Things to do in the Loop

The Loop is Chicago's downtown core, ringed by the elevated CTA tracks that give the neighborhood its name. edu for the current price and any free-entry days), and the skyscrapers that made Chicago an architecture reference point.

Reach it from O'Hare on the Blue Line (roughly 40 to 45 minutes) or from Midway on the Orange Line (roughly 25 to 30 minutes); any L line converging downtown works too. Weekdays are dense with office workers and visitors; evenings and weekends are noticeably quieter, since most nightlife sits elsewhere.