Chicago the most popular and largest city of Illinois is a business neighborhood apart from a best tourist city. Loop is the business district of Chicago that is surrounded by Chicago River(North & West), Lake Michigan(East) and Harrison Street(South). Loop is the center point of Chicago where you can find world class artistic sculptures & statues of 20th century on streets. Whether you have come to Chicago on a business tour or in a pleasure tour, Chicago loop is the place where you have lot to do.

Chicago Loop home page

http://www.chicago-loop.com/

Wikipedia info about Chicago Loop

http://wikitravel.org/en/Chicago/Loop

Chicago Loop is a busy place with numerous attractions, beautiful skyscrapers and historical buildings, restaurants, hotels and business activities. Some of the renowned buildings that are visited by thousands of people everyday are: city hall, Daley Center and Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. Some of the popular companies such as IBM, Boeing, Tribune Company and Wrigley also have their headquarters here.

Loop is surrounded by many theaters, parks and gardens. The best theaters that are located in the loop are The Chicago Theatre, Auditorium Theatre, LaSalle Bank Theatre, Ford Center of the Performing Arts, Goodman Theatre etc. This business district attracts the people with several outdoor sculptures such as Marc Chagall, Joan Miro and Alexander Calder.

The Chicago River boat ride is also one another entertainment for the tourists. You can discover the Chicago's art through a unique boat ride. So, loop is a complete package district where you can find of culture, history, business and as well as recreation.

Buildings and attractions at Chicago Loop

http://www.chicagotraveler.com/neighborhoods/chicago-loop-feature.htm

Business activities of Chicago Loop

http://wiki.worldflicks.org/chicago_loop.html

Bounded by the Chicago River to the north and west, Harrison Street to the south and the Lake Michigan to the East is The Loop. This is where all of Chicago's business meets. It has the tallest of Chicago's skyscrapers and is also the place for anyone traveling through Chicago to meet Chicago's finest. With the area covered by the loop a tourist to Chicago is always advised to get a map. These are available at various sites:

http://iguide.travel/Chicago/Loop

http://www.heartland.org/publications/looptour/LoopTour.pdf

http://wikitravel.org/en/Image:Loop_map.png

Simple street layout

The Loop's street layout is not quite a hard one to crack. The tourist will be able to get around without fear of getting lost. While traveling through Chicago one notices that the city's grid system is quite simple with 8 blocks per mile.

This is shown by a map of the area along the east side of the Chicago River, The West Loop Gate:

http://egov.cityofchicago.org/webportal/COCWebPortal/COC_ATTACH/Community_Areas_NEAR_WEST_SIDE.pdf

The Near West Side has some of Chicago's premiere restaurant strips including: Little Italy on Taylor Street which has small culinary strips with some of the best Mediterranean dishes. Greektown located on Halstead Street has some good food and nice hospitality for the tourist.

Getting around

It is also prudent to plan for wherever you want to visit at The Loop beforehand. This will necessitate that you search for schedules in the Chicago Transition Authority's site: http://www.transitchicago.com. The CTA runs all the El trains and the local buses running through O'Hare and The Loop. When one is traveling through Chicago their trip is made more fruitful by planning it over the CTA website. Useful, free street maps are also offered at all CTA stations.

Transport trolleys

Since the city of Chicago is served by a network of free transport trolleys during the summer, visit this site for information on the routes:

http://www.cityofchicago.org/Transportation/trolleys/

Chicago has over time been known to provide a variety of shopping areas and shopping experiences to many tourists who have gone shopping during their tour. Among the most common places where you must check out while shopping are the upscale boutiques, pottery barns, jewelers and distinctive discount outlet malls.

These are usually equipped with a wide range of items. The outstanding street known for shopping and marketing is the Magnificent Mile. Most Chicago loop shopping centers include indoor shopping malls and fully equipped departmental stores.

http://www.chicagotraveler.com/chicago_shopping.htm

Where to get best meals when shopping or touring in Chicago?

When planning to travel through Chicago either for shopping or touring services there are designed places for excellent meals. Among these is the Park Grill restaurant at Millennium Park where you can get a pleasant meal experience. This cafe provides quality service especially picnic packed foods, sandwich, drinks and desert.

http://www.chicagotraveler.com

What is the best time to go shopping and touring in Chicago?

Most people go visiting Chicago during summer when the weather is warm. Spring is more favorable when traveling with kids so that they can enjoy water activities in the parks.

http://www.chicagotraveler.com/neighborhoods/the-loop-directory.htm