10 Best Things to Do in Chicago

Guarded by its famous pair of bronze lions, the Art Institute of Chicago is the second-largest art museum in the United States and the cultural anchor of the Loop. The collection runs from ancient bronzes to contemporary installations, but the crowds come for the Impressionist and Post-Impressionist galleries, where Georges Seurat's A Sunday on La Grande Jatte fills an entire wall.

American highlights are just as strong: Grant Wood's American Gothic and Edward Hopper's Nighthawks both live here. The Modern Wing, designed by Renzo Piano, adds a light-filled home for twentieth-century work and a footbridge running straight into Millennium Park, so the two attractions pair perfectly in one visit.

Once the tallest building in the world, the 110-storey Willis Tower (still widely known by its former name, the Sears Tower) rises 442 metres over the West Loop. The draw is the Willis Tower Skydeck on the 103rd floor, 412 metres up, reached by one of the fastest lifts in the country.

The signature thrill is The Ledge - a set of glass boxes that cantilever out from the tower so you can stand on a transparent floor with nothing but air and the street far below. On a clear day the view reaches across four states and Lake Michigan. A redesigned lower level adds Chicago history and interactive exhibits before you ascend.

Stretching more than half a mile into Lake Michigan, Navy Pier is among the most visited attractions in the Midwest and the city's family playground. The 60-metre Centennial Wheel turns year-round with enclosed, climate-controlled gondolas, a gentler high-up experience than the Skydeck with wide lake-and-skyline views.

Beyond the wheel are fairground rides, the Chicago Children's Museum, an IMAX cinema, gardens and a packed schedule of summer fireworks. It is also the main departure point for lake cruises and speedboat rides, so it doubles as a base for getting out on the water.

Chicago is where the modern skyscraper was born, and the best way to read the skyline is from the water. The Chicago Architecture River Cruise glides along all three branches of the Chicago River while guides explain how the city rebuilt after the Great Fire of 1871 and went on to shape twentieth-century design, passing landmarks like the Wrigley Building and Marina City.

The Riverwalk itself is a free pedestrian promenade along the south bank, lined with cafes, wine bars and boat docks. Even without a cruise it is one of the most pleasant places in the city for a stroll, especially at golden hour when the glass towers catch the light.

The Field Museum of Natural History is one of the largest natural-history museums in the world, and its star resident is SUE - the most complete Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton ever found, mounted in its own gallery. Around it spread halls of Egyptian mummies, a walk-through ancient tomb, sweeping wildlife dioramas and the dazzling Grainger Hall of Gems.

The museum anchors the Museum Campus, a lakefront cluster it shares with Shedd Aquarium and the Adler Planetarium, all a short walk apart. The neoclassical building alone is worth the trip, its vast central hall framed by totem poles and a second towering dinosaur cast overhead.

The John G. Shedd Aquarium holds around 32,000 animals across habitats that range from Amazon flooded forests to Caribbean reefs and Pacific Northwest waters. The Abbott Oceanarium, with its curved wall of windows facing Lake Michigan, houses beluga whales and Pacific white-sided dolphins against a backdrop that blurs the line between tank and lake.

Wild Reef recreates a Philippine coral system with sharks cruising overhead, and the Caribbean Reef tank in the historic rotunda is a perennial favourite with kids. It makes a polished, genuinely educational few hours and ranks among the best family attractions in the city.

The stretch of Michigan Avenue between the Chicago River and Oak Street, known as the Magnificent Mile, is the city's flagship shopping and hotel district. Department stores, global flagships and vertical malls like Water Tower Place line the boulevard, broken up by landmarks such as the historic Water Tower, one of the few buildings to survive the 1871 fire.

At the north end, the 360 Chicago observation deck crowns the former John Hancock Center, its Tilt platform leaning you out over the street. The avenue is at its best around the winter holidays, when more than a million lights turn the trees into a tunnel of white.

Lincoln Park Zoo is one of the last free zoos in the United States, set inside the larger Lincoln Park that runs for miles along the lakefront. Founded in 1868, it keeps lions, gorillas, polar bears and a working farm-in-the-zoo within easy reach of downtown, all without an admission fee.

The surrounding park adds the Lincoln Park Conservatory, the tranquil Alfred Caldwell Lily Pool, miles of walking and cycling paths, and a lagoon with the skyline rising behind it - a classic Chicago postcard view. Together they make an easy, low-cost half day, especially good for families.

Opened in 1914, Wrigley Field is the second-oldest ballpark in Major League Baseball and the home of the Chicago Cubs, instantly recognisable by its hand-turned scoreboard and ivy-covered outfield walls. Catching a Cubs game here, with the crowd singing during the seventh-inning stretch, is one of the most atmospheric sporting experiences in the country.

Even outside the season, guided tours take you into the dugouts, the press box and the historic clubhouse. The surrounding neighbourhood of Wrigleyville is packed with sports bars and the open-air Gallagher Way plaza, which hosts events and screenings year-round.