Which blue line stop to park for O'Hare and the loop? (Chicago: home, neighborhood)

[malinowskiscanoe]

Hello,

I'm trying to strategize the best place to park on the Blue line this Monday between O'Hare and the loop; My dad's flight leaves O'Hare airport at 7 PM and I would like to show him a little bit of downtown Chicago beforehand (e.g. Grant Park). I'm driving from South Bend, Indiana I'm worried about traffic before and after dropping him off.

A friend suggested that I park on the Blue line, but I'm not sure where would give us easiest access to both downtown and the airport.

I don't want to spend the entire day in Chicago- maybe an hour or two before dropping him off at the airport. My father is 68 years old, and he has a six hour flight once he gets to the airport.

Any ideas on which blue line to stop would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Respectfully, Jenn

[marothisu]

If you're looking for parking along the blue line, then I'd go to the Cumberland, or Rosemount stops. Cumberland has over 1500 parking spots and Rosemount has around 800. It's not free, but I think it's $5 for 12 hours or so.

In any case, it'll probably take you 35-40 minutes to get to the Loop from one of these train stations...(and of course the same amount of time on the way back - perhaps more if you're going back when people are going home from work on the trains from the Loop).

[chirack]

The real problem is storing the luggage. Since you are coming in from the south, I would just park somewhere downtown and ride the blue line to the airport if needed. In addition you could take the south shore line to downtown but lugging the luggage around downtown is going to be an problem.

[marothisu]

^ Yeah, I read it wrong. For some reason I thought the father was flying in first and had a layover. Whoops! Yeah in that case, just park downtown. You will pay for it, buuut try and find the cheap lots around downtown in areas like South Loop for usually under $15/day. If the traffic is really bad on the Kennedy too, they COULD ride the blue line to O'Hare after they're done seeing downtown.

[malinowskiscanoe]

Thanks- this is very helpful. What about driving through Oak Park to O'hare (ORD) (sightseeing that neighborhood instead of the loop) and going to the huge outlets? Will 290W/294N have bad traffic around 4 PM?

[knitgirl]

Originally Posted by malinowskiscanoe

Thanks- this is very helpful. What about driving through Oak Park to O'hare (ORD) (sightseeing that neighborhood instead of the loop) and going to the huge outlets? Will 290W/294N have bad traffic around 4 PM?

Bad traffic? Oh yeah! When are you planning on getting to town and when is his flight? You may really only have an hour or two all things considered. It probably would be best to find some place to dump the car for a while, do some sightseeing, then grab his luggage and hop on the blue line.

Not sure what you mean about huge outlets, there are none in Oak Park. The closest would be in Rosemont by the airport, but if I were a 68 yr old man, I don't think that's what I'd want to do. Heck, I'm a middle aged woman and I wouldn't go outlet shopping if I were passing through a major city where there are tons of other things to do.

[baileyvpotter]

Maybe he meant Oak Brook.