Chicago with a baby: how baby-friendly is the city?

What “baby-friendly” means to us

Our expectations had not changed since Toronto: we wanted to get around, change and feed the baby, take breaks and enter places with a stroller without every step becoming an ordeal.

An easy door, a working elevator, a changing table or enough room beside a restaurant table are details we barely noticed before becoming parents. Now they can decide how the rest of the day goes.

That is what the score measures. Weather, our hotel and our choice of attraction times help explain the trip, but they are not included in the PapaScore.

Our travel profile

It was still our first major trip with a baby, just a few weeks later than Toronto. We kept the same rule: no minute-by-minute itinerary. At this age, the baby still sets the rhythm.

Every time we went out, we brought spare clothes, muslin cloths, a bottle, diapers, wipes, changing mat, pacifier, cooler and bottle warmer with breast milk, plus a sun hat, water and a diaper bag. We were a long way from traveling light.

Depending on the outing, we took the stroller alone or the stroller plus the infant car seat. That detail mattered at restaurants: having the stroller with us did not always mean being allowed to keep it at the table.

Choosing accommodation with a baby

After Toronto, two requirements had become non-negotiable: a crib and a refrigerator for storing expressed breast milk. Add location and price, and the list of suitable places shrinks quickly.

We compared hotels and Airbnb again. This time, we did not find an Airbnb that suited us downtown, so we chose a hotel. That does not mean suitable apartments do not exist in Chicago.

We stayed at the Swissôtel in Lakeshore East, just east of the Loop. It had what we needed: a good location for our itinerary, a price that worked for those dates, a crib and a refrigerator.

Bonus: a 25th-floor room overlooking the Chicago River. Nice in the morning, but the real advantage with a baby was being able to reach so many places on foot.

Walking around Chicago with a stroller

Chicago is a big city, but because we stayed downtown we could do most of our itinerary on foot. The Loop, Millennium Park, the Riverwalk, Magnificent Mile and Navy Pier already gave us plenty to do without constantly using transport.

The wide sidewalks were a genuine comfort. We could pass people, overtake or stop without feeling like we were blocking everyone. Even near our hotel, where construction narrowed the path, we still had enough room for the stroller.

Surfaces were generally good on our routes. We still came across a few potholes and damaged sections — nothing that stopped us, but enough to make us watch the front wheels so the baby did not get bounced around too much.

We did not do a major shopping session. We had no problem in the stores we did enter: Target, Uniqlo, TJ Maxx and Macy’s.

Some of this convenience came from our location. In Toronto, our more residential accommodation pushed us onto the subway more often. We cannot attribute every difference to the cities themselves.

Metra, the L and Uber

Metra: easy once we got past the stairs

We took Metra from Millennium Station to Museum Campus for the Field Museum.

The unpleasant surprise came before boarding: the elevator we wanted at Millennium Station was out of service. We had to carry the stroller down the stairs. With two adults, manageable; alone with the baby and bags, much harder. At Museum Campus, the elevator worked.

Getting onto the train with the stroller was straightforward. We used the priority-seating area, which was fine because the train was quiet; we would of course have moved if a priority passenger needed it. We did not test that route at rush hour.

The L: elevators, but less room on board

We also took the Pink Line from Washington/Wabash to Quincy for the Willis Tower. Both stations had working elevators: good start.

Inside, the car felt fairly narrow. It was quiet enough that we could fit comfortably, but we had less space around the stroller than on Toronto’s subway. We never experienced a packed L train, so crowding remains a possible issue rather than something we personally tested.

One curious ticketing moment: none of our cards worked at the ticket machine. We eventually tapped directly at the gate. Revolut did not work for us that day; Amex did. We cannot say why. We were simply glad we had another card.

Taxi and Uber: a chilly welcome, then no issues

We planned to take a taxi when we arrived at the station. The driver saw our luggage, waved no and drove off. Charming welcome.

We ordered an Uber instead, then another from the hotel to O’Hare when we left. Both rides were straightforward. We had our own infant car seat and installed it ourselves; both vehicles had enough trunk space for our luggage and stroller.

Our French Uber account worked directly. Two rides are not enough to promise a large SUV every time — that depends on the vehicle you get.

Getting into and around places with a stroller

As in Toronto, we often found automatic-door buttons. With a stroller, they are genuinely useful. Even with two adults, you quickly appreciate not having to hold a door with one hand while pushing with the other.

Elevators inside buildings were generally roomy. Physical access to stores and major attractions was therefore mostly easy. What varied more was whether we were allowed to keep the stroller throughout the visit.

Willis Tower: baby in our arms

At the Willis Tower, we were asked to leave the stroller at the bottom of the elevator. We carried the baby for the rest of the visit. After keeping the stroller with us at Toronto’s CN Tower, that was a small disappointment.

