Trying to set up a summer trip to Evanston/Chicago for College Tour for my daughter. Would love to show her the best of both in an elegant way. Where would you all recommend that I stay for 2-3 days? Is there someplace really upscale in Evanston from where I would go into Chicago, or should I stay some place downtown in Chicago (Water Tower area, etc) and then drive into Evanston? Thanks, trying to make a great impression for her so she can think NU for ED!
Chicago/Evanston Hotel Question?
- Thread starter EyeCat_rivals316865
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Stay in Chicago, drive up to Evanston. I think the only hotel that passed itself off as upscale in Evanston is the Orrington, which is just a Hilton and has been in limbo of existence since Covid started.
Wouldn't bother driving. Just take the L or Metra train from downtown to Evanston.
He wants her to actually want to come to NU, though
Evanston is a nice town, great suburb, but classic “college town” it is not.
Evanston seems nice until you spend enough time there to realize what a pain in the *** the town gown relations are. The food is impressive for when parents come into town.He wants her to actually want to come to NU, though
Evanston is a nice town, great suburb, but classic “college town” it is not.
When my older brother was completing his graduate degree at Indiana, I loved to go down to visit him. Bloomington was really neat for a teenaged me.If you want classic college town go to Indiana University
That being said, I would recommend for the OP staying in Chicago, and just taking the EL up to Evanston. That way he can WOW his daughter with the big city, and show her how close it is to campus.
As for hotels, there are a lot of great ones downtown. The Peninsula is fancy. The Hyatt Regency is bustling. If you stayed at the Park Hyatt, you could take her right over to the downtown campus. You can't go wrong with the Four Seasons either.
*edit - On second thought, just drive up to Evanston, and don't take the EL. Last time I took the EL up there, it took a long time from downtown.
I liked The Graduate hotel. Not luxurious but quaint and has character, as well as NU themed decor. Very walkable to everything.
I would stay in Evanston the first couple nights then in Chicago one night so she can see the city. As far as Evanston hotels I would avoid the Orrington at this time. The hotel has been experiencing management problems and was not in good condition when we stayed there several times last fall.
I would consider the Hyatt Place or maybe the recently opened Graduate.
I would consider the Hyatt Place or maybe the recently opened Graduate.
The dude is asking for an elegant, upscale experience and y’all are suggesting AirBnB and the L? Good lord.
It's seems more fun and "college townish" than it was when I went to school.
It's not a place that attracts a "Girls Gone Wild" type or a "Yo Bro" partier - either male or female - but does any really good school? I mean, it's not like it's wild and crazy at Princeton or MIT or Rice and the like. Dartmouth might be the one school that approaches a college fun and fraternity atmosphere, though people talk about how that is going down now. Maybe Vanderbilt is fun since downtown Nashville is an easy bus or cab ride away - but that is just a guess and I may be biased - Nashville is fun! Tulane in New Orleans?
But apart from those two I don't think Northwestern lags behind the Yale's and University of Pennsylvania's out there. And of course if you think Northwestern is serious and somber, just visit people at the University of Chicago!
Can’t thank all of you enough for your thoughtful comments. I think the Peninsula sounds nice as does the Four Seasons to show her the value of a nice city nearby. Maybe spending a full day and one night in Evanston would be a good sell as well. She’s definitely a foodie and so it will be nice to show her walkable options in Evanston. Her mother is a Yale grad and thinks the scene in New Haven is better. I tend to disagree. No other campus quite like NU. I get one chance to close this deal!!
Granted I was last on Yale’s campus for a year in 2010, but that place sucks. There are two good pizza places and that’s about it.
I beg your forgiveness, sir. I thought he was asking for the best place to stay to show his daughter around Northwestern. There are some really nice AirBnBs these days, especially in an upscale town like Evanston. Beats the hell out of any hotel experience. This way you are in walking distance to campus and can buy your own beer and keep the leftover deep dish in the fridge to heat up later!
As for getting into Chicago, he can call a limo if he likes. For pondscum like me and my family, we found taking the El into the city was easy and allowed them to see some of the different neighborhoods on the way down.
Try the Graduate Hotel in Evanston. Nice, new, good restaurant and bar, and a homey feel. https://www.graduatehotels.com/evanston/
If you do stay downtown, there are numerous options and all are good. I advise taking Metra rather than the el - especially right now. Pick up the Metra at the Oglivie Center and after just three stops you are at Davis Street. That said, check out the Graduate.
