Hotel/transportation to show tips?

[mike7man]

Hi other folks intending to see the Chicago shows (hopefully!).  My wife and I will be coming from out of town, so we're thinking about staying in a hotel (maybe in the Loop area--??)--but then also wondering how to get to the show and back.  Any tips/ideas??

[mchoosier]

On 11/8/2017 at 9:08 PM, mike7man said:

Hi other folks intending to see the Chicago shows (hopefully!).  My wife and I will be coming from out of town, so we're thinking about staying in a hotel (maybe in the Loop area--??)--but then also wondering how to get to the show and back.  Any tips/ideas??

My wife and I went to one of the the IE shows at the United Center in 2015.  We stayed at the Talbott hotel on East Delaware Place.  We've also stayed at the Virgin hotel on North Wabash this last February for a Wilco concert.  Both were great.  We took a cab from the hotel to a bar/restaurant called The West End at the corner of W. Madison and N. Ada.  They have a free shuttle to the United Center (only 4/5 blocks to the west).  The shuttle also runs after the show to take you back to the bar.  The food was good, the shuttle was convenient and not crowded and after the show we took the shuttle back to the bar, had a couple of drinks and then caught a cab back to the hotel.  Easy and stress free.

Edited November 14, 2017 by mchoosier

[mike7man]

Wow!  Great info!  Thank you so much for being so considerate and helpful.

[cerulean]

You can also take the city bus. The #19 United Center Express runs on Madison St in the Loop from about an hour and a half before the show and there  will be a bunch of buses waiting outside the arena after the show. These return buses are very crowded but the ride is not that long.. 

Outside these times, the regular #20 Madison bus runs 24 hours. More info about public transportation is at http://www.transitchicago.com.

[kwaite]

for IE we took a cab in and then they had buses lined up after, took a bus back to the city about a block from hotel.  I am blanking on were we stayed (next to Northwestern Med Center).  It was pretty easy-peasy. 

[finz_89]

for us waiting for the buses was a complete bust.  all of the buses filled up and we had to wait for them to return from DT, so it was well over an hour standing in line. thank goodness the weather was good.  If you're on the Madison side of the arena and make a bee-line for the bus stop you'll be fine.  If you're on the far side, maybe not so much.

That shuttle idea sounds like a good one. Cabs seemed non-existent.  Uber was working, but the surge pricing was probably pretty outrageous. 

[U2Girl1966]

If you're staying in the Loop, there will be enough fans leaving the shows, that really, you can walk from the UC to your hotel. Probably about a 20 minute walk. 

I'm in Chicago, so holler if anyone is looking for things to do, places to eat if you plan on staying in town a few days. 

[Manohlive]

There is also a popular place called the Park Tavern, which is quite close to the UC.  It has a shuttle too.  I never use the shuttle.  It's a pleasant walk and takes 15 minutes or less.   The Park Tavern has good food and a great selection of beers.  I've never had bad food at this place.  You can see the menu on their website.  

Edited March 28, 2018 by Manohlive

[lukylsp]

If you can book a room walking distance to the venue do it. We saw JT30shows in chicago (the stadium though) and the exit was TOUGH. So many people, we didn’t even try for a LYFT and walked it back to the hotel.