Another Chicago question (taking the L)...

clevebride2006 · February 2012

I posted here last week about taking my bff's daughter to the Vampire Diaries convention in a few months. The actual convention is being held at the Westin O'Hare in Rosemont.

Plans are to drive into Chicago Saturday and spend the day there (Mag Mile, Navy Pier, Millenium Park, etc), and then go to the convention on Sunday.

We are still trying to decide whether to stay near Mag Mile (Hyatt Regency on Wacker) or stay at Westin O'Hare and take the L into Mag Mile area. I've never taken the L so I had a few questions:

1. Is the L station close to the Westin? If so, what line (Blue?) should we take?

2. Does the L run frequently enough?

My personal choice would be to stay at Hyatt near Wacker since we can literally walk everywhere, but bff doesn't want to pay parking at the Westin on Sunday and pay a separate parking fee at the Hyatt too.

rikki311 · February 2012

You'll take the Blue line to Rosemont. It runs all the time. No need to worry about being able to catch the train. The Westin probably has a shuttle from the Rosemont station. If not, I am pretty sure it is really close and walkable. You can see both the hotel and the station when driving on the highway.

rikki311 · February 2012

PS: You'll take the blue line towards O'Hare. Rosemont is one or two stops before the airport.

marshian · February 2012

Agree with PP.

Also use the CTA website for train schedules and even a train tracker.

http://www.transitchicago.com/blueline/

http://www.transitchicago.com/riding_cta/how_to_guides/traintrackertext.aspx

clevebride2006 · February 2012

rikki311:
You'll take the Blue line to Rosemont. It runs all the time. No need to worry about being able to catch the train. The Westin probably has a shuttle from the Rosemont station. If not, I am pretty sure it is really close and walkable. You can see both the hotel and the station when driving on the highway.

Sorry- I meant if we were staying at the Westin in Rosemont and wanted to get to the Mag Mile- is it doable on the L? How long would it take?

rubyiu · February 2012

I used to always stay at the Hyatt on Wacker, but the last time I went, I decided to stay on the other side of the river. IMO, it is way better to stay North! We stayed at the Comfort Inn & Suites on Ohio and were like 2 blocks from many great restaurants, Michigan Avenue, Navy Pier, Hancock building. The subway is RIGHT outside the door and will take you right to the museum campus. It was great. The Hampton Inn is right there too and gets great reviews. It was all booked when we went. The Comfort gave us a small but comfy and clean room and for us, location was everything so it was perfect.

amys325 · February 2012

Easiest thing to do is go on Google and go to Maps. Put in the address of the Westin and the address of the Hyatt and choose the little icon for Public Transportation (looks like a bus). It will give you which line to take, how to get there and how long it takes. (I live in the city and rely on PT and use this all of the time).

I do know that coming from Rosemont to downtown is around 45 minutes and it will cost you $5 round trip for 2 people.

rikki311 · February 2012

clevebride2006:
rikki311:
You'll take the Blue line to Rosemont. It runs all the time. No need to worry about being able to catch the train. The Westin probably has a shuttle from the Rosemont station. If not, I am pretty sure it is really close and walkable. You can see both the hotel and the station when driving on the highway.

Sorry- I meant if we were staying at the Westin in Rosemont and wanted to get to the Mag Mile- is it doable on the L? How long would it take?

Just the opposite. Still really easy. Get on at Rosemont and you'll be downtown in about 45 minutes. You can take the Blue line from Rosemont to Grand and walk down Grand towards the east about 3/4 of a mile or hop on a bus or in a cab. It will meet Michigan right next to Nordstrom. You could go all the way downtown and transfer to a red line north, but that is probably more work.

amys325 · February 2012

rikki311:
clevebride2006:

rikki311:
You'll take the Blue line to Rosemont. It runs all the time. No need to worry about being able to catch the train. The Westin probably has a shuttle from the Rosemont station. If not, I am pretty sure it is really close and walkable. You can see both the hotel and the station when driving on the highway.

Sorry- I meant if we were staying at the Westin in Rosemont and wanted to get to the Mag Mile- is it doable on the L? How long would it take?

Just the opposite. Still really easy. Get on at Rosemont and you'll be downtown in about 45 minutes. You can take the Blue line from Rosemont to Grand and walk down Grand towards the east about 3/4 of a mile or hop on a bus or in a cab. It will meet Michigan right next to Nordstrom. You could go all the way downtown and transfer to a red line north, but that is probably more work.

The Grand Blue Line stop is not 3/4 of a mile from downtown, it's closer to 2 miles (I live by that stop). You are probably getting your Blue Line Grand stop mixed with your Red Line Grand stop.

hz80408 · February 2012

amys325:

Easiest thing to do is go on Google and go to Maps. Put in the address of the Westin and the address of the Hyatt and choose the little icon for Public Transportation (looks like a bus). It will give you which line to take, how to get there and how long it takes. (I live in the city and rely on PT and use this all of the time).

I do know that coming from Rosemont to downtown is around 45 minutes and it will cost you $5 round trip for 2 people.

This. This is how I plan to get around the city

rikki311 · February 2012

amys325:
rikki311:
clevebride2006:

rikki311:
You'll take the Blue line to Rosemont. It runs all the time. No need to worry about being able to catch the train. The Westin probably has a shuttle from the Rosemont station. If not, I am pretty sure it is really close and walkable. You can see both the hotel and the station when driving on the highway.

Sorry- I meant if we were staying at the Westin in Rosemont and wanted to get to the Mag Mile- is it doable on the L? How long would it take?

Just the opposite. Still really easy. Get on at Rosemont and you'll be downtown in about 45 minutes. You can take the Blue line from Rosemont to Grand and walk down Grand towards the east about 3/4 of a mile or hop on a bus or in a cab. It will meet Michigan right next to Nordstrom. You could go all the way downtown and transfer to a red line north, but that is probably more work.

The Grand Blue Line stop is not 3/4 of a mile from downtown, it's closer to 2 miles (I live by that stop). You are probably getting your Blue Line Grand stop mixed with your Red Line Grand stop.

I used to walk home from that stop when coming from the airport (lived at Grand and Dearborn). Maybe I am just a fast walker or I like walking. It never seemed that far to me!

TatiMarie · February 2012

OP, it will be super easy to take the Blue line into the city. I've taken the blue line from Rosemont-Chicago plenty of times for work. Like PP mentioned, it runs 24 hours. There are also always cabs at that stop.

You can also take the Rosemont Metra (which goes to Union Station) which is a little bit more, but a more comfortable ride. You can also take bus line #124 (I believe) to Navy Pier if you didn't want to walk/do a transfer.

http://metrarail.com/metra/en/home/maps_schedules/metra_system_map/ncs/station.ROSEMONT.html

TatiMarie · February 2012

Also, I would try to get a CTA 3 day pass because it will make it a lot cheaper if you plan on get around the city and then going to/from Rosemont.

clevebride2006 · February 2012

Thanks everyone for your help.

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