Plan a Family Trip to Chicago

Chicago is an easy city to bring kids to. The big sights are close together, the trains and buses let kids under 7 ride free, and plenty of the best stuff, like the zoo, the Bean and the lakefront, costs nothing. The hard parts are the price of museum tickets for a family of four and the weather in January. This page covers the logistics: where to stay, how to get around with a stroller and what to budget. For what to actually do once you're here, see family-friendly fun in Chicago.

When to come

Summer is when most families visit, and it's the best time for the beaches, the Crown Fountain, the Navy Pier rides and the free fireworks. It's also when the Shedd lines are longest. Don't expect spring or fall to save you much on the room, though. The federal per diem, a fair guide to downtown rates, is higher from April through June and in the fall than in July and August. Winter is the cheap stretch, and it's quiet, and the museums, the zoo and the skating rinks all stay open, but you'll need real coats, hats and boots for everyone. See Chicago in winter and spring break in Chicago if school holidays decide your dates.

Where to stay

Stay downtown. With kids, the time you save not riding in from the suburbs or the airport is worth more than the money you save on the room. Three areas work best.

• Streeterville and the Magnificent Mile. You can walk to Navy Pier and the Children's Museum, American Girl and the lakefront, and Ohio Street Beach is right there in summer. It's the most expensive of the three. See hotels near the Magnificent Mile and the Gold Coast, the Magnificent Mile and Streeterville.
• The Loop. Millennium Park, Maggie Daley Park's playground and the Art Institute are on your doorstep, and nearly every L line stops here. It's quiet at night, which isn't a problem when your crew is asleep by nine. See hotels in the Loop.
• The South Loop. The best base for a Museum Campus trip, with the Shedd, the Field and the Adler a walk away across Grant Park.

Look for a room with two queen beds or a suite, and a pool if you can get one, since a hotel pool fixes a lot of cranky evenings. The Palmer House on Monroe Street has one, and so does The Langham on Wabash, at the luxury end. The Trump hotel's 75-foot indoor pool is open 6am to 10pm, and kids under 16 need an adult with them. On a budget, HI Chicago in the Loop has family rooms and a guest kitchen. If you're staying more than a few days, an apartment rental gives you a kitchen and a door to close between you and the kids, but check the listing shows a city registration number. Our where to stay and accommodation pages go into the neighborhoods and the hotel tax, which runs about 17.5% and higher at big downtown hotels.

Skip the car if you can. Downtown hotel parking is expensive, and you won't need it. If you're driving in anyway, book a garage ahead with SpotHero or ParkWhiz.

Getting in from the airport

From O'Hare, the Blue Line runs straight downtown, 24 hours a day. An adult pays $5 to board at O'Hare, or buy a 3-Day pass from the station machine, which covers it. From Midway, the Orange Line runs to the Loop. With luggage, a car seat and a sleepy toddler, a cab or rideshare may be worth the money anyway. The airports page has the details.

Getting around with kids

The CTA is kid-friendly, and cheap. Here's how the fares work for families:

• Kids under 7 ride free with a fare-paying adult.
• Kids 7 to 11 pay the reduced fare, which is $1.25 on the L and $1.10 on the bus, against $2.50 and $2.25 for adults.
• Visiting kids 12 and up pay the full fare.

The catch with the reduced fare is that the turnstile can't tell a 9-year-old from an adult. The CTA says to tell the bus driver or the station attendant before you tap, so they can set the reader to charge the reduced fare. That works with a Ventra card, a contactless bank card or a phone. Adults riding more than twice a day should get a pass: $5 for one day, $15 for three and $20 for seven, good on all trains and buses.

Strollers are welcome on the CTA, with a few rules. Keep them out of the aisles and doorways. If the bus or train is crowded, you'll be asked to fold it, and at the busiest times all strollers have to be folded before you board. When the priority seats are empty you can park an open stroller there, but give the space up if someone older or disabled needs it. On a bus you can ask for the ramp. Strollers are never allowed on escalators, so use the elevators, and on the platform, park the stroller parallel to the edge with the brakes on. All CTA buses and trains are accessible, and 110 of the 146 L stations have elevators or ramps. The CTA accessibility page lists which ones, and which elevators are out of service.

Avoid the trains in rush hour, roughly 7 to 9:30am and 4 to 6:30pm on weekdays, when you'll be folding that stroller. The buses you'll use most are the 146, which runs from Michigan Avenue to the Museum Campus, the 151, which goes up Michigan Avenue to Lincoln Park and the zoo, and the 66, which goes to Navy Pier. In summer, Shoreline's water taxi links Navy Pier, Michigan Avenue and the Museum Campus, and kids think of it as a boat ride rather than a way to get somewhere. Its boats aren't wheelchair accessible, so a big stroller may be awkward. Everything else is on our transportation page.

Downtown is flat and easy to push a stroller through. The Lakefront Trail is the best long walk. It has been split into separate bike and pedestrian trails since 2018, so keep the stroller on the pedestrian side.

What it costs

Tickets are where a family trip gets expensive. At the door, the Shedd charges roughly $34 to $41 for kids 3 to 11, the Skydeck from $24, the Field $23 and the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry $14.95, before the add-ons kids beg for. The Chicago Children's Museum is $25 a head for visitors, adults included. A family of four can spend $400 on one long weekend of tickets without trying.

A few ways to bring that down:

• Use the free stuff. The Lincoln Park Zoo, the Maggie Daley Park playground, the Crown Fountain, the beaches and the Lincoln Park Conservatory are all free. So is the Art Institute for kids under 14, and the Chicago History Museum for kids 12 and under.
• Price the passes both ways. CityPASS costs $144 for adults and $114 for kids 3 to 11. It's usually a good deal for adults, but kids' door prices are low enough that buying their tickets one at a time can come out cheaper. Our CityPASS vs. Go City comparison runs the numbers for a family with two kids.
• Check the free days. If you live in Illinois, most of the big museums have resident free days, and the Field is free every Wednesday. See free museum days. Families with a Link or WIC card get big discounts through Museums for All.
• Eat cheap. This is the home of deep-dish pizza and the Chicago-style hot dog, and kids like both. A Portillo's hot dog cost $5.29 on Time Out's late-2025 cheap eats list. See pizza in Chicago, Chicago-style hot dogs and cheap eats, and for picnic supplies, the summer picnic guide.

For a full daily budget with hotel and meals, see how to budget for a trip to Chicago, and for more ways to cut costs, how to save money on your trip.

A few practical things

Book ahead. Several of the big attractions, the Skydeck among them, want you to reserve a time, and summer weekends fill up. Plan one big museum a day and pair it with something outdoors, because even kids who love museums fade after three hours. The Museum Campus is a good example: do the Shedd in the morning, then eat lunch on the grass and walk out to the Adler for the skyline view.

At Navy Pier, anyone under 18 needs an adult with them after 5pm on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, which matters if you have teenagers who want to go off on their own. And pack layers in every season. The wind off the lake can make the lakefront feel much cooler than the forecast, and the end of Navy Pier nearly always feels colder than downtown. Our weather page has the monthly numbers.

For getting here, see getting to Chicago and flights to Chicago.

Photo by twitter.com/mattdetails