If you have visited NYC, is it worth it to visit Chicago? (rates, bigger)

[BPt111]

Chicago, Illinois few months ago

[bjimmy24]

Originally Posted by moneymkt

Chicago is not more appealing than Boston and Philadelphia?

Easier to get to Boston or Philly from New York, I guess.

[BPt111]

Originally Posted by bjimmy24

Easier to get to Boston or Philly from New York, I guess.

Chicago has hourly flights to NYC on weekdays it only 1 hour 40 minutes ride or 1 hour 30 mins. My flight was full of professionals with suit and tees lol

[SpringSnow]

Originally Posted by bjimmy24

Easier to get to Boston or Philly from New York, I guess.

Boston and Philadelphia are historic cities that mattered to the formation of the USA. Much more interesting for a tourist to see than Chicago, or more important as far as I see it.

[DavePa]

Originally Posted by SpringSnow

Boston and Philadelphia are historic cities that mattered to the formation of the USA. Much more interesting for a tourist to see than Chicago, or more important as far as I see it.

Well, if this is to boost Philly over Chicago in tourism #s? Really it does not.

PHILADELPHIA

Most Visited Attractions in Philadelphia — Visit Philadelphia — visitphilly.com

.........Attraction ..................................... # of 2016 Visitors
#1 Reading Terminal Market --------------- near 7-million.
#2 Independence National Historical Park - over 5-million overall total w/below breakdown.
breakdown for above...⤵
- Liberty Bell Center ------------------------------ 2.3-million
- Independence Hall -------------------------------- 750,000
- Independence Visitor Center ------------------- 2.4-million
#3 SugarHouse Cacino Philadelphia -------------3.6-million
#4 Valley Forge National Historical Park - near- 2.5-million
#5 Peddler's Village ------------------------------ 2.0-million
Philadelphia Museum of Art ----------------------- 792,936 from Wikipedia

* I could not get most Philly museum counts .... just the Museum of Art.

This 2016 link list BY TOURIST #'s. The most popular Philly area attractions. Two out of 5 are in the city.

https://www.bizjournals.com/philadel...tractions.html

.............. Attraction .......................... # of 2015 visitors.

#1 Independence National Park ---------- 4,311,582 - Philadelphia, Pa
#2 SugarHouse casino -------------------- 3,600,000 - Philadelphia, Pa
#3 Valley Forge National Historical Park - 2,143,965 - Valley Forge, Pa
#4 Peddler's Village ----------------------- 1,300,000 - Latasha, Pa
#5 Longwood Gardens -------------------- 1,300,000 - Kennett Square, Pa

Philly combined Metro tourist #'s 42-million in 2016. Over 25-million Philly city alone.

https://billypenn.com/2016/11/09/her...urists-we-get/
From link:
41-million in 2015. But that 41 million people is for “Greater Philadelphia.” That area, according to Visit Philly, consists of Philadelphia, Montgomery, Bucks, Chester and Delaware counties. The number for

*** Philadelphia proper tourist/visitor #s --- in 2015 was 25.9 million.
__________________________________________________ _____________________________________________

CHICAGO

https://thelocaltourist.com/chicagos...st-attractions
- Downtown Chicago
#1 Millennium Park ----------- nearly 13 million just in the second half of 2016. YEAR 25-million. FREE
#2 Navy Pier .................................. 9.3-million visitors 2016. FREE
#4 Art Institute of Chicago .............. 1.79-million
#5 Field Museum of Natural History -- 1.65-million
Museum of Science and Industry ------1.50-million
#6 Shedd Aquarium ------------------- 1.93-million
#7 Lincoln Park Zoo ------------------- 3.56-million FREE
Brookfield Zoo ------------------------- 2.3-million suburban Brookfield Ill. (not counted for Chicago)

* list from above link and #s from below links.

Chicago museums set attendance records in 2016 - Chicago Tribune

Millennium Park is new top Midwest visitor destination, high-tech count finds - Chicago Tribune
From Link:
- Since the 12.9 million figure is for just over half a year and for just portions of the park, it doesn't seem a stretch to imagine that the full annual visitor total could be 25 million or more. That puts the park firmly in the top tier of U.S. attractions, along with the likes of Times Square and Central Park in New York City and the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

*** Chicago's 2016 (city only) tourist/visitor #s 54.1-million

Chicago's tourist tally hits record 54.1 million visitors in 2016 - Chicago Tribune

Overlooking Millennium Park

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by BPt111

Chicago has hourly flights to NYC on weekdays it only 1 hour 40 minutes ride or 1 hour 30 mins. My flight was full of professionals with suit and tees lol

I took Chicago to LGA for business for over 2 years every week. It's very true and if you look at the data, you see that the busiest domestic route for LGA is to Chicago and the busiest domestic route for O'Hare is to LaGuardia. Lot of business between both cities in reality. For the airline, I have one of the top statuses because of this traveling but pretty much everyone had that type of status on the ORD-LGA flights. I felt bad for anyone who didn't have status who thought they could get on the flight at a normal slot and get overhead baggage room.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by SpringSnow

It really depends on your constraints (time?) and budget.

