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Chicago Essential Info

Overview

Chicago is located in the Midwest. It is the third largest city in the United States with a population approaching 3 million. Chicago is a huge vibrant city and a metropolitan area that sprawls over 10,874km². It's well known for house music, blues, jazz, comedy, shopping, dining, architecture, and fine cultural attractions.

As the hub of the Midwest, Chicago is easy to find — its picturesque skyline calls across the waters of huge freshwater Lake Michigan, an impressive sight that soon reveals world-class museums of art and science, miles of sandy beaches, huge parks, public art, and perhaps the finest downtown collection of architecture in the world.

With a wealth of iconic sights and neighborhoods to explore, there's enough to fill a visit of weeks or even months without ever seeing the end. Prepare to cover a lot of ground: the meaning of Chicago is only found in movement, through its subways and archaic elevated tracks, and eyes raised to the sky.

Description is available from Wikitravel under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 license. A list of contributors is available at the original article.

Basics

Best Time To Go

Apr-Sep

Current Time

Current Weather

36 °F

Mostly Cloudy

Fun Facts

  1. The first blood bank in the United States was created in Chicago in 1937.
  2. Western Avenue in Chicago is the world’s longest continuous street, at 23.5 miles.
  3. Deep-dish pizza was invented in Chicago.
  4. The zipper was invented in Chicago in 1851.
  5. It has the only river that flows backwards.

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