Chicago Parks

Wicked Chicago

Wicked Chicago

For the park-loving Chicago visitor, the "City in a Garden" is a vacation paradise. With 550 parks filling 7,337 acres, guests delight in the numerous gardens, arboreta, sports fields, swimming pools, trails, playgrounds and beaches.

If you've come to Chicago looking for a friendly game of tennis or basketball, you're in the right place. Chicago maintains 790 baseball and softball diamonds, 975 basketball backboards, 32 swimming beaches, more than 500 playgrounds and 90 swimming pools!

North Avenue Beach is the city's busiest beach, as it is large and well-maintained. This is the perfect place to run, cycle, inline skate, or play volleyball or roller hockey. The beach also has an outdoor miniature fitness center.

If North Avenue Beach is the city's favorite beach, then Grant Park is Chicago's favorite park. This is where you can enjoy blues, gospel, jazz, country or classical music at the Petrillo Music Shell, or sample Chicago's finest fare at the Taste of Chicago summer festival. Grant Park is also home to Museum Campus, featuring Shedd Aquarium, The Field Museum of Natural History and the Art Institute. Don't forget to see one of the world's largest fountains while you're at Grant Park: Buckingham Fountain.

Millennium Park is a modern addition to Grant Park. Though the park is still being built, one city leader claims, "Millennium Park will define Chicago to the entire world as America's greatest city." It features unique architecture and landscape design, interactive art, an ice skating arena, free classical music performances, the Crown Fountain, BP Bridge, Lurie Garden and Harris Theater to name a few of its attractions.

For a retreat from the hustle of the big city, you won't want to miss the Chicago Botanic Garden. With 2 million plants and 23 gardens, this park entertains 900,000 visitors every year. The Garden offers both narrated tram tours and walking tours, with themes such as The Rose Garden, Fruit & Vegetable Gardens, The Japanese Garden, Landscape Gardens and The Greenhouses. The Chicago Botanic Garden is a good place to enjoy a picnic lunch, a meal at The Garden Caf', or a sweet treat at the Rose Terrace Ice Cream Shoppe.

One more park you won't want to miss in the Chicago area is Wildlife Prairie State Park, 10 miles west of Peoria on I-74. Visitors enjoy seeing native animals living in 2,000 acres of prairie, including wolves, bison, waterfowl, black bear, elk, cougars and otters.

With parks for every purpose, from a lively game of volleyball to the contemplation of nature, Chicago preserves plenty of public space for its citizens and visitors. So in between big city shopping, dining and sightseeing adventures, be sure to slow down and enjoy some of Chicago's parks and gardens.