A few weekends back, I headed to Chicago with some girlfriends for a quick Chicago girls weekend! We had a blast, and crammed so many activities into 36 hours than I thought possible!
Shop this look here.
Where we stayed
We were hosted by The Drake, one of our favorite hotels in Chicago!
Shop this look here.
It has a perfect location on The Magnificent Mile, and is virtually in walking-distance to anything you could want or need. I love all the history and charm here, and the staff is always happy to help with a smile!
We stayed at the Drake in January, and you can read a bit more about it here.
Where we ate
We were craving sushi after we checked into our hotel, so we headed to NoMI.
There was indoor seating available, but we opted for the rooftop space. It wasn’t too busy, and we were able to be seated right away. The sushi was great, but the real highlight here was when I ordered the Gnomie cocktail and it came out in a copper Gnome – and the drink was tasty, too. This just hit the top of my list for Chicago cocktail spots!
We had dinner at Summer House Santa Monica. In a word: AMAZING. Our server was friendly, and despite being completely full, our dinners came out so fast! The wine list and atmosphere here were amazing. Pro tip: make a reservation on OpenTable!
We started with the Salt and Pepper Calamari, and it was delicious. For my dinner, I went for the mahi mahi tacos!
Sunday morning, we walked to Einstein Bros Bagels for breakfast and a quick chai latte before adventuring out for the day. You cannot beat Einstein Bros Bagels!
What we did
Step one for the perfect Chicago girls weekend is having a good hair day! When we arrived and checked in, we headed out for our blowout appointments at Drybar. We walked there, but it was a bit of a hike, so we opted to Uber back. You should definitely make an appointment, since they get pretty busy after lunchtime. We left feeling refreshed and ready for the day!
We did some shopping on Michigan Ave, and hit a few of our favorite spots, like Dylan’s Candy Bar and Louis Vuitton.
We headed up to check out TILT! (if you remember the last time we were in Chicago, it was pretty cloudy). Visibility was much better this time, however, the line took about 45 minutes. I would suggest planning your visit early in the morning, or later in the evening!
When you book a Chicago Hilton with the Experience Chicago Package, you can receive a complimentary TILT! ticket!
You can’t have the ultimate Chicago girls weekend without some major retail therapy! We headed out to The Fashion Outlets of Chicago on Sunday before heading home. Again, when you book with the Experience Chicago Package, you can unlock a savings pass, and score some awesome deals! A few of our favorite stores we checked out were the Gucci outlet, Nordstrom Rack, and Solstice Sunglasses.
The mall common spaces were full of really cool art installations! You can pick up a map that has info on each piece and each artist!
Nordstrom Rack set us up with a dressing room full of their favorite Fall trends and travel essentials!
You can shop this look here.
We had so much fun playing around, and you know there’s always time for a Pretty Woman dressing room montage 😉
We also headed to the Godiva Outlet. Because nothing says “Chicago girls weekend” like chocolate!! We got to sample their limited edition Festival chocolate box – and guys. SO GOOD.
I think I fall a little bit more in love with Chicago with every visit! Have you been to Chicago? Where are your favorite spots?
Thank you to Hilton Hotels and to The Drake for sponsoring this post. All content and opinions remain my own.
How fun! We do an annual girls trip each fall to a winery! So fun and we all look forward to it all year!!
That is such a fun tradition!! We were talking about making ours annual as well 🙂