Near West Side, Chicago
The Near West Side is one of the 77 community areas of Chicago in Illinois, United States.
The Near West Side is one of the 77 community areas of Chicago in Illinois, United States. It is adjacent to the Loop on the city's West Side, bounded by Kinzie Street on the north, the Chicago River on the east, 16th Street on the south, and the former CNW tracks on the west. The Great Chicago Fire of 1871 started on the Near West Side. Waves of immigration shaped the history of the Near West Side of Chicago, including the founding of Hull House, a prominent settlement house. The near west side comprises several neighborhoods. In the 19th century railroads became prominent features. In the mid-20th century, the area saw the development of freeways centered in the Jane Byrne Interchange.
Adapted from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Worth seeing in and around Near West Side, Chicago
10 places within 25 km that the world writes about, in the order of how widely: the ones a visitor has heard of first, then the ones only a local would name.
- 01Willis Tower
The Willis Tower, formerly known and still commonly referred to as the Sears Tower, is a 110-story, 1,451-foot skyscraper in the Loop of Chicago, Illinois, United States. Designed by architect Bruce Graham and engineer Fazlur Rahman Khan of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, it opened in 1973 as the world's tallest building, a title that it held for nearly 25 years.
2.6 km · skyscraper in Chicago, Illinois, USA · Wikipedia - 02Art Institute of Chicago
The Art Institute of Chicago is a private, nonprofit art museum in Grant Park, Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1879, it is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the United States.
3.5 km · art museum and school in Chicago, United States · Wikipedia - 03United Center
United Center is an indoor arena on the Near West Side of Chicago, Illinois. It is home to the Chicago Bulls of the National Basketball Association and the Chicago Blackhawks of the National Hockey League.
600 m · indoor arena in Chicago · Wikipedia - 04Aon Center
The Aon Center is a modern supertall skyscraper located in the Northeast corner of the Chicago Loop, Chicago, Illinois, United States. It was designed by a partnership between architecture firms Edward Durell Stone and Perkins and Will and was completed in 1973 as the Standard Oil Building.
3.8 km · skyscraper in the Chicago Loop, Chicago, Illinois, United States · Wikipedia - 05Trump International Hotel and Tower
The Trump International Hotel and Tower, or simply the Trump Tower, is a skyscraper condo-hotel in the Near North Side community area in downtown Chicago, Illinois, United States. The building, named for Donald Trump, was designed by architect Adrian Smith of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill.
3.5 km · skyscraper condo-hotel in downtown Chicago, Illinois · Wikipedia - 06University of Illinois Chicago
The University of Illinois Chicago is a public research university in the Near West Side community area of Chicago, Illinois, United States. The university was the second institution established within the University of Illinois System and it is now the largest university in the Chicago metropolitan area, having more than 35,000 students enrolled in its 16 colleges.
1.7 km · public university (1983-) · Wikipedia - 07Millennium Park
Millennium Park is a public park in the Loop community area of Chicago, Illinois, United States, operated by the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events. The park, opened in July 2004, is a prominent civic center near the city's Lake Michigan shoreline that covers a 24.5-acre section of northwestern Grant Park.
3.7 km · public park in Chicago, Illinois, USA · Wikipedia - 08Home Insurance Building
The Home Insurance Building was an early skyscraper that stood in Chicago from 1885 to its demolition in 1931. Originally ten stories and 138 ft tall, it was designed by William Le Baron Jenney in 1884 and completed the next year.
2.9 km · 19th century commercial building in Chicago, Illinois · Wikipedia - 09Cloud Gate
Cloud Gate is a public sculpture by artist Anish Kapoor that is the centerpiece of Grainger Plaza at Millennium Park in the Loop community area of Chicago, Illinois, United States. Constructed between 2004 and 2006, the sculpture is nicknamed "The Bean" because of its shape.
3.6 km · public art sculpture in Chicago, Illinois, United States · Wikipedia - 10Aqua
Aqua is an 82-story mixed-use skyscraper in Lakeshore East, downtown Chicago, Illinois. Designed by a team led by Jeanne Gang of Studio Gang Architects, with James Loewenberg of Loewenberg & Associates as the Architect of Record, it includes five levels of parking below ground.
4 km · skyscraper in Chicago, Illinois · Wikipedia
Ranked by the number of language editions of Wikipedia with an article on each, from Wikidata; the sentences are the openings of those articles, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Getting to Near West Side, Chicago
- Airports
- Chicago Midway (MDW), 13 km · Chicago O'Hare (ORD), 23 km · General Mitchell (MKE), 120 km
- Milwaukee → Near West Side, Chicago130 km · quickest by road, 2h 39m · $11–16
- Grand Rapids → Near West Side, Chicago204 km · quickest by road, 4h 18m · $23–31
- Indianapolis → Near West Side, Chicago267 km · quickest by road, 4h 31m · $23–32
- Plan a tripFrom anywhereThe planner compares every way there from wherever you are.
Road and air are today’s quick answer; timetabled trains, buses and ferries load on the results page from the operators’ feeds.
No local-transport research exists yet for Near West Side, Chicago
Our researched notes are written from a sourced entry: every shared taxi, boat and village bus with its operator, its rule, its fare and the year we saw it, and what could not be confirmed. Nobody has done that work for Near West Side, Chicago. What is above is what we hold from open sources; nothing here pretends to be more.
- Get inChicago Executive Airport: A second designated reliever airport, it is an increasingly popular airport for chartered flights based in Wheeling and Prospect Heights.
- Get inWaukegan Regional Airport: A third designated reliever airport, the Waukegan Regional Airport receives chartered flights.
From Wikivoyage: Chicagoland, CC BY-SA. Not yet checked by us; that article was last edited 2026-04.
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If you know how people move in Near West Side, Chicago – the stand, the rule, the fare – tell us, and the note gets an entry.
Next door to Near West Side, Chicago
Near West Side, Chicago is 4 km from Chicago, the nearest large city, whose note carries the wider picture.