What to Do in Chicago If You’re Here for Business (2026)

Chicago ever has thing to prove. When it went up against New York for the 1893 World's Fair, a New York Sun newsman called retired its "windbag" campaigners. Illinois ended up hosting the fair, and Chicago embraced its caller individuality arsenic the Windy City. That chip-on-the-shoulder vigor inactive defines this metropolis, a metropolis that builds, innovates, and competes similar it has everything to lose.

Chicago’s tech country is simply a divers scenery that shouldn’t beryllium slept on—but you astir apt cognize that. The Second City’s tech assemblage has grown by 18 percent implicit the past decade, adding much than 106,000 nonstop jobs and astir 150,000 indirect jobs, according to the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce. The city’s universities nutrient much machine subject graduates than anyplace other successful the US. Giants similar Google, Salesforce, and Meta person outer operations here, portion startups similar Tegus, Uber Freight, and G2 person relocated from Silicon Valley, drawn by Chicago’s endowment excavation and affordable outgo of living.

Chicago's tech country is not siloed; astir fractional of each tech positions are tied to halfway industries similar wellness care, finance, and logistics. Last August, the TechChicago league spotlighted quantum computing, energy-efficient information centers, and equitable entree to capital, demonstrating that Chicago is reasoning astir however exertion tin heighten mundane life.

To beryllium successful Chicago is to enactment hard, play harder. Dinner successful Fulton Market, drinks connected the Riverwalk, and a drama acceptable to adjacent retired the night.

Where to Stay

While Chicago’s tech country spans the city, chances are your enactment travel landed you determination successful the Loop, River North, oregon West Loop area. Our lodgings support you close, comfortable, and surrounded by chap professionals.

363 E. Wacker Drive, (312) 787-3447

Where the Chicago River and Lake Michigan meet, the St. Regis delivers the city’s pinnacle of luxury, implicit with a world-class spa, fittingness facilities, and acclaimed dining. The Signature Butler Service takes attraction of unpacking, suit pressing, footwear shines, and greeting java (or tea), truthful you tin absorption connected the concern that brought you here. A complimentary location car tin get you to adjacent meetings oregon lunches wrong a 2-mile radius. Start with the Tokyo Breakfast astatine Japanese edifice Miru, instrumentality astatine 5 p.m. for the hotel’s regular champagne sabrage, past caput to Tre Dita for handmade pasta and Tuscan wood-fired steaks—be definite to reserve ahead.

200 N Green St., (312) 761-1700

If you privation a edifice that feels similar portion of the city, it’s the Hoxton successful the West Loop. Check successful and retired anytime erstwhile you publication directly. Workspaces are available, from room desks to coworking spaces and gathering rooms. If you’re hungry, the on-site café serves Aya Bakery pastries and coffee, and if you request a break, daybeds await, which are perfect for a powerfulness nap oregon nursing a hangover. Weather permitting, their outdoor terraces treble arsenic different spot to get enactment done. You don’t adjacent person to permission the Hoxton to deed the neighborhood’s hottest eating and drinking spots; Cira serves Mediterranean-inspired eats each day, Cabra Cevicheria dishes Peruvian bites connected the rooftop, caput downstairs to Lazy Bird for cocktails and unrecorded euphony Thursday done Saturday, and Milk Bar is besides in-house for a late-night sweetener fix.

311 N Morgan St., (312) 764-1919

In Fulton Market, the Emily Hotel is cleanable for travelers who privation a section vibe with each the luxuries and tech conveniences. Grab a java astatine the in-house java bar, luncheon astatine Fora, cocktails astatine rooftop barroom Selva, and meal astatine Sushi by Bou. Stay progressive successful the 24/7 fittingness center, and if the upwind permits, drawback a movie astatine the hotel’s terrace cinema.

900 E Grand, (872) 710-5700

At Sable, you’ll person everything you request for an enjoyable stay. Grab a java successful the lobby astatine Kisbi, wherever single-origin beans from Costa Rica, Kenya, and Ethiopia marque your greeting consciousness instantly richer. Lirica, the Spanish- and Iberian-inspired restaurant, is cleanable for a solo luncheon oregon squad dinner. The Offshore Rooftop has unbeatable views of the skyline and Lake Michigan, positive a full-service bar. As for amenities, there’s a 24-hour fittingness center, gathering rooms if you request to get enactment done, and, of course, Navy Pier itself conscionable extracurricular your door—full shops, restaurants, and attractions to support you entertained. It’s a spot similar surviving successful a mall.

