Short visit - where to stay? (Chicago, Evanston: to rent, hotels, to live)

[peninsular]

We are planning a visit to your fair city at the end of the month, with two adults and a seven-year-old. I'd like your input on the following ideas:

- Do the straightforward thing and get a hotel room somewhere near Michigan Avenue
- Go the airbnb way and rent a one-bedroom somewhere between Lincoln Park and the Loop
- Do it suburbia style, find b&b or a small hotel somewhere between Highland Park and Evanston (we will have to rent a car for the rest of our trip)

My wife and I have been to Chicago many times (we both used to live within a 90 min drive of the Loop), but our daughter has never been. Is any of those choices clearly better or worse than the rest? What would you do? Thanks.

[marothisu]

If it were my choice, my preferences would be in the order you listed them in. If you weren't going with your daughter, I would switch #1 and #2 around. Of course, some of this depends on your budget if you have one.

[peninsular]

Thanks, marothisu. Right, the budget. It's around $150 a night.

[emathias]

Originally Posted by marothisu

If it were my choice, my preferences would be in the order you listed them in. If you weren't going with your daughter, I would switch #1 and #2 around. Of course, some of this depends on your budget if you have one.

If you're only going for a weekend or similarly short timeframe, I agree with marothisu that the order you have is best.

If it's 4 or more nights, I'd go ahead and switch 1 and 2 even with your daughter. For short trips, sometimes hotels are more predictable, but I am an advocate of Airbnb and seeing more than just downtown so for stays of more than a couple days any unpredictability in Airbnb can be worth it. And, realistically, if you choose a well-reviewed Airbnb property your stay should be pretty predictable.

I don't see much upside to staying in the suburbs, unless there are a number of suburban activities you need/want to partake in.

[chet everett]

There are pretty much ZERO good suburban hotels for anyone that is a tourist -- the hotels in the suburbs are geared toward "business travelers" that want to be close to clients in the 'burbs.

Even the hotels in Evanston are there becuase of Northwestern, which is the "business" in that town...

For $150/night you can get a real hotel on a discount site that might cost well over a hundred bucks a night more, it is perfect for a short stay, no worries that the place is other than fully legit...

[Lucky Clover]

Waldorf Astoria baby. Go all out.

[peninsular]

Originally Posted by tawfiqmp

Waldorf Astoria baby. Go all out.

You must have imagined an extra zero or two when I was talking about the budget.

[peninsular]

Thanks, everyone, will be looking for some hotel rooms.

[marothisu]

Look on sites like HotWire.com, Travelzoo.com, Priceline.com, etc. You can get some hotels for some decent rates in the "downtown" area.

[danfed]

I'm a big fan of bidding on Pricelinr. 4 star River North hotels can be had for even less than your budget. Great location for walks to restaurants, parks and other attractions. CTA will get you to virtually anywhere else you'd likely want to go or things to see.