Chicago

Chicago is America's great city of structure. Lakefront skyline, birthplace-of-the-skyscraper heritage, world-class museums, theatre and a robust culinary identity create a metropolis whose elegance is built on ambition, proportion and Midwestern self-assurance.

Chicago was largely rebuilt after the Great Fire of 1871, and the rebuilding made it the laboratory of the skyscraper. The Loop, ringed by the elevated railway, holds work by Louis Sullivan, Daniel Burnham and Mies van der Rohe, and the Chicago River, lined with towers from every decade since, is best seen from the water on an architecture cruise.

North of the river, the Magnificent Mile leads to the Gold Coast and its quiet residential streets. Along Lake Michigan runs one of the great urban shorelines: parks, beaches and paths almost unbroken for miles. The Art Institute, the Field Museum, the Lyric Opera and the Chicago Symphony give the city cultural weight to match its architecture.

Late spring and early autumn are the most comfortable seasons. From May the lakefront fills with cyclists and runners, and summer brings outdoor music in Millennium Park, the Grant Park Music Festival, beaches along the shore and the Chicago Air and Water Show. Summer evenings by the lake are long and lively.

September and October are clear and mild, with the Chicago Marathon in autumn and the Lyric Opera season under way. Winters are long, cold and windy, but the city adapts: holiday lights along Michigan Avenue, the Christkindlmarket in December, and museums, theatres and dining rooms that are at their busiest when it is coldest outside.

The city’s finest hotels cluster around the Magnificent Mile and the Gold Coast: The Peninsula Chicago, just off Michigan Avenue; Four Seasons Hotel Chicago, reopened after a full transformation; Park Hyatt Chicago, facing the historic Water Tower; and Waldorf Astoria Chicago on a quiet Gold Coast street. By the river, The Langham, Chicago occupies a landmark building by Mies van der Rohe.

LVXVRY books Four Seasons, Park Hyatt and Waldorf Astoria through Four Seasons Preferred Partner, Hyatt Privé and Hilton for Luxury — at the official hotel rate, with the privileges each programme attaches to the stay — and advises on and arranges stays at The Peninsula and The Langham. Rooms on higher floors facing the lake are worth requesting in every season.