Lincoln Park

Absolutely loved this park! It’s expansive and green and truly a beautiful respite from the big city. There is a lovely little pond with animals and is really just an environmental oasis. Lots of plant life and vegetation around the large pond. I saw a little bunny! Too funny seeing animals like that in a park in the middle of a huge city. There is also the zoo and a few art pieces scattered throughout the park. Really loved this park. Especially the people’s gas pavilion where there was a huge arch sculpture that you can go on under as well as sit in the little pods that make it up. Really cool. The Lincoln Park Nature Boardwalk around the pond is a really lovely walk as well. Best part is, it’s a free fun thing to do! Including the zoo!

I am absolutely in love with you, Lincoln Park.

My favorite area of Chicago by far. Sure Chi-​Town has lots of great neighborhoods from Gold Coast to River West, North Loop, you make it. But what sets Lincoln Park apart from the rest is variety.
LP has shops on shops on shops on restaurants on boutiques on parks on gorgeous housing and private alley ways… lol ok the alley way isn’t really a perk but it’s a cool amenity for sure. I love shopping in quant, quiet environments. I also enjoy local dining establishments and beautifully structured homes I can’t necessarily afford but love to gawk over. Lincoln Park gives me all of that in one small area, so I can stroll by foot. No wheels needed.
~Christy

The park itself is a gorgeous space full of beautiful trees, waterways, and light rolling hills.
The neighborhood is the fanciest (and most polarizing) in Chicago from frat house/​dormitory/​squatters to luxurious $ 20 million dollar homes.
It’s on the lake which makes it a highly desirable place to live. Ample restaurants and bars, and the largest farmers market in the city. A good family neighborhood where the BMW X5 is the standard family car. A top rated CPS elementary school, Lincoln Elementary to boot. OZ park is huge and the real estate nearby is something to marvel over.
Easy proximity to downtown, with perhaps the prettiest street in all of Chicago– tree lined Armitage.

Giant place, has free zoo, bike paths, benches, and nature. What more could you ask for?

I had a good time the last time I was at Lincoln Park but it had changed quite a bit from my previous visits. There were areas where people were hanging out and there was tons of trash covering the ground while they were trash cans that were not full just hanging out around the perimeter I know this is a personal problem for the people who were hanging out but it doesn’t make the park anymore peeling to go to especially when taking children. We moved on down the road by the beach and hung out for sunset while the kids played in the sand and we hung out on the wall and watch it was a great evening and I can’t wait to go back when it’s a little bit warmer. We would have taken a spin on the bike dinghies they have for rent but when we got there it was last call in the minimum is an hour they look like fun everybody was right in the mall around there several different varieties to rent the kids were very disappointed that we didn’t get to ride them but there’s always next time. The views of the city landscape or quite gorgeous with the sun going down and the water going crazy with the sailboats it was just a very picturesque postcard moment and I really just love Chicago.

awesome view of the city!
Has the zoo and farm here at the park! Great view of the city!

Lincoln Park is the older and wiser brother to Grant Park in downtown Chicago. Sure, downtown is nice with your museums and big metal jellybean, but Lincoln Park has a zoo and a beach. So there.
Seriously, Lincoln Park is home to many attractions besides the free and awesome zoo and beach. This park is north of the loop and is in a bit more upscale neighborhood. Unfortunately, access is a little difficult on public transit, so plan ahead if venturing here. There are many nice paths and large fields for any and all park activities or just strolling around. This second park in the second city is worth a visit or three.

Chicago’s answer to Central park, filled with beautiful landscaping, tennis courts, basketball courts and the Lincoln Park zoo.
The benches and trails were easy to navigate and fun to explore. The large statue of Lincoln is the only one known of him standing and that makes it unique! I absolutely LOVED this place. Apparently there are even hidden graves in the park, not far from the Bishop’s home.
Spend some time exploring but don’t freak out if you see a lovely lady and her cat sitting among the flowers, she’s quite friendly and her cat is extremely photogenic!

***Lincoln Park is a nice park though it is definitely not New York’s Central Park (the grounds are not as nice and Lincoln Park does not offer the great variety of activities you get with Central Park); still, it is a comfortable stroll and you will find some basketball courts and even a softball field; this park also provides great views of Lake Michigan as well as the Chicago’s skyline***
I am not sure what the parking situation is; street parking seemed to be available though there did not appear to be many open spaces.

