Illinois Hotels

Real reviews from real travelers

Top Illinois hotels

Chicago Hotels: 5834 Reviews - 11868 Photos
Rosemont Hotels: 8 Reviews - 6 Photos
Rock Falls Hotels: 4 Hotels
Springfield Hotels: 155 Reviews - 411 Photos
Elmhurst Hotels: 1 Review
Bloomington Hotels: 29 Reviews - 54 Photos
Macomb Hotels: 13 Reviews - 69 Photos
Galena Hotels: 82 Reviews - 189 Photos
Peoria Hotels: 99 Reviews - 192 Photos
Elk Grove Village Hotels: 5 Reviews - 7 Photos
Schaumburg Hotels: 16 Reviews - 15 Photos
Oak Brook Hotels: 1 Review
Gurnee Hotels: 48 Reviews - 66 Photos
Champaign Hotels: 63 Reviews - 85 Photos
Quincy Hotels: 2 Reviews

Illinois Local Customs

Field Trip

by riorich55

Previous Next

Field Trip
by riorich55
Caped Crusaders
by riorich55
Captain Nemo and Crew
by riorich55
Super Hero's?
by riorich55
Adult Beverages
by riorich55

Most Viewed Local Customs in Illinois

Festivals & Holidays Chicago

17 Reviews My husband can't adequately explain to me why he wanted to do the Polar Bear Plunge, it's just one of those things that he felt like he needed to do. So after years of talking about it, he finally did...

See All 147 Local Customs in Chicago

People Chicago

12 Reviews Chicago lies in the midwest of the US and is considered an almost exemplary city of this region. As such, it tends to carry those midwestern values such as being helpful. Of course, you'll still find...

See All 147 Local Customs in Chicago

Eating & Drinking Chicago

23 Reviews Beginning on Thanksgiving Day, and continuing until Christmas Day, there is an old world outdoor German Winter Market in Daley Plaza. It's so much fun, I go there every year, and am always bringing...

See All 147 Local Customs in Chicago

History Chicago

15 Reviews On May 24, 1924 14 year old Bobby Franks was walking home from school when he was kidnapped and killed by Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb, who were looking to commit the perfect crime. Bobby Franks...

See All 147 Local Customs in Chicago

Theater & Music Chicago

12 Reviews State Street is once again thronged with holiday shoppers, and now you can see street puppet theatre in small "carts". (I'm sure Mayor Daley makes sure that they are licensed.) This one featured a...

See All 147 Local Customs in Chicago

Inventions Chicago

1 Review THINGS THAT WERE INVENTED IN CHICAGO vacuum cleaner [1869] elevated railway [1883] skyscrapers [1885] softball [1887] open heart surgery [1893] ferris wheel [1893] zipper [1896] fixed trunnion bascule...

See All 147 Local Customs in Chicago

Comments

1 - 0 of 0

Save money, Book now !: Booking.com Excellent choice, Low rates
La Quinta Official Site: LQ.com Southwestern ambience, top notch service. Book direct for best rates.

Reviews from VirtualTourist Members

"Flamingo"

by traveldave

Alexander Calder's Flamingo is a 53-foot-high (16-meter-high), 50-ton (45,359-kilogram) steel sculpture that is the centerpiece of the Federal Plaza in front of the Kluczynski Federal Building on South Dearborn Street. It was constructed by Calder in 1973 and was unveiled in 1974. Flamingo was painted in a shade of vermilion, which has come to be known as Calder red, in order to offset the black steel buildings surrounding the plaza.The artwork is a type of sculpture known as a stabile. First pioneered by Calder, a stabile is a completely stationary abstract sculpture that in form is similar to a mobile. The difference is that a mobile moves with air currents.

"Four Seasons"

by traveldave

Marc Chagall's Four Seasons is a mosaic mural that was donated to the City of Chicago by philanthropist Frederick Prince. It was dedicated in 1974 and was restored and covered with a protective glass canopy in 1994. The mural covers a rectangular box 70 feet (21 meters) long, 14 feet (four meters) high, and ten feet (three meters) wide. It contains six different scenes portraying the four seasons of Chicago, and includes images of birds, fish, flowers, suns, and pairs of lovers.The mosaic was designed in Chagall's studio in France, and was transferred onto full-scale panels and installed in Chicago by a skilled mosaicist. It contains thousands of marble, glass, and stone chips of over 250 different colors.Four Seasons is located in the Bank One Plaza on South Dearborn Street.

"Chicago"

by traveldave

Originally called The Sun, the Moon and One Star, Joan Miró's Chicago is a stylized female form that represents the City of Chicago. The 39-foot-tall (12-meter-tall) sculpture was constructed of steel wire mesh covered with concrete and decorated with bronze and ceramic-tile ornaments. It was commissioned by the city in 1979 and was unveiled in 1981. Chicago is located in Brunswick Plaza, an alcove on West Washington Street just across from Daley Plaza.