Luckily, our visit was fairly short. We still enjoyed it, especially The Ledge on the 103rd floor, but we would have liked to know in advance that we would be carrying the baby.

Field Museum: museum and special exhibition were different

The main Field Museum visit was easy with the stroller. For the temporary Pokémon Fossil Museum exhibition, however, we had to park it at the entrance and carry the baby.

The exhibition took us about half an hour, so it remained manageable. At the time, we were a little surprised because the space felt large enough for a stroller.

Breaks, diaper changes and baby supplies

Restaurants and coffee shops: ask first

We spent more time sitting in restaurants and cafés than in Toronto, partly to escape the heat, and the experience varied considerably from place to place.

Nutella Café: stairs right at the entrance

Mom is a serious Nutella fan, so this stop was non-negotiable. We even went twice. The entrance we used started with stairs going down — not ideal with a stroller. We carried it.

Lou Malnati’s: we passed

We wanted to try a deep-dish pizza at Lou Malnati’s. We were told there would be around a 30-minute wait and that the stroller would need to be parked separately.

High chairs and infant-car-seat stands were available, but our baby could not yet sit in a high chair and we had not brought the car seat. With a quoted 30–45-minute pizza preparation time, that would have meant a long meal holding the baby. No thanks.

Plan B was Labriola, a short walk away. There, the stroller could stay beside our table. Relief.

Ghirardelli: easy, and that was nice

We headed to Ghirardelli for a huge ice cream. As soon as we arrived, staff pointed us toward the elevator for the upstairs seating area. We could settle in with the stroller without getting in anyone’s way. Nothing spectacular — exactly what you want from a break with a baby.

Harry Caray’s at Navy Pier: no stroller at our patio table

We wanted lunch by the water. For the outdoor patio, we were asked to leave the stroller at the entrance and hold the baby during the meal. Again, not especially practical for us. We did not test indoor seating.

Changing and feeding: a major strength

Diaper changes were easy. In the restrooms we used, we found changing tables on both the men’s and women’s sides. We rarely had to search for somewhere to change the baby, and that matters during a full day out.

For nursing and bottles, we almost always found a bench or somewhere to sit. Big open spaces such as Millennium Park and Grant Park made proper breaks easy.

We also found Mother’s Rooms at the Field Museum and O’Hare Airport: dedicated spaces where mothers could sit quietly. We had not come across one during our Toronto stay. That does not mean Toronto has none; in Chicago, we appreciated finding them on our route.

Diapers, milk and baby products: what we actually checked

We had already stocked up earlier in the trip, so we did not need to buy baby supplies in Chicago. That is an important limit on our backup-supplies score.

A nice surprise was the breastfeeding section in two Target stores, including one in Chicago, with several breast-pump models and other accessories. We already had everything we needed and bought nothing, but seeing that range in store was reassuring.

Elsewhere in the United States, we had already noticed that diaper models could differ from France even under familiar brands such as Pampers and Huggies. The formula shelves also contained products we did not recognize from France. We did not test any formula because our baby was fed breast milk.

Seeing products on a shelf does not guarantee a specific item will be available at every store. If you depend on a particular product, check before traveling.

The problems we did not anticipate

First Lady architecture cruise: fascinating, but long with a baby in our arms

We really enjoyed the First Lady architecture cruise. The stroller, however, had to stay stored inside; we held the baby for the full 90-minute cruise.

We had booked the 7 p.m. departure, the only time left when we reserved. For our baby, it was clearly the wrong slot. About two-thirds of the way through, we heard about it — loudly. And on a boat, you cannot simply decide to head back to the hotel ten minutes early.

Lesson learned: for us, a long evening activity that could not be shortened, while holding the baby the whole time, was too much. That reflects our time choice and our baby’s reaction, not a flaw in the city.

The heat: more breaks than expected

The heat and humidity tired us more than Toronto had. We would happily have taken a little more of the famous Chicago wind, but it was not really there. Air conditioning became very welcome.

We adjusted the itinerary. The goal was to enjoy the trip, not complete a checklist at all costs. The weather influenced our experience, but remains outside the score.

What we paid in Chicago

As with Toronto, these are the expenses for which we kept exact figures. Dollar amounts use the 2 September 2026 exchange rate, the first day of our stay: €1 = $1.1592, or roughly $1 = €0.86266. The hotel was already paid in euros.

This budget excludes meals, groceries, baby products and other spending for which we did not keep exact figures, including flights and travel between stops. It is therefore a partial total, just like Toronto.

Euro equivalents are indicative and exclude any foreign-exchange fees. The total adds line items rounded to the nearest cent. Reference rate: Federal Reserve, 2 September 2026.

Real-world testing, place by place

These are the places and journeys our verdict is based on. When we did not check a facility or another entrance, we say so rather than filling the gap by assumption.

These observations reflect our visit. “Not checked” means exactly that: we did not verify whether a changing table was available there.