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Chicago Guide

In this family-friendly city where the lakefront is king, neighborhoods thrive with as much parkland as pavement.

By Meghan McEwen

Chicago Guide:Lakefront and Downtown
Lincoln Park
West Town

With the city skyline in the background, kids can take a summertime plunge into Lake Michigan.

City Guide Index: Family-friendly travel guides for your favorite cities

The lantern. The cow. The fire. Even your kids know the rest. And so it is that Chicago's mythology precedes it. The largest American city on a Great Lake and the birthplace of deep-dish pizza as well as the skyscraper (that Great Fire in 1871 cleared huge swaths for thoughtful urban planning), Chicago is increasingly living up to its nickname, "the City in a Garden," with 552 parks, 18 miles of shorefront, and a mayoral mandate to be the most environmentally friendly city in the U.S. Once known as the Hog Butcher for the World, the city now has a throng of restaurants that embrace organic, seasonal cuisine (though institutions like Mr. Beef's on Orleans Street are still thriving, thanks to spicy Italian beef sandwiches). There's no shortage of alluringly idiosyncratic neighborhoods for your family to explore, whether you're eating an old-fashioned cupcake, biking along the beach, or gazing halfway to Wisconsin from the top of the Sears Tower. Hot time in the old town, indeed!