Urgent: The train from Midway to Hyatt (Magnificent Mile)? (Chicago: credit, hotel)

[doss1]

Hey guys,
I'm trying to plan a quick getaway for my g/f and I. We will be flying into Midway in mid to late February (weekend) and will have no car. Our hotel is the "Hyatt Chicago Magnificent Mile" located on 633 North Saint Clair Street.

Questions:

1.) Can we safely take the train from the Midway airport to our hotel? Is it a lot of walking? We are in our upper 20s and will have a backpack and suitcase.

2.) Is there any good CHicago Deep dish pizza near by the hotel and/or can we take the train to a Lou Malnatis in the area? If not, alternatives?

Thank you!

[chet everett]

The route from the CTA to the Hyatt is perfectly safe and easily walked.

For deep dish I would hit Due's, adjunct to the original Uno location and a nice spot for a couple that wants a little history.

[marothisu]

1) Yes, it's perfectly safe and take it to the State/Lake stop. The only thing is that you're coming from CA in winter and that distance is a little more than 3/4 of a mile. You'll probably be cold already and walking that distance right away may suck. I suggest going to the street and hailing a cab instead of walking. The fare won't be that much. My tip is to say the intersections when you take a cab in town instead of the address (i.e. Ontario & St. Clair instead of 633 N St. Clair). It will make the cabs think you may actually be from here, and the very small percentage of dishonest ones may not try anything on you. That's rare, but you never know.

If you don't want to do that, then you could always transfer to the red line (which is in the subway, Orange line is on elevated track above ground) and take it one stop north to Grand (in the direction of Howard). That will get you a little less than a half mile away.

2) There's many Chicago style pizza places around. Gino's East is just up the street from you, and Giordano's, Pizzeria Uno/Due. My personal favorite is Lou Malnati's though which is a little further but not too bad. That's my suggestion to you. There's one about 3/4 of a mile north of your hotel near the intersection of State & Cedar (it's next to a Barnes & Noble).


BTW if you guys like sake or anything, there's a chill sake lounge around the corner from you on Ontario called Murasaki Sake Lounge. Not very well known but they have some good sake there.

[doss1]

Awesome advice, both of you.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by doss1

Awesome advice, both of you.

No problem and if you need any more advice, we're full of it ;-)

[Drover]

Another option for getting to the hotel: you can get off the train at Adams & Wabash and walk a half-block over to Michigan and take any of the half-dozen or so that will drop you off a half-block from your hotel. There's a stop at Ontario; walk half a block east and walk in the Capitall Grille and they'll robably let hotel guests walk through to the hotel lobby ("we're tourists, we couldn't find the main entrance on Saint Clair, can you help us out?"). Otherwise you'll need to walk to the other side of the building -- even though the address is 633 N St. Clair and there's a door at that address, it's not the hotel entrance. The main hotel entrance is actually on the SE corner of St. Clair and Erie, facing Erie.

There's a Lou Malnati's at 439 N Wells which is about a 7-minute walk from your hotel, so no need to cab it unless maybe the cold is a bit much for you. If so, cabs are very plentiful in that part of town and the hotel doorman would be happy to get a cabbie's attention for you.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by Drover

There's a Lou Malnati's at 439 N Wells which is about a 7-minute walk from your hotel, so no need to cab it unless maybe the cold is a bit much for you. If so, cabs are very plentiful in that pat of town and the hotel doorman would be happy to get a cabbie's attention for you.

No way that 633 N St Clair to 439 N Wells is a 7 minute walk. It's over 3/4 of a mile walk away. It's more like 15-20 minute walk. However, the other Lou Malnati's in the area is equidistant to that, but I do like the area at the Gold Coast one better than the River North one.

[Drover]

Another thing, you'll need to read up on how to get a Ventra transit card. It'll cost $5 but that $5 is credited toward transit fare.

https://www.ventrachicago.com/

[Raphael07]

Take the Orange line to Roosevelt, then transfer to the Red Line, go to Grand, and walk from there. According to google it's a 9 minute walk, or if its cold, taxi it.

[marothisu]

True, it might be faster and psychologically more worth it to xfer to the Red Line at Roosevelt. If it's cold out, then I'd recommend going to State/Lake and catching a cab from there. It's closer so you save a few bucks.