Best beach for large group of students (southside preferred) (Chicago: hotel, neighborhood) - Illinois (IL) - City-Data Forum

joshmcalister · 06-15-2009, 01:56 PM

I'm bringing a group of middle school students and adults up to Chicago from St. Louis in July to work on the south side of Chicago. We'll be staying at a hotel in the Midway airport hotel park and will be working with a church in West Englewood. I'd like to take them to a beach one weekday afternoon, but am not sure what would be the best beach to take them to. We're using all mass transit to get around, so it needs to be easily accessible by CTA buses and trains. And we only have from about 12:15 - 5:00 to do everything including travel. What is the best beach for us to head to? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.

surlycue · 06-15-2009, 02:04 PM

Promontory Point is nice because it's usually pretty quiet and it has firepits that you could make s'mores with. It is a bit rocky though so it wouldn't work for a group that wanted to lay out on the sand to sun. I like 31st st beach because there is always lots of easy parking but it can get a bit busy at peak hours, nothing compared to Oak or North Av beach though. It should be pretty secluded on a weekday afternoon before 5.

ajolotl · 06-15-2009, 02:06 PM

I would take the 63 bus from 63rd and Ashland straight to 63rd and stony island. Cut across jackson park to the 63rd street beach. It is very nice there.

Swandaddy · 06-17-2009, 10:22 PM

If you have internet access while you're here, you can use the ctabustracker to maximize your time (if that is somehow possible with a huge group of kids) by not having everyone stand around and waste a half hour waiting for a bus. Hope your trip goes well. Though somewhat clumsy, the bus tracker even works on mobile devices.

Also since you'll be in that direction, you might want to make sure that your kids are aware that they're literally going almost right through the University of Chicago (alma mater of former MO governor John ********, Obama used to teach constitutional law there, the nuclear bomb was invented there, etc etc). And to give you more superfluous ideas to think about, the Museum of Science and Industry is near the 63'rd street beach as well in case if it rains/etc.

Intergalactic · 06-17-2009, 11:05 PM

63rd Street Beach also has that wonderful, classic Victorian era beachhouse.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/09/20070602_Jackson_Park_Beach_%286%29.JPG (broken link)

lastonestanding · 06-17-2009, 11:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by joshmcalister

I'm bringing a group of middle school students and adults up to Chicago from St. Louis in July to work on the south side of Chicago. We'll be staying at a hotel in the Midway airport hotel park and will be working with a church in West Englewood. I'd like to take them to a beach one weekday afternoon, but am not sure what would be the best beach to take them to. We're using all mass transit to get around, so it needs to be easily accessible by CTA buses and trains. And we only have from about 12:15 - 5:00 to do everything including travel. What is the best beach for us to head to? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.

That sounds like something Ive done with a group of kids from Englewood a few years back. My cousin is a former school teacher with CPS and still keeps in touch with many of the students in the neighborhood. We took a group of Englewood kids to the Taste of Chicago since most of their parents were either at work or couldnt take them themselves. We caught the 74/75 lakefront to Jeffery and then we caught the Jeffery express to Grant Park. After that we went to the 12th street beach, which is in walking distance from Grant Park and after that we caught the bus back home. Coming from Midway you can catch the Orange Line to Roosevelt... Im not sure, but the last time I went to 12th street beach there was construction over there. The Planetarium is over there as well... Its a beautiful view of downtown from there and you can see the entire skyline from the beach and Navy Pier is not far neither.... If there still is construction then you may want to try Jackson Park on the southside. Im not sure what bus you could take off the top of my head probably the Jeffery express but, the 63rd street beach is over there and that is also where they play drums in the park during the summer time.