Chicago is a different city than NYC but if you're just after a stereotypical American city with a lot of skyscrapers, NYC will fill your void. You can then move on to other American gems like the historic cities of Boston or Philadelphia, the capital DC, the home of Hollywood- LA, charming San Francisco, or the adult disneyworld of Las Vegas.

I'd say once you have seen those cities and still have time and money, Chicago would be another interesting stop on your quest to see America but if seeing Chicago means bumping off one of those above mentioned cities, don't bother with Chicago.

I don't really agree. Both are completely different cities in reality with their own stuff. Chicago IMO is more beautiful for the average tourist (there are beautiful parts of NYC a tourist may get to, but it's different type of beauty versus Chicago) and especially in the summer has its own vibe which is different than NYC that a lot of tourists would enjoy.


When my girlfriend's parents visited the US from China (they live in Shanghai currently) a little over a year ago, they weren't planning on visiting Chicago. The only thing they knew about it was crime and the Chicago Bulls. I convinced them that they should definitely visit and they did for a small handful of days. They had been to the US once before going to Honolulu, LA, DC, NYC, and Baltimore. This time it was to SF, Las Vegas, Chicago, and NYC.

Out of all of these cities they've visited, Chicago is now their favorite US city. They have been telling their friends/family in China about it too and have stated their displeasure for NYC because of how dirty it is and they don't find it very nice in the majority of places. Both of her parents have stated that if they moved to the US, they would move to Chicago, not SF or NYC after having visited. Both of them asked numerous times in numerous areas on their trip to me how much condos cost in Chicago and they were shocked at the relatively low prices too (her dad also managed to make fun of SF asking "why would anyone want to live in SF? It's so small!" (side note: I was just in Hong Kong with them and her dad also said something like "Hong Kong is not that big of a city." As they live in Shanghai, their standard of size is a bit skewed towards most in the world)). One thing that surprised me is that her dad stated that Chicago downtown reminded him a little of Shanghai in various aspects (cleanliness, greenery, etc). After having visited Shanghai earlier this year, I see what he means in a weird way.

NYC is more like Hong Kong in places and maybe culturally a few areas of Beijing. Yes, it's true that Beijing has more cultural things to see and you could probably get away with not visiting Shanghai, but IMO not visiting Shanghai when you have the chance would also mean you're missing out on something. Not everybody loves the historical stuff. Chicago IMO should be on any list for any traveler to the US (or within). I think people are really missing out by not visiting. It's an amazing city with enough to fill a short trip for sure (and a longer trip if you're really into food).

[mhays25]

"Visitor" stats for specific attractions are highly BS-prone.

Some count paying customers as noted. Those are probably fairly reliable, though they don't always have to be. Some, like malls, can publish any number they want, and it's about the image they want to project.

Malls, streets, parks, and many other types share a huge inaccuracy: Many guesstimate everybody, every time. You live on one side of the park and work is on the other, that's 500 "visits" per year for one person. Malls also have people who visit 50 or even 350 times a year. You can bet your life on those being included in the total.

Let's not even get into the BS behind citywide visitor stats. There are so many methods, all flawed. Out of state credit card usage reported by the major provider or providers? Does that include every trucker who gets gas or lunch? Does it miss the other three people in the family? What about cash? Likewise hotel stays omit people staying with friends or family (with a tilt depending on type/size of city) and people who are really tourists but don't stay overnight.

[marothisu]

Number of visitors doesn't mean anything if you are saying "is it worth it for me as a visitor to go?" That's pretty situational depending on what you (anybody) likes to do and see. There are loads of amazing sites around the world that don't really get a ton of visitors. It doesn't make them any more or any less worth a visit.

I think for the average person, 2 or 3 days in Chicago is good and definitely worth it. If you are into food and drinking (and other things) then you could easily stretch that into 5 days to a week or longer depending on how serious of a food traveler you are.

[mhays25]

BTW, yes, visit Chicago. Great city and unique in many subtle ways.

Also, it's awesome to get to know a new city.