Chicago Travel Guide

Millennium Park is a large public park located in the Loop community area of Chicago, Illinois. Situated on the shores of Lake Michigan, it covers 24.5 acres (9.9 hectares) and is the northwestern part of Grant Park. The park officially opened on July 16, 2004, originally conceived as a celebration of the new millennium. It features world‑class public art and architecture, including Anish Kapoor's iconic mirror‑finished sculpture Cloud Gate (affectionately nicknamed "The Bean"), Jaume Plensa's Crown Fountain, and Frank Gehry's Jay Pritzker Pavilion, an outdoor concert venue. Millennium Park has become one of Chicago's most popular tourist attractions, welcoming 25 million visitors in 2017.

Buckingham Fountain is an iconic Chicago landmark in the center of Grant Park, built in 1927 and inspired by the Buckingham Fountain in Portland. It is one of Chicago's most famous landmarks. The main jet reaches 46 meters high, surrounded by four sea horse sculptures representing the states bordering Lake Michigan. The fountain features hourly colored light and music shows, particularly spectacular after dark. As a symbol of Chicago, it appears on postcards and in films, and is a must-visit attraction for tourists.

The Art Institute of Chicago, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the United States, located in downtown Chicago on the shores of Lake Michigan. Its permanent collection includes nearly 300,000 works of art, and it is especially renowned for its extraordinary collection of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist masterpieces, featuring more than 30 paintings by Monet, as well as iconic works like Georges Seurat's A Sunday on La Grande Jatte, Grant Wood's American Gothic, and Edward Hopper's Nighthawks. The museum building itself is a landmark, with two iconic bronze lion statues guarding its entrance, and a new Modern Wing designed by Renzo Piano opened in 2009, further expanding its exhibition space.

Cloud Gate, located in Millennium Park in Chicago, is a monumental public sculpture by British artist Anish Kapoor. Affectionately nicknamed “The Bean” for its legume-like shape, the sculpture measures 66 feet long, 42 feet wide, and 33 feet high (20m × 13m × 10m), and weighs approximately 110 tons. It is constructed from 168 seamless stainless steel plates, polished to a mirror finish that reflects the Chicago skyline, drifting clouds, and park visitors with remarkable clarity. Inspired by liquid mercury, the seamless surface creates a captivating visual effect. At its base, a 12‑foot (3.7m) arch forms a concave chamber called the “omphalos,” where reflections are distorted and multiplied, offering a playful and surreal experience for those who walk beneath it. Completed between 2004 and 2006, Cloud Gate was Kapoor’s first permanent outdoor public artwork in the United States. It is celebrated as both an engineering triumph and an artistic masterpiece, and has since become one of Chicago’s most iconic landmarks, attracting millions of visitors each year who come to admire its shimmering surface and take memorable photographs.

The Skydeck is located on the 103rd floor of Willis Tower (formerly Sears Tower) in Chicago, at about 412 meters above sea level. It is one of the highest observation decks in the United States, overlooking Lake Michigan and the skyline.

Navy Pier is a iconic lakefront entertainment pier on Lake Michigan featuring a Ferris wheel, amusement rides, restaurants and fireworks views.