Where Millennium Park is elegant, Maggie Daley Park is pure fun. Built on 20 acres just east of its famous neighbor, this award-winning park is a wonderland of climbing towers, winding slides, suspension bridges, and a ribbon of skating path that loops through it all like a giant playground doodle.
Kids adore the Play Garden’s themed zones — the Enchanted Forest, the Wave Lawn, the Tower Bridge — while the quarter-mile Skating Ribbon twists and rolls for ice skaters in winter and rollerbladers in summer. The rock-climbing walls and mini golf add even more ways to play, all with downtown Chicago towering on one side and Lake Michigan sparkling on the other.
It’s unbeatable for families with kids of any age, groups of friends, and anyone young at heart. Tip: the Skating Ribbon offers skate rentals in season, and weekday mornings are the quietest time to let little ones explore the climbing structures without a wait.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons / Victorgrigas
