Customer Reviews

Not for Tourists 2008 Guide to Chicago (Not for Tourists Guidebook)

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

 

 

I bought this gift for by boyfriend, since his parents moved to chicago and while he is not in college in CA he will be in chicago. He was so excited that i gave him it. At first i was looking into buying the Moleskin Chicago edition, but this is SOOOO much better. it has great maps and little blurbs about fun restaurants, museums, bookstores and more. It has sections of fun things to do with children too. overall, i think its a great resource that is small enough to fit in a purse or backpack and packed full of great information. i wish every city had a book like this.

The NFT series are the best city guides produced, in terms of the amount of information covered, detail of the maps, and quality of the product. However, this truly is not a guide for tourists - the book is geared towards helping natives get around the city and find what they need. It does not contain lengthy reviews of tourist destinations, although some recommendations are sprinkled throughout the book. If you are looking for a book to help you navigate your city, this is it - a perfect car companion. If you're just visiting Chicago, the NFT guide won't be very useful to you.

I recently bought this for some friends moving to Chicago. Just yesterday I received a note saying " Thanks for the NFT guide, we use it all the time, don't know what we'd do without it! ".

As a native of Chicago, I would have to completely disagree with you. I am curious as to where you live that is so exciting and amazing. I live near Wrigley Field and have to say the area is more of a neighborhood than anywhere else I have ever been. The parks are crowded, my son gets to play with new children everyday, and I see friends and neighbors walking down the street (shopping, eating, exercising) all of the time. Having lived in DC and FL and traveled the country, I can say people from Chicago are the nicest people I have encountered. You just need to take the time to stop and talk to them. And to say there is no culture..Where did you go? Did you visit the Museum of Science and Industry (the largest science area in the Western Hemisphere), the Field Museum, Planetarium, or the renovated Aquarium? I just visited the new modern wing of the Art Institute. It was amazing. And the food, really? Gibson's, Grand Lux, Roy's, Charlie Trotter's, all of the Lettuce Entertain You restaurants. I really do have to question your taste. When I travel and tell people where I am from, I mostly get the responses, "I love that city" or "that is my favorite city". Please, don't write about things you really don't know anything about.

To anyone who is thinking of visiting Chicago as a tourist.....I would suggest you not. It is a disturbingly boring city, what it offers is a cultural landscape that is banal and tedious. People there are uniquely un-friendly, the cuisine centers around what one would find at a T.G.I. Fridays, the only difference is that it can be a high end version or low end version of it. One thing I always found interesting about the city was how little Chicagoans knew about theyre own city, the other thing is how un-like a major metropolitan area it is, it lacks "centers" of community, like downtown parks where you can meet friends or just people watch, anything that they have like that would be an eatery of some kind....which comes with a price tag. Don't let Michigan Ave. define the city, it's just an over priced strip mall.

If you really need to get to a mid-western urban center.....go to Detroit...its not all that differrent.