![]() You feel like you could be a character in a spy thriller as you pass through the note-perfect midcentury lobby and take the elevator to the elegant second-floor reception area. To check into the Langham Chicago, which has occupied the building’s first 13 floors since 2013, is to step into the story the building tells about the American city. It’s a paragon of the late International Style: a 52-story rectangle of anodized aluminum and bronze glass that is the perfect distillation of corporate might and urban promise. Stephanie WuĪ highlight of any Chicago riverboat architecture tour is Mies van der Rohe’s last skyscraper-330 North Wabash, still commonly referred to as the IBM Building. ![]() If you’re in need of a good night’s sleep, spend a night at a Peninsula hotel. Peninsula hotels are known for their intuitive technology (in-room tablets let you control the lights, request housekeeping, and check your flight status), but what I most look forward to are the unparalleled blackout shades. You know a hotel is at the top of its game when the towels are so plush they feel as though they were woven on-site and there are neatly labeled amenity drawers so you don’t have to pry each one open to find what you’re looking for. ![]() Fortunately, there’s plenty of relaxing to be done in the guest rooms, many of which are more spacious than a Chicago apartment. I wondered why I didn’t have the foresight to block off a whole day to alternate between spa treatments and dips in the pool. You could easily spend all day there in unperturbed bliss-while waiting for my spa appointment, I overheard a woman check in for her 9 a.m. But what stunned me most on my first visit was the fact that it’s rarely crowded. This high-rise hotel might be home to the city’s best-kept secret: a sprawling, 80-foot pool some 19 floors up, with floor-to-ceiling windows and a view you can’t peel your eyes from. Spread over a whopping 20,000 square feet, the rooftop Offshore is a scenic spot for a cocktail-including frozen offerings-complimented by a covers-all-bases menu running from tuna tartare and raw oysters to burgers and ribs. ![]() Navy Pier has not traditionally been a foodie destination, but the hotel upgrades your choices beginning with Lirica, the ground floor restaurant that spills out onto the pier, serving pan-Latin surf and turf in dishes like Mexican shrimp cocktail and Argentine beef empanadas. Brass accents and curved lines channel classic ship design, and floor-to-ceiling windows flood the rooms with light. Taking their cue from Lake Michigan, the hotel’s 223 rooms channel the Great Lake in a marine blue and whitecap color scheme with pale driftwood and sand tones in furniture and fixtures. The glass exterior brings the outside into the building, and cleverly quotes nautical design. Named for a ship stationed at Navy Pier during World War II, the Sable has the most enviable tourist location, anchored on the far end of the 3,300-foot-long pier looking back at the city skyline. ![]()
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