I'll be riding the California Zephyr in March and I'm looking for recommendations on where to park for the week or so I'll be gone. Looks like Amtrak used to have a nearby deck that was recently closed.
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Coming from Alabama
Will, use the parking garage located on the S.W. corner from the station. Entrance on canal.
Charlie
One way car rental.... return it at the station and rent another car to drive home.
There's an app called SpotHero, try that. Saves us a bundle on parking when in the city.
Will.... When living/working in Chicago area years ago, parking in the city was always a problem. When I took the Amtrak Texas Eagle out of Union Station for Houston, I would park in Milwaukee (was also safer) and ride the Metro directly to Union Station. I lived in Waukegan and it was same distance for me to Milwaukee as it was to Chicago. Plus, got to ride the Metro and see more and ride more, and parking was WAY cheaper. And, as I said, Metro took me directly to the station and had no problem with boarding the Amtrak. Jeff and Charlie do have more up-date information..... But, last I was there, Milwaukee is a great city to visit and has a great train club to visit.
Happy Trails.....
Jesse TCA 12-68275
Founding member of Antioch, Ill North Central O Gaugers in 2000......
Find an Amtrak station between you and Chicago and park there for free. I leave from toledo ohio and have plenty of time before I board the Zephyr
I took the Zephyr from Naperville Illinois stop to Winter Park Co.. Naperville is just west of the City of Chicago. They have a parking large lot there and the ticket agent will give you a pass to leave your car in their lot. Very convenient and it avoids the Chicago traffic. Highly recommend it.
Jeff T posted:There's an app called SpotHero, try that. Saves us a bundle on parking when in the city.
I use spot hero when I go to NYC. Works great every time.
Parking anywhere in Chicago is tres expensive. The Naperville idea makes sense. Check it out ahead of time.
Boilermaker1 posted:One way car rental.... return it at the station and rent another car to drive home.
This makes sense if the station has a rental agency that's open when your train departs/arrives.
I took the Maple Leaf many moons ago and had to take a bus and subway and bus to the airport to pick up the car since the Toronto station rental office closed at 8 or 9 and the train arrived at 10. I was allowed to return the car to the station for the 6 AM departure though.
Just food for thought.
If you bought sleeping car tickets out of Chicago and decide to board at Naperville be sure to check with Amtrak they might add that info to your reservation information as the Conductor might assume you have no showed for your trip and potential exists for them to sell the space.
I'd really like to board in Chicago. That's where our tickets are and we want to explore the city and station. I'll look in to the SpotHero app. I've also thought we might could park at the airport if needed.
Midway Airport does have long term parking, shuttle service to the terminal and a CTA line to downtown.
Will, I think the Naperville suggestion is actually a good idea, but if you really want to explore the city as you stated, don't waste your time messing around with parking. In the grand scheme of things, the convenience of parking close to the station outweighs the logistics if your are not familiar with the area. The SpotHero app should be looked at and if you can save a few bucks using the station I mentioned earlier you should try.
By the way, the garage I was wrote about earlier is called, "Union Station Self Park". There is an under ground tunnel that will take you from the parking lot almost to the platform. However, I'm not sure if there is an elevator or not. There are stairs.
Another things, if you leaving in March, you may hit the St. Patricks holiday events. If you do, make sure to visit the river as it is dyed green every year in addition to the many other sites to visit. All within walking distance of the parking garage/Union Station.
Charlie
Hey Will...if you do park at Naperville, go ahead and stand at the station ( at other side of the parking lot) facing the old Kroehler furniture factory. Right about where you will be standing, back in 1946 was the site of a horrific train crash. One Zepher rear ended another at 70 to 80 mph. When i delivered newspapers the train would slow down just enough for someone to throw off a few bundles of newspapers for us kids to deliver....when the train was coming, all the kids would "clear the area" so as to not get clobbered by a pack of newspapers....
