Advice for visiting Chicago?

Which of these places would you prioritize visiting the most?

  • Shedd Aquarium

    Votes: 5 31.3%

  • Brookfield Zoo

    Votes: 11 68.8%

  • Lincoln Park Zoo

    Votes: 4 25.0%

  • Field Museum

    Votes: 3 18.8%
  • Total voters
    16
  • Poll closed .
ZooElephantMan

ZooElephantMan

Well-Known Member
10+ year member
Hi Everyone,

A friend of mine is moving to Chicago, and I’m hoping to visit them for a long weekend later this year. Since I’ve never been to Chicago, I’d love to get some advice on the zoos in the area.

I know Brookfield Zoo, Lincoln Park Zoo, Shedd Aquarium, and the Field Museum are popular destinations—especially Shedd, which is often praised as one of the best aquariums in the country. However, I’ve also heard there’s quite a bit of construction happening at several of these locations, and I’m concerned about how that might impact the visitor experience.

In an ideal world, I’d have time to visit all four attractions, but if that’s not possible (or if my friend suggests other plans), I’d appreciate your recommendations on which places to prioritize. If certain areas are closed or affected by construction, would it make more sense to focus on the zoos without ongoing projects?

If construction significantly impacts the experience at a place like Shedd, I’m also open to the idea of skipping it this time and visiting my friend again next year if the work is complete by then.

Thanks so much for your advice!
 
Much of Shedd is under construction right now, but that will continue to be the case until 2030, so waiting a year probably won't change too much.
 
I’ve been to all four, but it’s been over 20 years since I’ve been to Shedd. Off the cuff I'd say Brookfield is the most impressive, or at least was the most impactful to me, but you could very easily make a case for any of them depending on your personal priorities. If Brookfield's rarities or nicer exhibits aren’t your cup of tea, but you’re a big fan of say great apes or lions or Japanese macaques, then I’d say Lincoln Park. If you want to see some really exotic species, that just so happen to have been dead for decades (or… millennia), then Field Museum. It’s just a bit difficult to say one thing unilaterally over the others when they all have a very strong case for potentially prioritizing them.
 
As someone who's been to all four of these places many, many times and really loves all of them, I struggle to know which one to visit every time I'm in Chicago! You can't go wrong with any of them. Lincoln Park is easily the least impressive of the four (under normal circumstances) but even it has its own huge charm. I'm honestly not sure what Shedd looks like right now.
 
I didn't realize the Field Museum had such an interesting collection of stuffed mammals. I'd never even heard of the dibatag, so that's a thing I learned today. They're also known for holding the Tsavo man eating lions and the largest African elephant ever recorded.
 
Shedd is under construction as others have said. When I went last week the Oceanarium was open, Wild Reef, and the upstairs gallery rooms. Amazon Rising and of course the center Caribbean Reef tank were all closed off.

Brookfield is doing great things to Tropic World currently, the most impressive thing about that building is the sheer size. It's marvelous for the smaller primates, but a welfare nightmare for their great apes. Still an iconic building nonetheless. Brookfield is much larger than Lincoln Park, and has a higher variety of species, including rarities such as their Tree Pangolins.

Lincoln Park has IMO, a best of the old and best of the new aspect to it. The Great Ape and Lion habitats are far superior to Brookfield, and it has a more Australasian focused bird collection (Kagu, Laughingthrushes, Mynah, Lesser Green Broadbill) contrasting a lot of Brookfield's South American species (Tanagers galore for example). A lot of Brookfield's exhibits are quite dated, while Lincoln Park has several new exhibits within the last 10-15 years (Ape complex, Lions, Macaques, Penguin, Polar Bear).

As far as Lincoln Park rarities, despite it's much smaller collection, it hosts the only Puerto Rican Parrots outside of Puerto Rico, Lesser Green Broadbill (one of 2 institutions left with this bird), Kagu (one of ~5 institutions) and less seen species such as Cactus Mice, Takin, Père David's Deer.

Brookfield can definitely take someone several hours to a full day. Lincoln Park would take the average guest maybe 2 hours.
 
