The Unofficial Guide to Chicago (Unofficial Guides) [Paperback]

Joe Surkiewicz (Author), Bob Sehlinger (Author)

Book Description

Series: Unofficial Guides | Publication Date: March 30, 2001

From the chewiest bagels and deepest deep-dish pizza to four-star hotels and the best jazz and blues clubs, this indispensable guide makes plannning a trip to the Windy City a breeze. It also includes:

• Concise introductions to all of Chicago's fascinating neighborhoods
• Advice on how to avoid crowds, lines, traffic, and other hassles
• A zone system and maps that make it easy to get around, plus a hotel chart that narrows the choices quickly and easily

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

From the publishers of The Unofficial Guide^® to Walt Disney World^® "A Tourist's Best Friend!" —Chicago Sun-Times "Indispensable" —The New York Times The Top 10 Ways The Unofficial Guide^® to Chicago Can Help You Have the Perfect Trip:

1. Information that's candid, critical, and totally objective
2. Hotels reviewed and ranked for value and quality of rooms—plus, proven strategies for getting the best rates
3. More than 75 restaurants reviewed and rated
4. A complete guide to Chicago's sights—museums, architecture, ethnic neighborhoods, and more
5. Complete information on Chicago's lakefront beaches and parks
6. The inside story on shopping—where to get the best for less, on and off the Magnificent Mile
7. All the details on Chicago's nightlife—jazz and blues clubs, dance clubs, concerts, theater, and more
8. The best places to play golf and tennis, ride a bike, go boating, and work out
9. Tips on enjoying Chicago with your kids
10. Advice on how to plan and how to get the most out of your business trip

Get the unbiased truth on hundreds of hotels, restaurants, attractions, and more in The Unofficial Guide^® to Chicago—the resource that helps you save time and money, and make your trip the best it can be. Great trips begin at frommers.com

About the Author

About the Authors Joe Surkiewicz has co-authored five titles in the Unofficial Guide series and written two guides to the best places to ride a mountain bike in the mid-Atlantic states. Between book assignments, Joe is a legal affairs writer at The Daily Record in Baltimore, where he translates appellate court opinions into plain English and generally does his best to irritate the local legal establishment. He lives in Baltimore with his best friend and counselor, Ann Lembo. When not traveling or bicycling, they enjoy evenings curled up on the sofa with their black-and-white feline companion, Molly, to watch black-and-white movies starring 1930s film divas Barbara Stanwyck, Norma Shearer, and Jean Harlow. Bob Sehlinger is the creator and Executive Publisher of the Unofficial Guide travel series.

Product Details

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 4 edition (March 30, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0764562487
• ISBN-13: 978-0764562488
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,587,672 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Chicago Guide, August 9, 2005

By 

Debbie (Albuquerque, NM USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Unofficial Guide to Chicago (Unofficial Guides) (Paperback)

This guide has ratings for the places you can visit, by age range. This is helpful so that you know it your family members will be interested in visiting there. They gave helpful hints for some of the locations. We found they underestimated the amount of time needed at some of the sites. The maps were very well laid out and showed how things were related to each other. They didn't give many parking locations, but often places to park were easy to find. Take plenty of money for parking (usually $18 and for all the toll roads). Some of the restaurants were much higher priced than listed in the book.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Incomplete, disappointing as far as Unofficial Guides go, May 23, 2007

By 

emory2001 - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Unofficial Guide to Chicago (Unofficial Guides) (Paperback)

No discussion of pre-theater dining! When you are going to see Wicked at the Ford Theater, there is not much more you care about than where to eat first. In fact, the restaurant guide does not even mention half the restaurants that are listed online as "the" pre-theater dining places (none of which "grabbed" me online, so I was hoping this book would be more enlightening).

Also no full drawing of the various parts of the city. Small maps that show only two districts do not tell me where Bucktown is relative to The Loop. This is critical when all the hotels, restaurants, etc. are referred to by district.

Overall disappointing, because The Unofficial Guides tend to be better than other guides, and they tend to be better than this.

5.0 out of 5 stars The only travel guide you will need, May 16, 2010

By 

Anthony Centracchio - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: The Unofficial Guide to Chicago (Unofficial Guides) (Paperback)

I have always been a big fan of the Unofficial Guides. In the past, I have used their guides to San Francisco and Las Vegas. The Chicago guide was just as informative. The book is simply organized and provides very accurate and informative ratings of dining, hotels and attractions. What I really liked about the book is the rating system that is used to evaluate restaurants, hotels and attractions. Not only do they provide an overall ratings, but also provided is a value rating. In other words, are you getting what you paid for? Or are you getting more or less?