505 N Michigan Ave., (312) 944-4100

In the bosom of the Magnificent Mile, the InterContinental blends big-city concern vigor with old-school glamour. That’s partially acknowledgment to its indoor pool, a 1929 stunner tiled successful Spanish Majolica and watched implicit by a terracotta Neptune fountain, floating 14 stories supra Michigan Avenue. During the week, you’ll mostly spot concern travelers, though families often enactment here, too. The applicable amenities are covered, including gathering rooms, printing services, and adjacent a notary. There’s a Starbucks successful the lobby, but with truthful galore amended section cafés nearby, it’s worthy wandering out.

Where to Work

You tin enactment from immoderate of the hotels connected our list, but if you request a alteration of scenery, Chicago has plentifulness of coworking options, too. Below are immoderate of our favorites, and Deskpass is simply a large assets for much options.

20 N. Wacker Drive, 12th Floor

Inside the Civic Opera Building successful the city’s concern district, this 60,000-square-foot workspace is designed for tech professionals. Fast Wi-Fi, ergonomic setups, gathering rooms, and adjacent a rooftop terrace and fittingness center. Drop successful for $35 a time connected Deskpass.

3130 N Rockwell St.

In Avondale, Guild Row offers a sunlit workspace with precocious ceilings, backstage Zoom booths, and a café and barroom for breaks. The Belmont Room hosts workshops, talks, and events, but the wide ambiance is calm and focused for getting enactment done without distractions. It’s a abstraction to recharge, conscionable like-minded people, oregon settee successful for a productive day. You tin acquisition a time walk for $28.

1821 W Hubbard St Unit 209

In the West Loop, Art/Work Coworking is simply a originative laboratory that draws successful the city’s creatives, techies, and freelancers. Open 24/7 with automated access, it offers desks and bookable gathering rooms. Drop successful with Deskpass, oregon publication a league country starting astatine $50 an hour.

Where to Get Your Coffee

112 N Green St.

If you request a reliable off-site enactment spot, Sawada Coffee has plentifulness of seats, beardown Wi-Fi, and beardown coffee. Founded by Japanese barista Hiroshi Sawada, Sawada Coffee is renowned for the Military Latte—a affluent jolt of matcha, espresso, and cocoa—but they besides person cortados, cappuccinos, and cookies connected manus to support the workflow steady.

714 N Wells St.

Owned by Palestinian American friends, Oud Coffee is simply a River North favourite for trade lattes and bites. The signature Oud latte blends pistachio syrup, cardamom spice, and caller mint, portion the paper besides includes Turkish coffee, tea, and smoothies. Snack connected Manakeesh flatbread, stuffed dates, oregon baklava. Spacious indoor seating makes it a coagulated spot to drawback up connected work, oregon beryllium extracurricular if the upwind permits. There’s different determination successful Wicker Park, should you find yourself person to that neighborhood.

5531 N Clark St.

The Understudy is simply a theater-bookstore-slash-café, with passionateness effect syrup connected connection alongside lavender, chaotic roseate petal, and hazelnut. Non-coffee drinkers tin sip iced ube lattes, sparkling matcha lemonades, oregon a lychee roasted goddess tea. Come for the flavor, enactment for the originative atmosphere, with light-filled nooks that marque it casual to suffer an afternoon.

3101 S Morgan St.

Bridgeport Coffee has been roasting connected the South Side since 2004, and it’s inactive 1 of the city’s champion stops for a cupful of java that really tastes similar wherever it came from. The store sources beans straight from growers, cutting retired middlemen for amended spirit and fairer trade. There are lone a mates of antagonistic seats and a fistful of tables, but it’s a cozy spot to enactment if you snag a spot.

Where to Eat

Chicago’s hottest eateries are often booked solid, but we’ve recovered the saccharine spots that really person availability.

932 W Fulton St.

At Rose Mary, a Chicago autochthonal and Top Chef victor brings unneurotic Italian and Croatian cuisines successful what helium has dubbed “Adriatic drinking food.” The paper changes with the seasons, but the zucchini fritters with pesto aioli, the tuna crudo, and the radiatore cacio e pepe consciousness astir nonnegotiable erstwhile I go. Beyond the trifecta, you tin expect bold takes connected fish, meats, pasta, and risotto. The eating country is astir ever afloat and buzzing, which makes it a lively prime for a concern meal oregon post-work repast that turns into different circular of drinks.

2534 N Milwaukee Ave.

For concern travelers craving pasta, Mano a Mano is simply a must. The tagliatelle bolognese and bucatini cacio e pepe are heavenly, but each pasta crockery is worthy tasting, from the stuffed farfalle to lobster ravioli and abbreviated rib ravioletti. If your docket allows for a Sunday reservation, Spaghetti Sundays are a treat: $45 per idiosyncratic gets you a curated lineup of antipasti, an argula Caesar salad, a pasta dish, and gelato to finish. It's a cleanable spot for entertaining clients oregon recharging with coworkers aft a agelong day.

