Where to watch Chicago's St. Patrick's Day parade (2024)

You could spend the next four years getting to know this encyclopedic institution, which owns more than 300,000 artworks and artifacts from all over the world and every era from antiquity to the present. Our favorite pieces include the Japanese prints, fragments of local buildings by Frank Lloyd Wright and the Thorne Miniature Rooms. We’re also in love with Renzo Piano’s light-filled Modern Wing.

On any given day at the Chicago Cultural Center, you might find a free classical concert being performed, an art exhibition on display in one of the building’s many galleries or tourists marveling at the world’s largest stained glass Tiffany dome. Don’t worry about paying for admission—nearly everything that happens in this building is free and open to the public. Housed in a structure that’s as wide as an entire city block and dates back to 1897 (when it originally housed the Chicago Public Library), the Chicago Cultural Center provides a place for citizens and visitors alike to experience amazing art and beautiful architecture without spending a cent.

While the park's skating ribbon will be closed for the season, you can still take the kiddos tothe Play Garden,which features enormous slides and whimsical climbing structures. The play structure is like none other with a giant pirate ship play structure, kaleidoscope and mirrored maze. In the summer, enjoy the climbing wall, go mini golfing or revisit the skating ribbon when it's converted into a path for walkers, joggers and rollerskaters.

This 24.5-acre park features Frank Gehry's Pritzker Pavilion and serpentine bridge, sculptor Anish Kapoor's 110-ton Cloud Gate (a.k.a. “The Bean”), and Jaume Plensa's Crown Fountain, with its ever-changing array of locals' faces spewing water every five minutes in the summer months. The Lurie Garden wows with year-round flower displays that draw inspiration from prairies and other Midwestern landscapes.

It doesn’t spew water in winter, but with its four Art Deco–style seahorses, Georgia pink marble and holiday light and music show, this fountain built in 1927 is still a sight to behold. From May through Labor Day, 20-minute shows every hour on the hour feature 14,000 gallons of water spouting from 133 jets. In summer, see the nighttime colored light shows, capped off with a center jet shooting 150 feet of water in the air.

Anchoring the aquatic offerings at this 75-year-old institution are enduring favorites such as piranhas, frogs and snakes of the Amazon; rays, turtles and moray eel of the Caribbean; frightening predator sharks and, perhaps most adorable of all, the rockhopper penguins that went viral for their explorations of the aquarium during lockdown.

Founded to house the biological and anthropological collections assembled for the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893, this massive natural history museum still packs ’em in with more than 30 permanent exhibitions covering 300,000 square feet. If you haven't seen the museum's gigantic dinosaur skeleton, Máximo, this is a great chance to check it out.

Though it’s staffed by world-class researchers at the forefront of their field, the museum’s real draw will always be the virtual-reality trips through time and space in the Sky Theater, which features the "highest resolution and quality possible." Themes usually center around the known and unknown universe and how humans have engaged with it throughout history.

Dumpling fiends know that Qing Xiang Yuan in Chinatown serves some of the tastiest dumplings in town. The family-owned restaurant, which traces its humble roots to a basem*nt food court, hasa second, quick-service location in the Loop. At JIAO, guests can expect shorter wait times and a grab-and-go experience that's built for lunchtime noshing. Choose from pillow pockets filled with everything from truffle and beef to pork and cabbage.

Straight from the ’burbs and into the corporate confines of Prudential Plaza comes this cheery pancake house, where Millennium Park tourists mingle with Edelman execs having breakfast meetings. Aside from the assiduously refilled coffee, these folks are starting their day with unnaturally large omelettes, giant breakfast sandwiches overwrought with cheese, and dense, custard-filled pancake stacks drizzled in berry puree. How do places like this manage to make pancakes that fill you up in only two bites? Ask the servers here—if our experience was any indication, they’ll answer with speed and a smile.

Owner Billy Lawless nailed the gastropub with this Mag Mile hit. The whiskey list is lengthy, beer options reach beyond the basics, and wines are accompanied by clever, straightforward descriptions. The food is rich and aggressively flavorful, from the perfect-for-snacking Scotch egg to the Gage venison burger, served a juicy medium-rare and dripping withcaramelizedonions and brie.

Tucked behind the Game Room in the Chicago Athletic Association, Cherry Circle Room used to be where club members refueled. Now that it’s open to everyone,the talented kitchen turns out gorgeous dishes like shrimp co*cktail with a delightful Bloody Mary-spiced co*cktail sauce and beef tartare mixed with quail egg. A roving co*cktail cart serves drinks tableside, and the old fashioneds selection is unmatched.

The popular chainwill keep you fueled up with burgers in pillowy-soft buns, crispy crinkle-cut fries and some of the richest frozen custard we've ever had.

Whenever we want to impress our out-of-towner visitors, we book a table at the Chicago Athletic Association Hotel’s rooftop bar, from which vistas of Millennium Park, Lake Michigan and the city skyline are on full display. The drink lineup compliments the main attraction, with easy-sipping selections best enjoyed in the sun. As an added bonus, the spirit-free menu rocks, offering bold, never watered-down selections.

For more than 50 years, this cavernous Loop tavern has cornered the market on medieval dives. Beyond the heavy doors that seem to hide a monastery, you’ll find an after-work crowd of mostly suits and occasional skirts downing beer.

True to form, Brando’s Speakeasy is anything but what it seems. It’s a lounge, but conversation flows more like a neighborhood haunt. The decor and vintage posters throw it back eras, but the karaoke and late-night dance music add modern flair. While it’s not Don Vito Corleone meets Al Capone as the name might imply, Brando’s is definitely a mash-up.

Follow up an afternoon of bagpipes and drums with some blues music at this popular South Loop club, named for one of the city's most legendary performers. And if you like Louisiana cuisine, the kitchen has just what you need.

Located in the Chicago Athletic Association, this sprawling bar has pool tables, foosball, chess boards and shuffleboard, so there’s plenty to entertain you between rounds of drinks. Snacks are simple and includewarm chocolate chip cookiesand fried Wisconsin cheese curds served with ranch and marinara.