What are the best day trips from Chicago?

Indiana Dunes is the best single-day trip from Chicago if one of you wants to hike and the other wants to sit on a beach with a book. The South Shore Line leaves Millennium Station for Dune Park every 2 hours, 75 minutes each way, about $8 per person. From the platform, West Beach is a 15-minute walk through scrub oak. The sand is fine-grained and pale, the lake water cold enough in July to make you catch your breath, and the shoreline stretches wide enough that you can find empty sand even on a Saturday. The 3 Dune Challenge trail covers 1.5 miles over three summits, the highest at 192 feet. Short but steep. One of you hikes it in 90 minutes while the other reads on the sand, and you meet for a late lunch. Pack food if you're taking the train back. Chesterton, the nearest town with sit-down restaurants, is a 10-minute drive east of the Dune Park stop. Starved Rock State Park is the better hike, 160 km southwest on I-80, about 90 minutes by car, with 18 sandstone canyons and seasonal waterfalls after rain, but it requires a rental car or an overnight.

Milwaukee is the strongest couples' day trip in the Midwest. Amtrak's Hiawatha runs 7 times daily from Union Station, 90 minutes, $25-30 each way, and drops you at Milwaukee Intermodal at the edge of the Historic Third Ward. The Milwaukee Public Market on N Water Street handles lunch. St. Paul Fish Company's fried perch sandwich settles the question by 11:30am. Walk south along the riverwalk to the Milwaukee Art Museum, where the Calatrava wing opens and closes its brise-soleil at scheduled times throughout the day. The permanent collection is strong on Georgia O'Keeffe. If art isn't the draw, the Lakefront Brewery tour runs afternoons and includes four samples. The walk between the Third Ward, the museum, and Brady Street covers about 5 km total, flat the entire way. Brady Street has the best coffee shops and cocktail bars if you want to linger before catching a late Hiawatha back. Last train departs around 8:30pm, putting you at Union Station by 10pm.