About ACCESS Chicago
The home of the world's busiest airport, O'Hare International, Chicago bests its two larger rivals in size, New York City and Los Angeles, with the hidden contents and little known attractions of this "Windy City." This third largest U.S. city is home to 70 museums, 200 theatres, 6,500 restaurants, 500 public parks and 200 annual parades. More than 33 million people each year visit Chicago's 228 square mile lakeside. The diverse cultural and economic environment of Chicago makes it a primary destination in the United States for business meetings, conventions and leisure travel.
Downtown Chicago encompasses the Magnificent Mile, the Loop and River North neighborhoods, and features world-renowned museums, architecture and shopping as well as modern and historic hotels. Easily navigated on foot, by the famous "L" elevated train or by short taxi rides, visitors can view a cross section of the architecture made famous by Mies van der Rohe, Daniel Burnham and, lately, Renzo Piano, architect of the Modern Wing at the Art Institute of Chicago, featuring over 300,000 works of art as well as the largest collection of Impressionist art in the country. Nearby, Millennium Park, with its famed Frank Gehry-designed Pritzker Pavilion, the centerpiece for Millennium Park, is the home of the Grant Park Symphony Orchestra and Chorus and the Grant Park Music Festival, the nation's only remaining free outdoor classical music series. Beginning at the Chicago River, running north, is the famed "Magnificent Mile," Chicago's famed Michigan Avenue home of some of the best shopping, vertical malls and boutiques around.
Nearby is Chicago's River North and West Loop neighborhoods. These neighborhoods abound with the city's collection of art galleries, SoHo style restaurants and upscale bars and loft-like spaces for special events. Nearby is the United Center, home of the Chicago Bulls, Blackhawks and many indoor music events.
North of the city's downtown lies Lincoln Park and the famed Lincoln Park Zoo, the last free zoo in the United States. Nearby Wrigleyville is the longstanding home of the Chicago Cubs and Wrigley Field. Surrounded by historic townhomes turned "rooftop bleachers," Wrigleyville and its environs become quite the entertainment zone during Cubs home games as well as public and private concerts and events.
South of Downtown is the home of "Museum Campus," a giant park-like setting holding the Field Museum of Natural History, the John G. Shedd Aquarium and Adler Planetarium. Joining these world-renowned facilities on Museum Campus is the revitalized historic Soldier Field, home of the Chicago Bears. Designed by Holabird and Roche, Soldier Field opened in 1924 and was redesigned by Ben Wood and Carlos Zapata in 2003. This space odyssey style sports 'adventure' now holds fabulous event spaces as well as stadium seating for 62,000. In its redesign it is heralded as a major breakthrough: the liberation of sports architecture from sports architects. Traveling further south is the home of the 1893 World's Fair also known as the Columbian Exposition. Still standing is the Musuem of Science and Industry.
The ACCESS Chicago team looks forward to designing and producing vibrant events showcasing "The Windy City" for your upcoming conferences, meetings and incentive travel programs. Call us today!
What's Hot
What's not in this great city? Award winning sports teams, Tony and Pulitzer Award winning theatrical performances, hot neighborhood restaurants and bars - it's all here! The Field Museum's ground-breaking new exhibition, The Ancient Americas, takes you on a journey through 13,000 years of human ingenuity and achievement in the western hemisphere, where hundreds of diverse societies thrived long before the arrival of Europeans. At the Museum of Science and Industry is the U.S. debut for BODY WORLDS & The Cycle of Life, the latest exhibition from physician and pioneering anatomist Dr. Gunther von Hagens. This new BODY WORLDS exhibit invites you to examine more than 200 real, plastinated specimens that spotlight the entire human life cycle. You'll explore the body living through time---at its most radiant, as it changes, grows, matures, peaks and finally wanes. Food you ask? Molecular gastronomy, steakhouses, and wine bars make the Windy City a dynamic dining destination. Alinea, host laboratory of chef Grant Achatz is one of them. A MUST TASTE experience!
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