There are few summer destinations in the world better than Chicago. The city hits nearly every desirable bucket \u2014 from outdoor activities to food to nightlife \u2014 and provides a wonderful atmosphere for almost anything you can imagine. The seeds of a great summer day can be traced back 150 years. After the Great Chicago Fire in 1871, the city got a reboot, and architect Daniel Burnham hatched the marvelous idea to create a wealth of protected lakefront for Chicago residents and tourists. Today, Chicago boasts 28 miles and over 3400 acres of managed open space right on perhaps the world\u2019s greatest lake, Michigan. This open space is filled with beaches, harbors, parkland, a museum campus, a football stadium (for now), and even a few public golf courses. It provides a wonderful buffer of recreational space between where people live and where people can congregate or get away from the hustle and bustle of city life. On top of the lakefront, the city is buzzing with activity during the summer.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As a Chicagoan and a resident of the city for 12 years, it’s safe to say Chicago is wired to go during summer, as residents know there is plenty of time to rest in the winter. In this guide, I will attempt to do this great city justice, calling out some of the best public golf courses, neighborhoods, activities, and restaurants that are worth your time if you visit the third coast. Before I get to the specifics, here are some quick thoughts:<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Golf Courses: While there are many public golf options, the uncomfortable truth is, none are great. Chicagoans have every right to be proud of their vibrant golf scene, but the naturally flat terrain and the haphazard 1990s-era redesigns can\u2019t measure up to the exceptional public golf options you can find in places like Traverse City<\/a> or Wisconsin. However, those locales do not offer the wide range of non-golf activities and attractions that the Chicagoland metro offers, which can entice non-golfing travel companions to jump at the chance to visit. The courses listed below are my favorite places to play over a lifetime of being a public golfer in the city.<\/p>\n Where to Stay: My big advice would be: Don\u2019t bother staying downtown. The Loop is central to everything, but doesn\u2019t have a neighborhood feel. Most of the hotels are in River North, Streeterville, and the Gold Coast. These are all pleasant neighborhoods to stay in, close to shopping, the beach, and some great restaurants. You\u2019ll find neighborhoods with less touristy vibes below.\u00a0<\/p>\n Activities: There is so much to do in the summer in Chicago, it can feel hard to narrow it down, but I did my best. One thing I cannot recommend under any circumstances is going to Navy Pier. To be blunt, it sucks.\u00a0<\/p>\n Where to Eat and Drink: This could be a guide unto itself. In order to keep this brief, I only included my very favorite locales. There are a lot of websites and publications you can seek out for dinner and food recommendations; I personally really like The Infatuation<\/a>.<\/p>\n Before we get to all of my recommendations, this is a living document, so please let me know what you think or what we may have missed! Chicago is a massive city with so much to offer, and as Frank Sinatra once sang, it\u2019s the one town that won\u2019t let you down. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There are few summer destinations in the world better than Chicago. The city hits nearly every desirable bucket…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":844618,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[71],"tags":[427,99],"class_list":["post-844617","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-golf","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/844617","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=844617"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/844617\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/844618"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=844617"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=844617"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=844617"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}