How do I get from the airport to Chicago?

O'Hare (ORD) sits 27 kilometers northwest of the Loop. The CTA Blue Line is the right answer for most arrivals. You'll find the station under Terminal 2, connected to all terminals by the free ATS people-mover. Buy a Ventra ticket from the machines on the platform for $5. Trains leave every 8 to 12 minutes during the day, every 15 to 30 minutes after midnight. The ride to Clark/Lake in the Loop takes about 45 minutes. It runs 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. That detail matters more than it sounds. A 2 AM red-eye landing still gets you downtown on the train, which you cannot say about most American airport rail links. The cars are noisy and smell faintly of old coffee. The plastic seats have seen better decades. Nobody rides them for comfort. But the Blue Line runs on its own tracks, so your 45-minute ride stays 45 minutes whether it's noon or Friday rush hour.

Taxis queue at the lower level of each terminal at O'Hare. The metered fare to downtown runs $40 to $55 depending on your destination, plus a $3.50 city surcharge and tip. Rush-hour traffic on the Kennedy Expressway can push the ride to 90 minutes, which makes the meter climb past $60. Uber and Lyft pick up from designated rideshare lots at each terminal. You'll need to follow signs to the rideshare pickup area, a 5-to-10-minute walk from baggage claim. Expect $25 to $45 for a standard ride to downtown, though surge pricing during holiday weekends or bad weather can double that. If you land between 7 and 9 AM or 4 and 7 PM on a weekday, skip both and take the Blue Line. The expressway becomes a parking lot. Worth noting, the flat-rate shared-ride shuttle that once ran to downtown for $24 ended operations in 2020 and has not resumed.

From Midway (MDW), 16 kilometers southwest of downtown, the CTA Orange Line is even simpler. The station connects directly to the terminal. A single ride costs $2.50, and the train reaches the Loop in about 25 minutes, running every 6 to 15 minutes between 4 AM and 1 AM. The Orange Line does not run overnight, so a late Midway arrival after 1 AM means a taxi or rideshare. Metered taxis from Midway to the Loop cost $25 to $35, and the ride takes 20 minutes without traffic, 45 with it. Midway arrivals have one thing working in their favor. Southwest Airlines dominates the terminal, so crowds tend to be lighter and the taxi queue shorter than O'Hare's. The Orange Line trains are the same aging rolling stock as the Blue Line, with fluorescent-lit interiors and a faint rattle over the elevated tracks above Archer Avenue.

A few things worth knowing before you land. Ventra cards from the airport machines accept credit cards and contactless payment. You can also tap a contactless credit card or phone directly at the turnstile for the same $5 fare from O'Hare or $2.50 from Midway. If you're staying near Magnificent Mile or Gold Coast, the Blue Line to Grand station puts you within a 10-minute walk of most hotels in that area. For the South Loop or Museum Campus near the Field Museum of Natural History, take the Blue Line to Jackson and transfer to the Red Line southbound. Chicago's weather shifts fast. Even in mid-June, a 22°C afternoon can drop to 14°C by 9 PM near the lakefront, and the wind on the elevated Blue Line platform at O'Hare feels 3 to 5 degrees colder than what your phone shows.