Shedd Aquarium has always been my favorite of the Chicago institutions, but like others have said it is currently under construction. I would also highly recommend the Field Museum, especially with Shedd under construction you could likely do both in one day if you wanted. The museum has a stunningly impressive collection of taxidermy, fossils, and other cultural pieces. I believe they recently obtained a new archaeopteryx specimen as well (quite significant!), along with Sue the T. rex and the Patagotitan. The paleontology display is also quite impressively primarily fossils rather than casts. Lincoln Park Zoo has its own wonderful charm to it and the nearby neighborhood is also fun to explore if you'd like. LPZ, in my opinion, is probably the most put together of the zoos currently having completed its long-term master plan (Shedd under construction, BZ in need of its centennial plan). Brookfield Zoo is a bit out of the way from the city, but it does have a train stop on the BNSF line. Brookfield Zoo would likely need to be its own whole day activity since the collection and grounds are quite large.
 
Depends on if time or money is the main limiting factor. Shedd and Field are right next to each other and could be done in a day.

Lincoln Park is probably the least impressive of the three but it’s still a good zoo and has free admission.

Brookfield’s rather expensive but is an absolutely massive facility you will spend a full day at. Check the weather. Can be unpleasant on very hot days. There is construction on the upcoming outdoor primate habitats but right now everything’s open save some terrariums in the Australia House.

Three of Shedd’s main four exhibits are open. Amazon Rising’s closed, but the historic galleries, Wild Reef, and Oceanarium aren’t. Still probably worth a trip but might be better to wait a year for Amazon Rising to reopen. Caveat: the Oceans gallery might close after Amazon Rising opens. Depends on which you’re more interested in.

The Museum of Science and Industry is fairly light on animals but has a coal mine themed dark ride / walkthrough attraction coming up on a century old, an actual U-Boat, some Tesla coils, and a James Bond gadget / vehicle exhibit at the moment. It is, in my opinion, Chicago’s coolest museum.

I’m not 100% sure how City Pass works but that can get you Science & Industry, Field, Shedd, the Sears Tower (fight me) observation deck and a boat tour for $140. That’s not many zoological exhibitions but it’s Chicago, the cultural center of Middle America. Could be a cool way to fill two days.
 
Shedd and the Field Museum have always taken me a full day each. I know Shedd is under construction right now, but I still wouldn't recommend both in one day.
 
Thanks everyone for the comments so far! You've already given me a lot to think about.

The most surprising thing for me is that Shedd has zero votes in the poll so far. I set it so everyone can vote in the poll twice, thinking people would vote for their top 2 choices, and still nobody has voted for Shedd even once (even as their second option)! The aquarium is usually spoken of as among the top three in the United States, so the construction projects must really be impacting things for it to get no votes. If I visited Chicago a year ago, Shedd would probably have been the place I'd prioritize seeing the most. Today it has gotten zero votes, and it feels almost sacrilegious to say this, but based on people's comments Shedd may be the place (out of these four) that I am most likely to end up skipping. Is that insane?

If I don't go to Shedd, then Brookfield is the big one to prioritize, with its unique exhibits and many rarities like Pangolin. I also haven't seen a Polar Bear in around ten years, so that is a rarity for me personally that I would want to see when I go to Chicago.

Everyone's comments about the Field Museum have also made that place sound much more enticing than I was expecting. Seeing Narwhal, Glacier Bear, the Tsavo man-eating lions, and the largest African Elephant ever recorded would be incredible. I have already been to the American Museum of Natural History and Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, so seeing another of the top natural history museums in the world would be a great experience.

(At the time of making this post, the votes are 0- Shedd, 7- Brookfield, 2- Lincoln Park, and 1- Field Museum)
 
ZooElephantMan said:
The most surprising thing for me is that Shedd has zero votes in the poll so far. I set it so everyone can vote in the poll twice, thinking people would vote for their top 2 choices, and still nobody has voted for Shedd even once (even as their second option)! The aquarium is usually spoken of as among the top three in the United States, so the construction projects must really be impacting things for it to get no votes. If I visited Chicago a year ago, Shedd would probably have been the place I'd prioritize seeing the most. Today it has gotten zero votes, and it feels almost sacrilegious to say this, but based on people's comments Shedd may be the place (out of these four) that I am most likely to end up skipping. Is that insane?
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A somewhat significant portion of the aquarium is being redeveloped right now and if you visited in its current state you'd miss about a quarter of the facility. Construction is slated to be wrapped up this fall however, so keep your eye on the news thread to see if things are completed by the time of your visit. If so Shedd should absolutely be a priority, especially considering the remaining historic galleries are being replaced and/or renovated staring next year.
 
