7 Days: Chicago and the Midwest

Seven days closes with a real decision: catch a long-haul Amtrak route out of Union Station or fly out through one of the busiest airports in the country. Shorter trip? See 2 through 6 days .

Book these before you go

Day Focus Distance / travel time from Chicago
Day 1 Arrival, Millennium Park, Cloud Gate, the Riverwalk, architecture cruise In Chicago
Day 2 Skydeck or 360 CHICAGO, Navy Pier, the Art Institute In Chicago
Day 3 Milwaukee day trip ~90 min each way, Amtrak Hiawatha
Day 4 Indiana Dunes National Park ~1-1.5 hr each way, South Shore Line
Day 5 Route 66 Begin sign, Navy Pier centennial start, Union Station In Chicago
Day 6 Milwaukee overnight extension ~90 min each way, Amtrak Hiawatha
Day 7 Union Station or O’Hare send-off In Chicago

Day 1: Arrival and the Loop

  • Land at O’Hare and ride the Blue Line downtown, about 45 minutes and the only one of Chicago’s two airport rail lines that runs 24 hours a day; landing at Midway instead, the Orange Line is faster at 25-30 minutes but has a real overnight service gap, so don’t count on it for a very early or very late arrival
  • Check into a hotel in the Loop or River North, both put you inside a short walk of Union Station and the Magnificent Mile
  • Walk Millennium Park, free, and photograph Cloud Gate (“the Bean”), then follow the Riverwalk south toward the Loop
  • Book the Chicago Architecture Center’s river cruise for late afternoon if you haven’t already, popular slots sell out May through November
  • Dinner in the Loop or River North; save a full deep-dish meal for a group, it’s not really a solo-portion dish

Day 2: Skyline and the lakefront

  • Morning at the Willis Tower Skydeck (from $32 adult, access to The Ledge glass balconies included) or 360 CHICAGO (from $30 weekday, $35 weekend); pick one, not both, they show the same skyline from opposite ends of it
  • CTA or walk to Navy Pier, free to enter; individual rides, boat tours, and the new-for-2026 Summer Skate lakefront rink are ticketed separately
  • Afternoon at the Art Institute of Chicago ($32 adult, $26 senior/student/teen), home to American Gothic and a genuinely deep Impressionist collection
  • Evening back in the Loop or River North

Day 3: Milwaukee, the easiest interstate day trip

  • Catch an early Amtrak Hiawatha from Union Station, about 90 minutes direct, 7 weekday and Saturday round trips a day (6 on Sunday), fares $19-37 one-way depending on demand, check current times on amtrak.com
  • Spend the day in Milwaukee’s Historic Third Ward or along the lakefront; a short brewery tour fits comfortably between trains
  • Full event calendars and neighborhood detail sit at visitmilwaukee.org
  • Catch an evening train back to Chicago; book the return leg the same day you book the outbound one, since fares climb as departure gets closer

Day 4: Indiana Dunes National Park

  • Ride the South Shore Line direct from Millennium Station, about 20 stops through Hammond, Gary, and East Chicago to Dunes Park; full weekday service only just resumed July 17, 2026, after a June 24 derailment near East Chicago knocked the line onto a reduced weekend-only schedule for weeks, check current departures at mysouthshoreline.com before building the day around one specific train
  • Hike the dunes themselves; Mount Baldy and the 3 Dune Challenge are the two most-photographed options, both free once you’re inside the park, full trail and seasonal hours at nps.gov/indu
  • Pack a lunch or eat in Chesterton before the return train, food options directly at Dunes Park are limited
  • Catch the South Shore Line back into Chicago by early evening; budget extra buffer time given the corridor’s recent disruption history

Day 5: Route 66 and Union Station, Chicago’s national-gateway day

  • Photograph the historic Route 66 “Begin” sign at Adams Street and Michigan Avenue, in place since roughly 1955, directly across from the Art Institute
  • Walk to Navy Pier for the newer 2026 centennial ceremonial starting point, dedicated March 25, 2026; it adds a second “pier-to-pier” framing toward Santa Monica Pier, roughly 2,448 miles away, and it does not replace the original Adams Street sign
  • Tour Union Station’s Great Hall, a few blocks south of the Loop, and check the departure boards for the long-haul network: the California Zephyr toward San Francisco, the Empire Builder to Seattle and Portland, the Lake Shore Limited to New York and Boston, the Capitol Limited to Washington DC, the Texas Eagle to San Antonio, and the City of New Orleans
  • If an actual Route 66 drive is on the radar for a future trip, search current Route 66 tour options on Viator to test a shorter guided leg first

Day 6: Milwaukee, the overnight version

  • Take an early Hiawatha into Milwaukee and check into a hotel there instead of doing it as a same-day round trip, compare Milwaukee rates on Booking.com
  • Spend the extra hours on a full brewery tour, the lakefront Milwaukee Art Museum, or the Milwaukee County Zoo, none of which fit comfortably into a single day-trip window
  • Dinner in the Historic Third Ward, then a full night before catching a mid-morning train back rather than racing an evening departure

Day 7: Union Station or O’Hare, choosing how you leave the crossroads

  • Decide the onward journey before booking a flight home: a long-haul Amtrak route out of Union Station (the California Zephyr, Empire Builder, Lake Shore Limited, Capitol Limited, Texas Eagle, or City of New Orleans) turns this trip into the first leg of something bigger, check current routes and fares on amtrak.com
  • If flying, O’Hare’s Blue Line runs the 45-minute ride from downtown 24 hours a day; budget real buffer time, since it’s consistently one of the busiest airports in the country by traffic, current status at flychicago.com
  • Last-minute shopping or a final Loop meal fits into the morning before either departure

Should I fly out or take a long-haul train from Chicago? Depends on the next stop. A flight beats every long-haul Amtrak route on raw speed, but the California Zephyr, Empire Builder, and the rest run scenery no flight shows you, and Union Station puts you on board without an airport security line eating an extra hour.

Is O’Hare or Union Station the better way to end this trip? O’Hare wins for pure speed home; Union Station wins if the destination is genuinely reachable by rail and the trip itself is part of the point. Either way, this is the same crossroads that made the last 6 days possible, so treat Day 7 as a choice, not just a logistics problem.

One concrete tip: whichever way you leave, build in more buffer than feels necessary. O’Hare’s security lines and Union Station’s platform changes both eat time that a tight connection can’t absorb.