The El is dirty and would involve passing through neighborhoods that certainly aren't upscale.
Thanks for the helpful info. I definitely want something nice and enjoyable and it sounds like a lot of great options from which to mix and match! Hopefully these trips to Evanston and Chicago will be become recurring for a few years and I can try all the options!! Thanks again
I would guess his daughter will view riding the L as a sort of new and exciting taste of living in a major city, as long as you aren’t from another city with a major train system. I know I felt that way when I first visited Chicago.
Really fun hotel with an excellent restaurant. Used to be the Homestead. If I were in eyecat's shoes, that's where I would take my daughter. Easy access to campus, restaurants, etc. Evanston is a fun place. By all means go downtown and take the train. The Hyatt is also very good in a nice Evanston location, and it's where my wife and I stayed for Homecoming. I can recommend a lot of restaurants as well.
Tsk! Tsk! How distasteful! We mustn't expose her to those miscreant-ladened localities. It just isn't done.
It would be fascinating to know the ages of the commenters here compared to their recommendations on an "upscale" and "really elegant" experience. I spent much of my career in and around the "five star" hotel and resort industry. Pretty much it comes down to money and one's ability and willingness to spend it. Frankly three nights at either the Four Seasons or Peninsula coupled with occasional fine dining, room service and bar, spa, upscale shopping and chaffeured limousine service to Evanston with cocktails and light food for snacks, would fit the bill. Might not have much to do with life at NU but a daughter will have a once in a lifetime memory. I vote for that versus schlepping coffee ingredients to an Airbnb with Nutri Grain bars for breakfast.
I hear you, but if it were my daughter I would prefer the Graduate or Hyatt Place in Evanston, both of which are very nice. Quite a few excellent breakfast places nearby, and it would be a nice opportunity to savor the Campus experience. This is essentially what we did with our daughters at Wisconsin and Michigan respectively, which is what caused them to go to those fine universities. The hotels you're talking about in Chicago are great, but are not good for someone looking for a college experience. They are the types of places where my wife and I stay all over the world, but the point of this trip is the college experience as I understand it.
I agree with this. A teen who isn’t from the high upper class, experienced in many high end hotels, will be sufficiently impressed by the experience at such places. I can still remember being 17 a little, it was more exciting for me to visit a place like Clarke’s and imagine myself having brilliant and exciting conversations at 2 am over pancakes, reveling in my new freedom to be out late on a Tuesday night. That’s what dreams of college meant to me. The high end places were nice when the parents came into town.
If it’s a three night trip, might be fun to do two nights in Evanston and finish the weekend with a night and half day downtown at a high end place. Have tea at the drake or something.
My comment was pretty much tongue in cheek, although pretty hard to argue that it doesn't match up to the stated criteria. I am kind of a Mustard's Last Stand guy who loved to travel for business at exotic locales on the boss' dime.
Haven't been to the Drake in almost 50 years but having tea there sounds like an excellent idea.
To each his own, I guess. When traveling, I like exploring cities by foot and public transit. Seeing neighborhoods, eating local cuisine, visiting museums. Chicago is a world-class city because of its amazing people, neighborhoods and architecture, not in spite of those things. When I'm there, I like to ride the El and walk.
Some ideas for the trip, just saw this while looking for Super Bowl coverage at yahoo! Good timing for this thread!
thanks so much everyone. This is really useful and I can’t wait for the trip. Thinking about staying 2 nights in Evanston and 3 nights in Chicago. Graduate in Evanston and Peninsula downtown. Can’t wait!!
Great plan. If you and your daughter enjoy a good breakfast I would highly recommend Le Peep on Church Street. I try to get over there every time I come out for a weekend.
Unless the neighborhood that surrounds Yale has gone through major urban renewal in the past two decades, I would think just stepping out of the walls that protectively guard and surround Yale's campus would be a definite turn off. When I took my son there for a campus visit it felt like we were inside of a castle compound surrounded by a moat.
Princeton was the only Ivy League campus we visited that I felt matched what NU offers in terms of a campus setting though admittedly we never made it up to Dartmouth.
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I hear that Cornell and Dmouth campuses are really pretty in summer and early fall. The rest of the time dreary, depressing and icky. Princeton and Harvard are nice year round imo. Yale and Penn are the worst. The part of Philly that Penn is in is worse than the surrounding neighborhoods of U of Chi. Very dangerous and crime/drug ridden. Stanford and Duke are the only campuses of elite colleges that are nicest other than NU.