By Bundev Sawhney

Chicago may not be known as a city of nature first and foremost, and there’s some validity to it given our rather flat and inland geography. We don’t have imposing cliffs on our lakefront coast, mountain ranges looming over our skyline, or organic wildlife parks save for a couple legit bird sanctuaries and the occasional pigeon colony under a highway. With that being said, one would be mistaken to adopt the opposite extreme by seeing Chicago as a concrete jungle lacking in outdoor sites and activities. The city has hundreds of parks that, for a city that otherwise struggles with numerous persistent inequities, are actually quite well-distributed across the map. In fact, while North Side neighborhoods which are reputable for their affluence often have the enormous Lincoln Park in close proximity, this part of the city is otherwise relatively lacking in dedicated green space compared with much of the South and West sides.

A map showing distance from the nearest park, and the parks themselves, across the city. It is notable that the vast majority of Chicago is within a half mile of a park, although their sizes vary immensely from playground-like affairs to hiking trails with numerous deer companions.

Source: WTTW News

These parks are pivotal to the neighborhoods in which they are located as they serve numerous purposes at once such as leisure, sports practice, community gathering, boating and learning history. 20 of Chicago’s 77 official community areas have the name “Park” in the name - some of them, like Portage Park and Washington Park, are named after existing green space that defines the character of their respective surroundings. Others, like Albany Park and Brighton Park, are playing a sneaky game with us as there are no corresponding places with these names besides the neighborhoods as a whole. Clever marketing from bygone-era developers may be at play here…

Is there any objective way to determine the best parks in Chicago? Well, not really. A biker, an avid birdwatcher and a history junkie are probably going to have differing preferences in this regard, but I’m always a fan of setups that allow for people of multiple different interests to have a great time. With this in mind, I’m going to provide a rundown of some of the coolest parks around in delightfully non-controversial alphabetical order. In order to provide a little extra incentive to give these spots a visit, I’m also including some context on what else to check out if you’re venturing to the area from afar.

Horner Park

Beautiful restored riverfront - Tennis hotspot - Farmer’s market

As someone who lives pretty close to here, I may be a bit biased. But Horner Park really is special for possessing picturesque greenery all the way up to the flowing Chicago River. Nearly all of the riverfront in the several miles between here and downtown is surrounded by either current or former industry, blocking direct access to this otherwise great natural element of the city that the amazing organization Friends of the River is working to improve. As one of the largest non-lakefront parts around this part of the city, it’s a pretty lively place to be. You can see avid tennis players, families barbecuing, preschool groups in high-visibility vests, people vibing in the grass and so much more on any given day here. It’s a great place to ride a bike, with a huge loop around the park and access to river trails that go down to Belmont to the south and all the way out of city limits through Skokie and Evanston to the north. Like a surprising number of modern parks in Chicago, Horner Park started out as a space for industrial purposes - it was an area heavily excavated for clay up through the 1950s. Today there is little trace of this past, with even the surrounding neighborhoods being quaint and not particularly industrial in addition to exhibiting some of the highest levels of diversity anywhere in the city. This cuisine variety is exhibited in their weekly summer farmer’s market that includes a tamales stand and other fun twists.

Jackson Park

Huge size - Pivotal to Chicago history - Japanese Garden

While our city has countless great green parks, we can’t forget about another outdoor delight we have available in the form of sandy beaches (well, they’re artificial, but who’s keeping track.) But what if you could get both vibes at the same time? There are a few examples of park space adjacent to Chicago beaches, but Jackson Park is particularly impressive with its wide and imposing size, the Museum of Science and Industry located within, and direct greenway connection to similarly large Washington Park. This part of the city has been pivotal to some of Chicago’s most important phases of history, notably hosting the World’s Columbian Exposition in 1893. The Statue of the Republic, an iconic bronze sculpture that overlooked the park at the time and is visible in many historic photos, is still standing today. This world-famous Exposition brought with it many “firsts” such as large-scale electric power to the US, the Ferris Wheel (named for its inventor, this first example for the world was twice as large as the one at Navy Pier today!), and the moving walkway. While construction in Jackson Park has been a mess this summer, you can still feel an overarching aura of grandness with which millions of visitors were met 130 years ago. Neighboring Hyde Park may feel like an isolated island for North Siders and CTA train loyalists, but it’s all around a beautiful neighborhood with more than enough cafes, cultural institutions and architectural delights to enjoy the whole day.

