CHICAGO'S WORST TOURIST TRAPS // What NOT to do in CHICAGO - Travel Tips from a Local (4K Vlog)

[Music] what's good youtube it's luis gusto welcome back to my channel well with travel picking up again and the tourism industry set to bounce back in a major way i'll be your personal insider guide to chicago sharing my best travel tips and tricks plus the best restaurants things to do and the things that you don't want to do in order to have the best experiences but before we get into it you already know what to do go ahead and finesse that like button subscribe if you're new to the channel and be sure to check out my patreon page for exclusive bonus content in a regular year more than 50 million people visit chicago whether that be for business or for pleasure and as a native chicagoan i can tell you that there are infinite ways to plan your trip to the windy city although 2020 was a down year for tourism overall in 2021 things are going to start to pick up again and by 2022 the industry as a whole will be stronger than ever in today's video we're going to talk about chicago's worst tourist traps plus the things not to do in order to have a more authentic travel experience so does chicago have tourist traps well yeah kinda you're definitely not gonna find any area in this city that's like times square in new york the hollywood walk of fame in la or the piccadilly circus in london but there are some tourist traps so let's hop right into them first up is the big bus tours in theory this is such a dope experience right a double-decker bus you can kick back and let a tour guide tell you all about the city as you see some of the most majestic skyscrapers but in reality the downtown area is built for walking you can really go and experience it at your own pace take the route that you want to take or sign up with an experienced walking tour guide look if you really want to kick back and let a tour guide tell you all about this city i highly recommend the architecture boat cruises they are a million times better i've done them several times and trust me they never get old our next tourist trap is parking and i've said several times on this channel that you don't need a car to travel to chicago but if it is a necessity i highly recommend staying in one of our neighborhoods like chinatown lincoln park or hyde park and then using our super reliable public transit either buses or trains to get to and from the downtown area because parking in the city is really going to get you especially in streeterville river north or the loop the next tourist trap is the world's largest starbucks on michigan avenue i did a whole video on this starbucks reserve roastery and it's really dope in a willy wonkas coffee factory type of way they also have a really cool italian bakery in there named princhi and i think it's kind of cool that the star bizzles chose chicago when it first expanded outside of seattle but come on man you're really gonna come all the way to chicago to get a starbucks cup of coffee which you can literally get anywhere else in the world when we have some great coffee places like intelligentsia big shoulders and sawada just to name three and that brings us to our final tourist trap any chain restaurant especially the ones that you're gonna find downtown chicago is known for its amazing restaurants we've won best restaurant city of the year several times we have restaurants on the michelin guide mom and pop local joints that have been there for 50 60 70 years eat the local food experience chicago one meal at a time as they say on the food channel maybe i don't know but when i'm talking about chains i'm talking about the national chain restaurants that you can eat in any townville usa especially the grand lux cafe the cheesecake factory and the hard rock cafe avoid these places like the plague unless you really love reheated frozen tv dinners so now that we've talked about the tourist traps let's talk about some of chicago's more popular attractions that are somewhat generic experiences first up we got the sears tower skydeck i love the sears tower it's the tallest building in the city it's an icon of chicago and i named my highest patreon tier after it but really you're going to end up waiting in a long line and paying a lot of money to go out on a glass balcony for some really high views but really not very memorable there are better observatories in the city that you can find if that's what you want to do next up we've got deep dish pizza and again i did a whole video on this yeah it's a delicious food but if you want that more authentic experience if you want to eat like locals which i like to do when i travel you're going to want to skip the deep dish pizza chicagoans really only eat this when friends and family are in visiting from out of town you can trust me on that one once i have family members show up the first thing on their list is let's go get some deep dish pizza and i'm not gonna say no like i said it's delicious but if you want that more authentic chicago pizza i talked several times about tavern style at places like vito and nyx and pat's pizza in lincoln park next up we have magnificent mile and you may be surprised to hear this one on my list because i'm always doing walking tours of mcmile plus i got into depth of the history but let's be honest it's a lot of shopping at big brands that you can really shop for anywhere not only in the united states but all around the world plus you've got generic experiences and lots of chain restaurants which we talked about earlier in this video magma has some cool stuff some historic architecture and of course amazing views of the river but at the end of the day it is a more generic experience for your travels next up let's talk about navy pier and this is probably chicago's closest thing to times square it didn't start off that way in fact again i did a whole video talking about the history of navy pier and all its various functions over the years and it's pretty fascinating when you start to dig into the history but today it is a generic pre-packaged and processed experience pretty much just for tourists so i really wouldn't prioritize heading over to the navy pier yeah i know when you're watching bears on nfl sunday you're going to see those nice drone shots of navy pier but trust me locals aren't going out of their way to visit to go on the ferris wheel you can go elsewhere in the city to really experience the true chicago and finally we have millennium park yeah that's where we're standing and that's where we're filming this video millennium park is great but it's less than 20 years old it really doesn't factor in when you're talking about the history and the importance of all the architecture in chicago it's a relatively new creation that was really built to attract tourists and that's what you'll see when you go to the beat you're going to see millions of people taking those selfies maybe over at the crown fountain imitating the spitting faces but again most chicagoans aren't really going to millennium park unless they work here on michigan avenue yeah it's a great place to bring your lunch but i'm going to keep it 100 with you guys coming in millennium park and taking pictures with the bean is not going to give you that authentic chicago experience and that's what i'm trying to bring you here on this channel so my recommendation would be to choose one or two experiences from this list maybe magnificent mile and get in a deep dish pizza and then experiencing some other great things in this city you can travel to chicago and completely avoid the downtown area not saying that i recommend that i don't know if i'd go that far but it definitely is possible make sure no matter what you do don't stay in the downtown area your whole trip take at least a half a day or maybe even a full day to experience one of our various neighborhoods we have over 200 to choose from and for more things to do in chicago be sure to check out my playlist everything from the best restaurants to history and architecture if you made it to the end i appreciate you go ahead and finesse that like button subscribe if you're new to the channel and i would really appreciate it if you shared this video with your very best friend be sure to check out my patreon page for exclusive community and bonus content thank you guys so much for watching have a great rest of your day i'm out of here peace and blessings

Channel: Gusto Films Collection

Views: 374,265

Keywords: chicagos worst tourist traps, what not to do in chicago, chicago travel tips, chicago travel guide, chicago travel vlog, chicago 4k, chicago tourism, visiting chicago, things not to do in chicago, chicago travel guide 2021, chicago tourist attractions, chicago tourist traps, navy pier chicago, chicago scams, magnificent mile chicago, tourist traps in america, worst tourist traps, sears tower skydeck, the bean chicago, overrated tourist attractions, the donts of chicago

Id: zcb2Tmk0SL4

Length: 7min 51sec (471 seconds)

Published: Tue Mar 02 2021