often $20 at discount stores). HotTix).
Chicago is known as the home of improvisational comedy. Second City as its flagship. But there are plenty of affordable alternatives, including my Sunday night pick, “The Infinite Wrench,” by the improv group Neo-Futurists in the Andersonville neighborhood (admission $20 or pay-what-you-can, starting at $1).
The show begins at 10:30pm on Friday and Saturday nights and 7pm on Sunday, and promises 30 original pieces – or sketches – in 60 minutes, or as many as they can manage while the clock runs down; this evening there were 28.
The closing coincided perfectly with the start of a free music program on Sunday evening at 8:30 p.m. – I saw a Western Swing band, but the program varies weekly – around the corner at Simon’s Taverna landmark of the district since the 1930s.
Weekdays are the best times for free stand-up shows, and that’s how I discovered Pizza Mic at Pizzeria Serio in Roscoe Village on a Tuesday night (free, pizza included). The show focuses on queer comedians and is hosted by Rey Tang, a transgender comedian, and attracts artists working on new material.
“This is a safe place to fail,” she said.
A tour of the neighborhood
The advice to leave downtown to save money also applies to attractions. The Art Institute of Chicago costs $32, but the National Museum of Mexican Art In Pilsen and that Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures In Hyde Park are free (the suggested admission fee for the latter is $10).
From the city center I took the Metra Electric train ($3.75) to reach the Hyde Park neighborhood on the South Side, which is not connected to the L system.
As I entered the leafy neighborhood of ornate mansions, I felt like I had left the city, which is historically true. Hyde Park was a city of its own and a retreat for the wealthy before it was transferred to Chicago in time for the 1893 World’s Fair, which was held in the area.
“Hyde Park is an integrated space in a city that can be very segregated,” says Shermann Dilla Thomas, a Chicago historian who Tours of the neighborhood on the south side.
Not removed from there the Obama Presidential Center is under construction, I met Laurie McGovern Petersen, the editor of the “AIA Travel Guide to Chicago“, from the American Institute of Architects Chicago, for a walk through Hyde Park.
“Hyde Park really has every sort of architecture, from the 1850s to contemporary examples,” said Ms. Petersen. “There is a very great amount of residential architecture here.”
We strolled around for hours, admiring blocks of Queen Anne mansions, modernist townhouses by architects Harry Weese and IM Pei, and the Prairie-style Robie House by Frank Lloyd Wright.
We parted on University of ChicagoMain campus in neo-Gothic style. It includes the Institute for the Study of Ancient Civilizations, which is full of archaeological treasures, including a reconstructed courtyard of an 8th century BC Assyrian palace with an imposing relief sculpture of a winged bull with a human head.
Before I left Hyde Park, I stopped Valois Restauranta 103-year-old cafeteria that is said to be the favorite restaurant of Barack Obama, who still owns a house nearby (the menu includes a list of “President Obama’s Favorite Restaurants”). My baked chicken with mashed potatoes and peas was $9.45.
animal shelter
On my last day as a tourist, I grabbed a Divvy bike from the city’s bike-share program ($1 plus 18 cents per minute) and headed north toward my house, completing part of the 18-mile route. Hiking trail along the lakeshore which borders Lake Michigan and passes beaches and parks.
After a few miles I reached the Lincoln Park Zoo. Free admission seems to encourage both locals and visitors to return to the zoo and build a relationship with the animals. The great apes and lion pride attract repeat visitors who know their names and personalities.
I even have a passion for the fragile African antelopes referred to as Rock Jumperone other entry on my extensive list of free Chicago deals.
Elaine Glusac is Frugal Traveler’s columnist and focuses on budget-friendly tips and travel.