LaBagh Woods

Deer! - True “out of the big city” vibes - Great for gatherings

There are a lot of experiences that may be rather universal to the rural Midwest, but are usually not as easy to come by in the dense confines of the region’s largest city. Extreme prevalence of deer is one of those things, and after seeing plenty of deer-involved car accident videos I don’t find myself complaining that they seldom roam our streets. Even so, you can reliably find them in some parts of Chicago proper if you know where to look. LaBagh Woods may not exactly be in the center of the city’s action, but it’s worth a potentially long trip if you’re looking for true forest preserve vibes. There are many open spaces surrounded by thick tree cover, allowing for a unique feeling of seclusion. Deer roam the area, and they’re not all too skittish given that they’re quite used to humans by this point. North Mayfair to the (ironically) south is a diverse middle class neighborhood that strikes a balance of quaint suburban feel with urban design that still permits relatively safe biking, making this the perfect destination for an adventurous ride.

McKinley Park

Ice skating - People watching - Community connections

McKinley Park is a relatively small, proud, and multiethnic working class community that shares its name with a park that’s core to the neighborhood identity. We recommend checking out the surrounding area if you’re into Chicago’s bungalow architecture, authentic Mexican or Chinese food, or getting yourself rightfully mad about environmental injustice going on just across the street from the park itself. Even with this latter reality in mind, the park has a lively energy that reflects the spirit of surrounding residents, with everything from after school youth program groups to seniors going fishing to keep you company. There is also an outdoor ice rink open in the winter, allowing for a nice activity to center a day trip around even in our terribly frigid months. You likely won’t need the whole day anyway, as the park is but a 15 minute trip from downtown on the Orange Line and lies in the approximate geographic center of the city between busy Western and Ashland Avenues.

Ping Tom Memorial Park

Skyline views - Chinese architecture - Transit nerdiness

I first found out about this relatively new addition to Chicago’s park system when some friends were deliberating online over the best picnic spot for new visitors to the city. Between close and incredible skyline views, pagoda architecture that reflects the area’s heavily Chinese-American character, and easy access from the Red and Green lines of the CTA, it’s hard to ask for much more on a modest plot of riverfront land. Ping Tom was an inspiring Chinese-Chicagoan community activist and business leader who worked hard to break down divisions among the city’s diverse population. He started the Asian American Coalition of Chicago, which brings together people with origins across East, Southeast and South Asia for annual celebrations. Additionally, he played a significant role in Chinatown redevelopments that have contributed to the neighborhood’s thriving commercial scene and growing population. While the park in his name is sandwiched between train lines, this doesn’t negatively affect the aesthetic of the area itself and instead makes for a great time watching the choo-choos go by and boats along the river canal.

Steelworkers Park

Rock climbing walls - Manufacturing history retold - Far from traffic

To the uninitiated, it may not be clear just how far Chicago’s official boundaries reach on all sides. We speak of “North Side” and “South Side”, but let’s take a closer look at just how far of distances we can be talking about within each of these sections. Within the North Side, let’s say you want to get from your home in Irving Woods to Navy Pier. That’ll be 19 miles of distance that takes an average of an hour in rush hour traffic. Within the South Side, the city stretches about 20 miles from downtown and stretches from a couple miles west of Midway Airport to Illinois’ eastern border with Indiana. This latter portion of the city near our politically distinct neighbor doesn’t attract much media hype as it has a relatively low population density, but the communities that exist here have fascinating histories directly intertwined with America’s steel manufacturing legacy. Tall and imposing “ore walls” dominate the landscape, and the gaps between them used to be filled with iron ore deposits brought in by ship. A great deal of signage explains the area’s critical history to Chicago’s development, migration that occurred to pursue these manufacturing jobs, and the area’s transformation from serving this purpose to becoming a recreational site just in the past couple of decades.

All of these parks serve as a great excuse to check out the area in question if you haven’t been before, and are often some of the most joyful places to be in the city with wholesome get-togethers, kids having fun and pensive lone wolves finding tranquility usually all going on at once. While nearby residents are obviously most likely to end up at them, I haven’t received anything approaching a weird look at the ones far from home even when I’m clearly just dropping by from elsewhere. I encourage you to give one of these parks a try if you haven’t yet - if nothing else, you’ll at least get some cool photos out of the deal.

The views in this piece are of editorial opinion and do not necessarily reflect the views of See Chi Go, LLC.