Lincoln Park

Miles of greenery and the lake’s cooling breeze
Noteworthy for: With 20 million visitors a year, Lincoln Park is the second most visited park in the United States.

A long, fat slab of green hedged in by water and concrete, Lincoln Park is one of Chicago's prettiest, busiest parks. Fringed by some of the city's most expensive real estate, its 1,208 acres are a honey pot for sports lovers, walkers, cyclists, picnickers and posers who come to escape the madness of the city. All told, it's not bad for a patch of land that started life as a Civil War graveyard.
The park runs for ten leafy miles up Lake Michigan from busy Oak Street Beach, and boasts a string of fine, quieter beaches along its length. Beyond its lawns and lake, the park also has a fair few actual sights, including the Chicago History Museum and the appealing Lincoln Park Zoo. Should wildlife in captivity not be your thing, you might also come across the odd beaver or heron at the North Pond nature reserve.