Contrary to popular belief the Magnificent Mile doesn’t end at Bellevue Street. Seven magnificent miles of beaches, open space, woodland, recreation paths, and beautiful scenery extend from Magnificent Mile to the northernmost reach of Lake Shore Drive. This is Lincoln Park, one of the most visited urban parks in the United States.
What started out as Cemetery Park in the 1800s changed from a city of the dead to a city of life when Chicago leaders decided to change the cemetery to a park. It was around this time that President Abraham Lincoln was assasinated. From this time forward Lincoln Park is a green oasis in the shadows of a grand skyline.
Lincoln Park is a gateway to Lake Michigan. Along the seven magnificent miles of shoreline are beaches and harbors (Belmont and Diversity). The Lakeshore Path is the ribbon of concrete parallel to the Lake Michigan shoreline that connects Lincoln Park to Navy Pier, Grant Park, and numerous shoreline destinations.
Lincoln Park is a home for Chicago wildlife. The world renown Lincoln Park Zoo is a part of the park. It is home to many animals including giraffes, bears, tigers, hundreds of others. In the southern part of the zoo is the Lincoln Park Zoo Boardwalk a success story in bringing an ecosystem back to its original condition. It is the home of wood ducks, turtles, frogs, rabbits, and other wildlife. Within the magnificent miles of Lincoln Park are ponds, wildlife refuges, and woodland that attract several animals including beavers.
Lincoln Park is a home of culture. It houses the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum, Chicago Natural History Museum, Lincoln Park Conservatory, and monuments that include Ben Franklin, Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses Grant.
Lincoln Park is a place to be healthy. There are baseball diamonds, a skate park, soccer fields, and numerous sports facilities. walking The paths wind through these magnificent miles of greenery and shoreline.
Lincoln Park is a place to enjoy life. I have enjoyed Lincoln Park on my feet and through the windshield of a taxi cab to Wrigley Field. Stuck in bumper to bumper traffic I envied the active people jogging on the Lakefront Trail with the expense of Lake Michigan reaching to the horizon. Just like my experience stuck in traffic in Grant Park, I wanted to jump out of the stopped cab and spend time outdoors with nature. Fortunately I’d get to spend hours at Lincoln Park a few days later when we visited Lincoln Park Zoo (I wrote a separate review on it).
Lincoln Park Zoo was so charming that I wanted to extend the Lincoln Park Experience. My family and I reached a deciding vote to walk through Lincoln Park to the south preiphery along North Boulevard which would bring us to State Parkway and ultimately to Embassy Suites. The charming spell never ended. Immediately outside the zoo, stood the Conservatories landscape of blooming plants and picture perfect grass. Strolling southbound, the grand skyline of the Lincoln Park District complimented the canopy of mature trees above a rolling terrain of golf course green grass sprinkled with blooming plants. The curves of the walking path exposed my vision to the south pond, the Ben Franklin Monument, the downtown skyline with a John Hancock Building that grew closer with each series of steps, and aesthetic tunnels. Chicago is a city of several magnificent miles. After Lincoln Park transitioned to State Parkway, we continued walking Chicago’s magnificent miles until we arrived at Embassy Suites.

This park is a nice walk from Miracle Mile but it’s a nice view if you start from the bottom which you can get from Lake Shore where it turns by the Drake or even up a bit by Division to cross Lake Shore from underneath.
If you take the walk on the trail along til you get to the lip and then turn around, that is the view of Miracle Mile you see in movies with the Hancock Center in the back ground. This part of the park that sticks out is where you have to get to by where the volley ball courts are along the beach.
From here you can walk under Lake Shore again to North Ave and take it to North Clark and if you walk south you will be in a wonderful North Chicago neighborhood of Near North Side just south of Lincoln Park.
I love doing this walk and will always do it when we visit Chicago.

Its beautiful and free. They have a botanical garden that s well kept. Next to it i s Lincoln Park Zoo, admission is free. It’s amazing hows they kept the facility clean and beautiful with just donation money. There’s no admission to get in the establishment.

Keep your eyes peeled for hidden paths and areas! This park is really big!
If you are like me; a Chicagoan who yearns to spend time in nature, this park is an urban oasis.
When at Lincoln park, I love strolling on the nature boardwalk with my dog. Just north of the pond, behind café Brauer, are beautiful flower gardens
The park is great, and tourists are more rare than you might think! (Unless you go to the zoo)
Enjoy!

Super nice and beautiful park in the heart of Chicago! Walk a little further and you’ll find the free Lincoln Park Zoo, which boasts an incredible number of animals for the price of $ 0.00. But back to the park review.
This park is really pretty — greenery everywhere, and trees shading a lot of the park. There are also a few statues that you can take pictures with (if that’s your thing lol) The weather was really nice when we came, so we were able to take a little stroll around the park hahaha. The park was mainly deserted — we came across a few people but not too many. I assume it’s big and people were equally distributed.
Watch out for the huron’s nesting area, though (there are signs). They poo a lot. My friend got pooped on three times, then another one plopped on him as we realized what was happening.