ZooElephantMan said:
A friend of mine is moving to Chicago, and I’m hoping to visit them for a long weekend later this year. Since I’ve never been to Chicago, I’d love to get some advice on the zoos in the area.

I know Brookfield Zoo, Lincoln Park Zoo, Shedd Aquarium, and the Field Museum are popular destinations—especially Shedd, which is often praised as one of the best aquariums in the country. However, I’ve also heard there’s quite a bit of construction happening at several of these locations, and I’m concerned about how that might impact the visitor experience.
Click to expand...
Welcome to Chicago and hope you have a lovely time here!

There is no construction at Lincoln Park currently and Brookfield's construction should not currently be affecting any of the exhibits. The main construction right now is over what used to be an empty, grassy mall between Tropic World and the Pachyderm House. The former building is still open and the latter is closed due to its age, but the animals should be outside anyway. Some exhibits do close temporarily at times.

Dassie rat said:
The Field Museum (Field Museum of Natural History - Wikipedia) includes specimens of the dibatag, giant forest hog, giant sable antelope, glacier bear, marsh deer, narwhal and Weddell seal. There are also many fossil forms including Sue the Tyrannosaurus rex
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The Field is the only natural history museum I had visited before this year and I appreciate any perspective on what makes it special or unique. The narwhal was always one of my favorite specimens.

ZooElephantMan said:
The most surprising thing for me is that Shedd has zero votes in the poll so far. I set it so everyone can vote in the poll twice, thinking people would vote for their top 2 choices, and still nobody has voted for Shedd even once (even as their second option)! The aquarium is usually spoken of as among the top three in the United States, so the construction projects must really be impacting things for it to get no votes. If I visited Chicago a year ago, Shedd would probably have been the place I'd prioritize seeing the most. Today it has gotten zero votes, and it feels almost sacrilegious to say this, but based on people's comments Shedd may be the place (out of these four) that I am most likely to end up skipping. Is that insane?
Click to expand...
It's just the worst time in the world, haha. The Caribbean Reef exhibit was a Chicago icon and home to the aquarium's only sea turtle and tons of unique tropical fish, and Amazon Rising is one of its most popular exhibits with zoochat with some of the biggest freshwater heavy hitters such as Arapaima, green anaconda, and pirahna. The ocean galleries are a bit less tightly organized though still species-rich. The Oceanarium and Wild Reef remain impressive.

Certainly if you can fit it into your schedule, it's worth a visit, it's just harder to prioritize when it feels incomplete; similarly to how I waffled on a possible trip to the National Zoo while the pandas were leaving. They weren't the focus of the potential trip but it was going to be a big hole.

If I don't go to Shedd, then Brookfield is the big one to prioritize, with its unique exhibits and many rarities like Pangolin. I also haven't seen a Polar Bear in around ten years, so that is a rarity for me personally that I would want to see when I go to Chicago.
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Both Lincoln Park and Brookfield currently hold polar bears so you have a good chance of seeing them at either facility.

My best recommendation is if you are someone who prefers seeing lots of species, Brookfield is easily the better pick, with several more reptile species, and several additional mammals not held at the other zoo, including tigers, orangutan, tapirs, clouded and amur leopards, capuchins, okapi, duikers, brown bears, sand cat, koala, wombat, echidna, bison, and so forth; but if you are more interested in exhibit design, then Lincoln Park is probably the better zoo, especially with one of the best ape complexes in the nation. I would also definitely recommend LPZ higher if primates are a key interest.

Everyone's comments about the Field Museum have also made that place sound much more enticing than I was expecting. Seeing Narwhal, Glacier Bear, the Tsavo man-eating lions, and the largest African Elephant ever recorded would be incredible. I have already been to the American Museum of Natural History and Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, so seeing another of the top natural history museums in the world would be a great experience.
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The Field also has the iconic 'Four Seasons' taxidermy display, extinct Mexican grizzly bears, a number of extinct birds, Bushman the gorilla, and Su-lin the giant panda among the taxidermy collection, the excellent Hall of Asian Mammals, and among the dinosaurs, one of the only Spinosaurus skeletons on display in addition to Sue and a large dinosaur hall. I don't believe the Archeopteryx is on display yet but should be in a month or two. There are also Egyptian mummies and several displays about human cultures.
 
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