Hotels near Millennium Park and the Lurie Garden

Millennium Park opened in 2004, four years late and massively over budget, on top of what had been a railway yard, and it is now the most visited attraction in the Midwest. Cloud Gate, the polished steel sculpture universally called the Bean, is the reason most people come. The Jay Pritzker Pavilion behind it is a Frank Gehry bandshell with a steel trellis spanning the lawn, and the whole park is free.

The autumn case is the Lurie Garden at the southern end, a five-acre perennial planting by Piet Oudolf, the same designer as New York's High Line. It is built for this season: prairie grasses going bronze, seed heads deliberately left standing, and a shoulder hedge framing it against the skyline. Almost everyone photographing the Bean walks past it without looking.

Pro Tip: Do Cloud Gate before 8am if you want it without a crowd, then spend the time you saved in the Lurie Garden. Cross the BP Bridge afterwards for the walk over Columbus Drive to Maggie Daley Park and the lakefront beyond.