As a cheaper, broader alternative, here\u2019s our guide to seeing as many of our 77 neighborhoods as you can \u2014 on a budget. It\u2019s Chicago for the rest of us.<\/p>\n
TUESDAY: The North Side<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/CT-DinerGrill_ted.jpg\")
Lake View\u2019s Diner Grill Photograph: Abel Uribe\/Chicago Tribune<\/p>\n
Wake up in the Apache Motel on Lincoln Avenue<\/a>. This mid-century gem, which still has a vertical sign topped with an American Indian head, dates back to the pre-Interstate days, when U.S. 41 was the main highway in and out of town. Best of all, rooms are only $77, which is cheaper than most Airbnbs around here. The Apache doesn\u2019t have a pool or a gym. So to get your morning exercise, head down Lincoln to Welles Park<\/a>, named for Abraham Lincoln\u2019s Secretary of the Navy, Gideon Welles. The park\u2019s indoor pool is open every morning for lap swimming between 7:30 and 8:45 a.m. <\/p>\n After you\u2019ve worked up an appetite, eat breakfast at the Diner Grill<\/a> on Irving Park Road. The Diner Grill is most famous for the Slinger \u2014 a huge pile of crispy hash browns topped with grilled onions, two cheeseburger patties, two over-easy eggs and three ladles of chili \u2014 but you really have to be drunk to appreciate it. Try a plate of fresh fruit pancakes for $8.95. <\/p>\n Next, if you\u2019re an art lover, make your way to Rogers Park, which has a collection of murals painted on L viaducts, including one of the city\u2019s musicians, from Benny Goodman to Chance the Rapper. While you\u2019re in the neighborhood \u2014 and if you\u2019re particularly tight on cash \u2014 enjoy a free lunch at A Just Harvest<\/a>, which has been serving meals to the hungry for nearly 20 years. If you\u2019re lucky, you\u2019ll visit on hot dog day. Be sure to leave a donation on the way out the door. <\/p>\n After lunch, freshen up with a $7 haircut at A New Image Hair Salon on Clark Street. Later in the day, try a free trapeze lesson<\/a> at Broadway Armory Park, then go for dinner at Ghareeb Nawaz<\/a>, a Pakistani restaurant on Devon Avenue, Chicago\u2019s \u201cLittle India,\u201d where the chicken biryani will run you $7.99 and last for two meals. <\/p>\n Finally, enjoy a nightcap at Sovereign Liquors on Broadway, which specializes in $3 cans of domestic beers.<\/p>\n WEDNESDAY: The West Side<\/p>\n To prepare for your day on the West Side, stay at the Ohio House Motel<\/a>, downtown Chicago\u2019s only motor inn. It\u2019s another mid-century masterpiece that opened in 1960, and still maintains its New Frontier charm and decor. A standard king room is $115. The highlight of Chicago\u2019s West Side is Route 66, which begins at the corner of Michigan and Jackson, then angles southwesterly along Ogden Avenue. <\/p>\n It\u2019s essential to eat breakfast at Lou Mitchell\u2019s<\/a>, a 102-year-old neon diner that serves a $6.75 bowl of cooked cereal. Since Chicago is famous for public art, stop and take a look at the Route 66 mural<\/a> in Douglass Park, which features depictions of a car, a guitarist, and the Art Institute lions, which are across the street from the route\u2019s starting point. Then take a snapshot of the Castle Car Wash<\/a>, an abandoned gas station at Ogden and Hamilton avenues. <\/p>\n For lunch, you\u2019ll have to venture beyond the city limits to Henry\u2019s Drive-In<\/a> in Cicero, where a corn dog is $3.75. Invented in Illinois, the corn dog is the state\u2019s essential delicacy, combining Downstate corn with Chicago meat. Head back into the city for a visit to Out of the Past Records<\/a> in West Garfield Park, where you can find \u201cdusties\u201d on vinyl \u2014 blues, soul, jazz, R&B \u2014 for prices that are negotiable at the counter. <\/p>\n If you\u2019re looking for something to read, try Plot Twist Used Books<\/a> in Portage Park, which has a good selection of mysteries. Then, head back to West Garfield Park for a true West Side feast at MacArthur\u2019s<\/a>, where you can heap your plate with fried chicken, collard greens and macaroni and cheese for $9.99. <\/p>\n Finally, enjoy a late-night drink at the Lakeside Bar<\/a> in East Garfield Park, which has a pool table, a mural of famous Chicago bluesmen, and domestics on tap for $1.75.<\/p>\n Thursday: The South Side<\/p>\n Today\u2019s lodgings are at the Cicero Hotel<\/a> (actually a motel), which is only a mile from Midway Airport (particularly convenient if you flew in on Southwest Airlines). A Queen Ada guestroom is $139. <\/p>\n For breakfast, try Valois Restaurant<\/a> in Hyde Park, a cafeteria-style joint that was once patronized by Barack Obama and has a sign displaying his favorite breakfasts. Two eggs with bacon or sausage are only $10.95. Valois gives you the most food for the least money \u2013 music to any bargain traveler. <\/p>\n If you\u2019re an art lover, you\u2019ll want to visit the Gage Park Field House, which has an impressive collection of murals<\/a> illustrating the early contact between pioneers and Native Americans. For lunch, try the Skyway Dog House<\/a> on the East Side, where a Chicago-style dog with fries (an essential treat for any visitor) is only $3.29. (It\u2019s on 95th Street, not far from the bridge the Bluesmobile jumped.) Take your food down to the beach in nearby Calumet Park, where it\u2019s possible you\u2019ll see a freighter heading toward the mouth of the Calumet River. <\/p>\n You can\u2019t leave Chicago without learning some of its history, so visit the Southeast Side Historical Museum<\/a> in Calumet Park, which is open every Thursday between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. and is free. There\u2019s a diorama of Commercial Avenue during the neighborhood\u2019s heyday, when the now-demolished U.S. Steel plant employed 20,000 workers. <\/p>\n West of Midway Airport is Pticek & Sons Bakery<\/a>, known for its hearty cake donuts. Wash that down with a beer at Marianna\u2019s, on 63rd Street, where cans of Stroh\u2019s are only $1.50. <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/CTC-L-Route-66-ted.jpg\")
Lou Mitchell\u2019s in the West Loop Photograph: E. Jason Wambsgans\/Chicago Tribune<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/CT-ct-dining-home-plate-valois-Ted.jpg\")
Valois Restaurant in Hyde Park Photograph: Heather Charles\/Chicago Tribune<\/p>\n