This is not one of the world’s great parks, but it sure is a nice one, and the one that I grew up with. A century ago as Chicago was developing and growing into the second largest city in America, someone had the brilliant idea to block off a half mile wide strip of lakefront from the far north side all the way to Oak Street beach and the start of Michigan Avenue (the Magnificent Mile). Once you reach the loop downtown, the park turns into Grant Park, which then goes further south until it becomes Jefferson Park, which stretches halfway to Indiana. There is no park at the Chicago river on the north edge of downtown, where the old fort Dearborn used to stand.
Lincoln Park has a zoo, a giant greenhouse (the conservatory), a rookery (a rocky wet area for water fowl to dwell), a number of harbors, a number of museums, playgrounds, gardens, beaches, a riding trail for horses, and lots and lots of statues and hot dog stands. It includes hills, boathouses, dog walking paths, a golf course, a Totem pole, a tomb, and even a Viking Ship. It may not be one of the world’s best designed Parks, but it is certainly one of America’s most effect urban beautifiers: because without it, the Chicago Lakefront could look like Gary, with steel mills and commercial shipping ports all up and down the waterline, as it is in New York.
Hike here.)og here. It is an urban oasis of the highest caliber.

Doesn’t get much more Chicago-​ey than Lincoln Park.
If you like the zoo, make sure to go back in winter for Zoolights. It looks beautiful and will get you in the holiday spirit even if you are a grump!
I really like the natural areas within the park and the fact that they brought a little of the marshy-​ness back to the land. The nature boardwalk is a great spot for pictures with the skyline and nature all in one place.
I took public transit. I don’t think I’d ever want to drive there. No way.
Also worth seeing: Conservatory, alfred cadwell lilly pond, tons of rad statues, the beach, North pond, & the Migratory Bird Sanctuary if you are into birding (because you are awesome like that).
Fun facts you may not have known:
*Around 1860 was called Cemetery Park as it was situated just north of the city burial ground
*They moved about 20,000 bodies from the cemeteries to another site to expand the park
*They’ve found bodies during construction as recently as 1998
*There remains one mausoleum of inn keeper Ira Couch
Now that I’ve creeped you out, have fun at the park!

I have lived in and around Chicago for most of my life and have never really taken the time to enjoy Lincoln Park… until now.
My recent rehab and physical therapy means Kukla and I are taking longer than normal walks where she gets to sniff and I get to enjoy the flora and fauna. Since we live on the lakefront it only makes sense that we spend our time wandering around Lincoln Park. Lincoln Park is bigger than just the park area adjacent to the neighborhood «Lincoln Park». It’s a little more than 1,200 acres along the lakefront including things like North Pond Nature Sanctuary, Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum, the Lincoln Park Conservatory, Goethe’s naked statue with his hawk, Lincoln Park Zoo, tons of playing fields, some dog parks, the South Lagoon Flower Garden, tennis courts, restaurants, and many more things Kukla and I have yet to explore.
If you’re a native Chicagoan or you’re only here for a visit, you’ve gotta take the time to check out at least a bit of Lincoln Park. There’s something to do, eat, explore, or see all year ’round.

Millennium Park may be the most popular in Chicago, but I will definitely put Lincoln Park on your top 3 MUST DO list if you are in town, here is why:
1. Some of the best restaurants all mixed up in this area. Great cupcakes, great pasta, ethnic places
2. The man made Lake is amazing, it overlooks the city skyline.
3. Lincoln Park zoo and Lincoln Park zoo petting areas
4. Alfred Caldwell Lily Pond
5. Lincoln Park Observatory
6. Scenic brownstone houses
7. Walk east for a few blocks and you are at Lake Michigan!
So all in all, you probably can get to experience the most aspects of Chicago if you come here. There are nice benches and shady areas paired with scenic houses. Sea gulls and joyous kids playing nearby. Great dining options and many to choose from. Cross the bridge at the man made lake and you will feel like you are on top of the world! And best of all, everything is FREE FREE FREE. When you get tired, try out a new restaurant nearby… what better way than to spend the day? Lincoln Park is great for family, for a date, gatherings and all other occasions.

The park is everything that is great about Chicago. Sprawling greens, a beautiful lake, some of the nicest residences in all of Chicago and great restaurants within a short walk. I may almost call it the perfect American park.
However I don’t love the transplants pissing all over the sidewalks on Lincoln Ave late at night after leaving the bars. Respect this town you cornfed little shits or gtfo!