800 W Randolph St.

At Au Cheval, Chicago’s über-celebrated burger joint, the melty, egg-topped cheeseburger lives up to its hype. The vibe is low-key, with a diner-meets-French-speakeasy feel, featuring dim lighting, leather booths, and an unfastened room that's ever astatine afloat capacity. You person to get the cheeseburger, but the chilaquiles and roasted bony marrow are besides worthy ordering. There are nary reservations; plaything by connected a weekday afternoon, enactment your sanction down, and drawback a portion astatine 1 of Fulton Market’s bars portion you wait.

2542 N Milwaukee Ave.

Andros Taverna has a paper of seafood that rotates regular to diagnostic the freshest catch. If you don't similar seafood, the modern Greek restaurant's locally sourced lamb is dry-aged, butchered in-house, and grilled implicit charcoal for a smoky finish. Every crockery is served family-style, truthful it's an perfect spot to stock with colleagues oregon clients successful a convivial mounting that feels upscale without being stuffy.

1110 W Carroll Ave.

Chef Joe Flamm's latest venture, Bar Tutto, has go an all-day blistery spot for Chicago's moving assemblage since it opened past December. It's cleanable for catching up connected emails, gathering a client, oregon unwinding aft a workday. Start your time present with a crafted latte, flaky pastry, oregon a hearty ovum wrapper to powerfulness done the morning. By lunch, this spot hums with radical ducking successful for salads, sandwiches, and bowls of homemade pasta. Come evening, erstwhile the laptops disappear, the abstraction shifts into a relaxed meal scene. Italian-inspired cocktails, a thoughtful vino list, and shareable plates. Make definite to bid the Bavette steak, served with peperonata sauce, crispy frites, and a smoky ail aioli.

630 W Lake St.

At Kumiko, cook and mixologist Julia Momosé has created 1 of the city's astir inventive drinking and eating experiences. The intimate Japanese eating barroom is champion known for its meticulous cocktails and involvement list. You tin halt successful for drinks and bid from the seasonal à la carte menu, oregon settee successful for the tasting menu, wherever dishes get with curated cocktails, sake, oregon spirit-free pairings that are conscionable arsenic originative arsenic the alcoholic ones. Downstairs, a abstracted play barroom spotlights whiskey and shochu. It's an adjacent cozier bent that regulars urge for marking a peculiar occasion.

1045 W Fulton St.

Il Carciofo is simply a Roman-style Italian edifice with a seasonal paper that rotates done antipasti, pizzas, and hand-rolled pasta. The eating country channels a moody trattoria, with an unfastened kitchen—a signature determination astatine Joe Flamm's eateries—where you tin ticker the cooks crook retired sheet aft plate. If you bid 1 dish, marque it the rigatoni alla carbonara, but it's hard not to over-order here. And aft a hearty meal, the dessert lineup offers gelatos and sorbets for a refreshing reset. If you're inactive successful the temper to indulge, there's ever a tiramisu.

214 W Erie St.

Asador Bastian isn't your emblematic Chicago chophouse. With Basque-inspired decor and a paper to match, the specialty is Txuleton beef—thick, bone-in steaks from mature cattle, served by the pound. But don't place the seafood, which appears to beryllium conscionable arsenic flavorful. I haven't been myself, but I perceive the bone-marrow murphy purée is to dice for. It's a reliable prime for lawsuit dinners erstwhile you privation the ambiance to impressment arsenic overmuch arsenic the food.

1202 W Grand Ave.

The abstraction astatine Elina's is intimate and candlelit, but the nutrient is agleam and inviting. The paper is classical Italian American comfortableness nutrient with tremendous portions. Order the Caesar salad, the chickenhearted parmesan, and the rigatoni alla vodka—which is topped with crunchy, Calabrian breadcrumbs. Though the eating country is cozy, its shareable plates marque it a delicious prime for a squad dinner.

2165 N Western Ave.

For a kitschy yet upscale instrumentality connected the American Chinese takeout you grew up on, Chef’s Special delivers saucy, family-style classics. Think orangish chicken, Mongolian beef, and lo mein noodles—fast. The nostalgic comfortableness nutrient is paired with tropical cocktails, from a lemongrass gimlet to an $8 shot-and-beer combo. Ideal for tiny teams oregon clients, the paper encourages sampling, making it little astir idiosyncratic plates and much astir the experience.

700 N Clark St.

Ambar is inspired by the communal Balkan contented of “Voz,” wherever nutrient is brought retired to the array successful a continuous procession. For a acceptable price, you tin bid from much than 40 Balkan dishes. Grilled meats, slow-cooked seafood, stuffed pies, cheesy flatbreads, creamy spreads, and desserts I support coming backmost for. Everything comes successful tiny plates, truthful you tin bid seconds (or thirds) of your favourite dishes without shame. For visiting execs, the all-you-can-eat exemplary is simply a accidental to entertain colleagues without the hassle of paper math, and the abundance keeps the speech flowing.

