Customer Reviews

Lonely Planet Chicago (City Guide)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you enter Chicago from the east along I-94 or I-90 you would cross city limits at the Indiana-Illinois border or at the Calumet River. According to this book, however, you would seemingly not enter Chicago until you reached Roosevelt Road after another dozen-or-so miles. By focusing overwhelmingly on the North Side of the city, the book deprives its readers of some of the most inspiring and memorable features of what Norman Mailer called "the last of the great American cities."

True, Lonely Planet does a serviceable job covering the tourist meccas of the Magnificent Mile and Cubs-fanatic Wrigleyville; it might be sufficient for someone whose only goal is to kill boredom for a weekend in Chicago, and there's nothing wrong in that. But I look at visiting a new city as an opportunity to really get under the skin of a place; to absorb the sights and sounds of an exciting and unfamiliar world, and the Lonely Planet Guide to Chicago is deficient when it comes to sharing what makes Chicago Chicago.

For example, you can't come to terms with the meaning of baseball in this town unless you deal with the rivalry between the North Side Cubs and the 2005 World Series Champion White Sox on the South Side. But here, the latter is given a succinct and somewhat disparaging review and isn't even entitled to an entry in the Index. The History section makes a brief mention of black migration to "glitzy images of thriving neighborhoods like Bronzeville" with a reference to a half-page spent on that neighborhood (compared to six pages spent on the Gold Coast). The Pullman neighborhood, formerly a company-owned village and site of one of the defining strikes in American labor history doesn't even warrant a mention, despite city-run walking tours and a host of national accolades and historic designations. Surprisingly, even Downtown Chicago gets short shift here. The Chicago Loop is the second-largest business district in the U.S., after Midtown Manhattan, yet it is given a mere ten pages of this 280 page book, shouldered aside to make room for an extensive look at the Navy Pier tourist trap. These are just a few of many omissions, and they are not trivial.

The book isn't a total wash. What it does cover it tends to cover well, and the interesting and insightful sidebars provide a more nuanced look at this fascinating place than the table of contents would suggest. But if you want to meet Chicago for the first time -- if you want to see the postcard skyline *and* meet some of the characters that made Studs Terkel's "Division Street" such a powerful and revealing work, you'll have to go a little further than Lonely Planet will take you. Scour contents of guides to Chicago (quick and easy to do here at Amazon), and when you find one with headings for Bridgeport, Bronzeville, Pilsen, and Lincoln Park, you've probably found a winner.

This guide book was our Bible during our short trip in Chicago. It was right about most things we had a chance to check out, e.g. where to catch the best view of the city. Other helpful information included as well. For example, average prices for meals in restaurants were very helpful when planning where to eat. Very important information, I think, when coming abroad is the information how to tip etc. It's all there.

If you are thinking of taking a trip to Chicago, this book is great to have. The only thing was that it was a little confusing trying to figure out the different areas in the city - I wish it would have been a little more descriptive for those of us who haven't gone many places in Chicago. However, we did try several of the restaurants that were recommended, and we were satisfied with all of them! Great tidbits of knowledge on the city as well, learned a lot before even going!

My wife and I used this guide for a vacation to Chicago in October 2006. I am generally a big fan of Lonely Planet Guides, and this one did not disappoint. We stayed in hotel in the Gold Coast but used public transportation to get around to several other sections of the city, and this guide covered all of the areas that we visited very well. Information was concise and useful, and overall I was really pleased with this book. It's maps were invaluable while traveling around - it is worth the price for them alone.

However, there were a couple of recommendations in the book which I did not feel were very good. One restaurant in particular that the guide recommended was awful, and because of that I gave the book 4 stars instead of five.

Despite this, Lonely Planet Chicago is still a very good guide and I would recommend it without hesitation.

I've written books about Chicago and all I can say is I wish I'd written this one. Smart, savvy, sly, Zimmerman and co. have nailed America's most dynamic city. It's almost more fun reading this book than experiencing the city itself. Almost! Buy a copy so you can avoid every trap and revel in every pleasure.

My brother (a UK resident) based his entire 3-day visit to Chicago on this guide and had a great time. He is an experienced traveler to all parts of the globe [Europe, Asia, South America etc.] and Lonely Planet is his first choice of guidebook.

I recently attended the Midwest Political Science Association in Chicago. So, this volume has some real interest for me, as I check out its recommendations and compare with my experience over time. I stayed at the Intercontinental (the conference hotel, the Palmer House, was sold out). Both hotels are accurately reviewed here. The refurbished lobby of the Palmer House is a delight! I was used to the decayed beauty for many years and find the new lobby wonderful!

But this volume is about more than hotels. There is a serviceable history of Chicago. I love the juxtaposition of Richard Daley pere et fils. Recently, Richard M. Daley became the longest serving mayor in Chicago history, beating out his dad, Richard J. Daley!

Chicago, as other large cities, features many neighborhoods, each with its own personality. Among these: The Loop, Near North and Navy Pier, Gold Coast, Lincoln Park and Old Town, South Loop and Near South Side, and so on. The book explores the neighborhoods and gives a sense of their unique features. It then notes shopping, eating, drinking, and hotels neighborhood by neighborhood. In addition, the book covers nightlife, the arts (of which there is an abundance--from high art [the Art Institute, Symphony Hall] to more popular art), sports (Duh Bears! The Cubbies, the White Sox, the Bulls, Black Hawks, and so on), and day trips.

As with all such volumes, one can debate. There are eateries not mentioned here that easily could be (for instance, I've always liked Stetson's at the Hyatt Regency, for its delectable beef). But that's part of the fun with a book like this.

Anyhow, going to Chicago? This is one useful travel guide. . . .

Great book for a person looking for new things to do in Chicago or for someone vising the first time and includes a map!

I had an opportunity to put this guide to use during a recent trip to the windy city, and it was helpful. The hot spots in the neighborhoods were clearly marked out, and that made it easy to prioritize places to visit. One thing that I wished this guide had (and which I have seen in other Lonely Planet guides) is a list of things to do and places to visit if someone is there for a day versus two days versus three days etc. Overall, a good value.

I normally like frommers is better but this book for this city blew frommers outta the water. Way better. Better organanized and more maps pointing to where stuff is. It also gave more of a detailed description of evertything.