"Monument With Standing Beast"

by traveldave

Monument With Standing Beast by Jean Dubuffet looms over the plaza outside the James R. Thompson Center (formerly the State of Illinois Center) on West Randolph Street. It is one of three Dubuffet monumental sculptures in the United States. The 29-foot-high (nine-meter-high) sculpture was constructed of ten tons (9,072 kilograms) of white fiberglass outlined in black. It was based on Dubuffet's 1960 series of paintings called Hourioupe. There is widespread disagreement as to what the sculpture represents. Interpretations range from a standing animal, to a tree, a portal, or some sort of architectural form. Whatever its meaning, many Chicagoans affectionately refer to the sculpture as "Snoopy in a blender."

"The Picasso Sculpture"

by traveldave

Rising 50 feet (15 meters) and weighing 162 tons (146,964 kilograms), "The Picasso Sculpture" is an untitled monumental sculpture that was created by Pablo Picasso. Dedicated in 1967, it was the first major public sculpture to be erected in downtown Chicago. Since it is untitled, people refer to it as "The Picasso Sculpture" or simply as "The Picasso."The sculpture was commissioned by the architects of the Richard J. Daley Center in 1963. It was funded mainly by charitable donations. Picasso was offered a fee of $100,000, which he refused, saying that he wanted to make the sculpture a gift to Chicago. The steel sculpture was cast in Gary, Indiana by the American Bridge Company, a division of the United States Steel Company.Picasso never revealed his inspiration for the sculpture. No one therefore really knows what the work represents, and each person must decide for himself what the...

State Flower – Purple Violet

by grayfo

Viola sororiaIn 1907, Illinois schoolchildren voted to select the state flower and selected the Violet. The General Assembly approved a bill to make this selection official in 1908.The Purple Violet (also known as Common Blue Violet) is a native perennial plant that flowers from mid- to late spring, and lasts about 1-1½ months.

State Bird – Northern Cardinal

by grayfo

Cardinalis cardinalisThe Northern Cardinal is a medium-sized songbird with a short, very thick bill and a prominent crest. Cardinals often sit with a hunched-over posture and with the tail pointed straight down. Male cardinals are bright red all over, with a reddish bill and black mask on their faces immediately around the bill. Females are light brown with reddish highlights without the black mask.Males are 22.2 to 23.5 cm long whereas females are 20.9 to 21.6 cm long. The average weight of adult cardinals is 42 to 48 grams. Immature cardinals are similar in appearance to females, but have a grey-black rather than orange-red bill.

Head west to the Midwest

by dlandt

If you were to draw an imaginary line from the suburbs of Chicago to Champaign, then to Springfield and on to St. Louis, and if you then stayed on the northwestern side of that line, I would say you are probably culturally in the Midwest. The Midwest isn't the most exciting part of the US, but it is kind of fun and quirky in its own way. People tend to be individualistic, even if they are conservative at heart. They generally do their own thing, like to talk to people, and pursue their own interests. They do tend to be a bit isolated form the world at large. Don't expect them to speak two or three languages like people in Chicago, and avoid talking religion and politics, and you'll find them a warm and welcoming folk.This picture was taken in Prairie du Rocher

Head south to the South

by dlandt

As you drive southwards in Illinois out of Chicago, the presumed starting point for most people, you gradually move from one cultural region to another. You transition from a city, through suburbs, to the Midwest, to the South. Somewhere around an imaginary line between Springfield and Effingham you begin the change from the midwest to the South. This cross seemed to almost announce it, "You are entering the lands of the Christian fundamentalists", which is one aspect of a deeper change about to occur incrementally. Service in restaurants becomes more informal and slower, accents become drawls, the food changes (fried), the music changes to country, buildings sit closer to the ground, and in any regard that matters, you begin the slow, gradual, entry to the cultural entity called Dixie. This change takes place gradually, but by the time you cross into the counties below the forests, you...

Big Green Flood Gates in Galena

by deecat

I did not know where else to put this interesting information about the solution to the floods in Galena.While in Galena, we took a tour and were most interested in the big Green flood gates.To look at the Galena River as it is today, it seemed unlikely to us that it would be the cause of flooding. Yet, we were told that Galena had created a levy and changed the way the river was used as well as adding the flood gates. Why? Because of all the many floods they had experienced through the years. In 1937 a town committee prepared a report to the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers urging support to build a levy.You have to know a little history to understand. Most of the people in the early days arrived at Galena by keelboats and steamboats. At that time, the Galena River was navigable for all Mississippi River steamers, even a low tide. Later, Galena became the most important steam port on the...

Top 3 Hotels in Illinois

The Peninsula Chicago Chicago

4 Reviews and 526 Opinions The Peninsula Hotel in Chicago is an absolutely wonderful hotel! Every detail is thought through and...

Hotels in Chicago

Show Prices

The State House Inn, A Clarion Collection Hotel Springfield

1 Review and 456 Opinions At looking at the website about this particular hotel,,I thought it might be a great hotel,,since I...

Hotels in Springfield

Show Prices

Red Roof Inn Naperville

101 Opinions

Hotels in Naperville

Show Prices

1,762 Hotels in Illinois

Explore the World

Odessa Local Customs