Ask immoderate Chicagoan, and they volition importune that Chicago's preferred pizza benignant is really a crispy, tavern-style pie. But if you must effort deep-dish pizza, skip the touristy Lou Malnati’s and get Pequod’s instead. For Chicago-style pizza, immoderate section favorites are Paulie Gee’s, Professor Pizza, and—my favorite—Zarella Pizzeria & Taverna, which offers some bladed artisan and tavern-style pizza. If you negociate to snag a reservation, bid the Spicy Vodka pizza, the gooey mozzarella sticks, and the pineapple brownish food cake. You tin convey maine later.

Portillo’s is for tourists. If you privation a existent Chicago dog, caput to Superdawg oregon the Wieners Circle.

Where to Drink

Chicago drinks hard. Survive your archetypal Malört changeable astatine the stickiest dive barroom you tin find, past cheque retired the city’s barcades and breweries, wherever you tin unwind, drawback up with colleagues, oregon conscionable bask the city.

1221 W Blackhawk St.

I emotion grabbing a portion astatine the Goose Island Pub earlier catching a amusement astatine the Salt Shed. On sunny days, the riverside patio and skyline views are truthful serene. Inside, it’s concern but comfortable, lively capable to inactive consciousness connected to the city. The pat database mixes Goose Island classics with experimental brews, barrel-aged bourbon, and seasonal rotations. Goose Island’s main taproom successful West Town is besides worthy a sojourn if you’re successful the area, but the Salt Shed venue has a built-in performance ambiance that makes it the cleanable pregame joint.

213 W Institute Pl.

Downtown Chicago doesn’t overflow with existent barcades, but Headquarters Beercade scratches the itch. The gully is the dozens of arcade cabinets and a decent lineup of Stern pinball machines, each connected escaped play, yet the vibe skews much firm blessed hr than underground gamer hangout. If you privation to sip connected trade brew portion mashing buttons connected Street Fighter II, this is the place.

839 W Fulton Market

With 3 locations crossed the city, you won’t person to spell acold to find Emporium. Wicker Park is usually the busiest, and the West Loop determination is simply a cleanable halt earlier meal astatine Au Cheval. Expect skee-ball, pinball, and excavation tables moving connected tokens, positive a portion paper that rotates successful section brews and seasonal hard kombuchas. Don’t number connected each instrumentality working, but Emporium is little astir precocious scores and much astir blowing disconnected steam implicit a beer; the games are conscionable a bonus.

3540 N Clark St.

Sluggers has been a Chicago staple for implicit 35 years. With implicit 40 TVs streaming games, and walls stacked with sports memorabilia, it’s the liveliest sports barroom successful the city. Upstairs, you’ll find batting cages, skee-ball, and different arcade games.

2833 N Sheffield Ave.

Replay successful Lincoln Park is simply a dive-bar-meets-party with a lineup of rotating trade brew and cheeky cocktails similar “Shrek Is Love” and “Not My Gumdrop Buttons.” Most arcade games are escaped to play, with the newest Stern machines reasonably priced. There’s ever a taxable that leans into ’90s nostalgia, and play DJs support the vigor high. The assemblage is cool, diverse, and unmistakably Midwestern. This is reviewer Louryn Strampe’s go-to spot for pinball and brew earlier catching a show.

Where to Giggle

You haven’t truly done Chicago until you’ve laughed done its drama scene, location to the legends of some stand-up and improv.

230 W North Ave.

Second City is the birthplace of improvisational comedy, not to notation that it has launched much SNL formed members than you tin number (Dan Aykroyd, Tina Fey, Bill Murray, Amy Poehler … I tin spell on). You can’t spell incorrect with the mainstage show, but the lineup branches retired into family-friendly matinees, late-night experiments, and seasonal sets. If 1 amusement sells out, there’s ever different astir the corner—literally, the venue runs aggregate stages astatine once.

1548 N Wells St.

Zanies is arsenic classical arsenic it gets for stand-up, wherever legends and up-and-comers stock the aforesaid tiny stage. It has a low-ceilinged, brick-wall intimacy that feels exclusive. On weekends, you mightiness drawback a touring comic; connected weeknights, it’s roast battles, showcases, and the benignant of rowdy vigor that feels much underground than you’d expect from a venue this iconic.

3175 N Broadway

Sure, this isn’t the OG drama nine connected Sunset Boulevard, but Chicago’s Laugh Factory has carved retired its ain scene. The vibe is much Midwestern grit and speedy wit, and the rainbow-arched signifier is conscionable arsenic legendary successful person. The “Chicago’s Best Standup” nights rotate done the city’s section comics, and you ne'er cognize erstwhile a bigger sanction volition driblet successful unannounced. You’ll besides find unfastened mics and themed shows that support nights unpredictable.