Getting from ORD to where you are going
How to get from Chicago O'Hare International Airport to Downtown Chicago, Loop and Michigan Avenue hotels, Chicago Union Station (Amtrak), Midway Airport and more, every way compared.
More in our guide: Every way to get to and from O'Hare.
Each page compares the ways to reach one place from Chicago O'Hare International Airport: the time, the cost, and the first and last departure from the airport, from published timetables, fares and the airport's own transport records. Where a source did not publish a number, the page says so instead of guessing.
Places compared from ORD
Most arrivals should take the Blue Line, the L train that starts inside O'Hare and runs straight through downtown. It takes 40 to 45 minutes, against 25 to 90 for the road options.
The Blue Line runs 24 hours a day and takes 40 to 45 minutes to reach the Loop. Two of the five hotels name a Blue Line stop in their own directions: Monroe for the Palmer House and Jackson for the Hilton Chicago.
Metra's North Central Service runs from O'Hare Transfer straight into Chicago Union Station, but it's weekdays only. The Blue Line covers weekends and nights because it runs 24 hours a day, every day.
The CTA is the most economical way between Chicago's two airports: the Blue Line, then the Orange Line, with a free transfer downtown. Allow up to two hours for the trip.
Coach USA's Airport Express bus is the direct ride from O'Hare to Milwaukee. By rail you ride the Airport Transit System, then Metra, then Amtrak's Hiawatha for 1 hour 29 minutes.
Pace Route 250 is the bus to Evanston. It leaves from the Multi-Modal Facility rather than the terminals and runs daily along Dempster Street to downtown Evanston.
The train route from O'Hare is the Blue Line to Clark and Lake, then a southbound Green Line train to Cermak-McCormick Place. A shared taxi charges a flat fare instead of the meter.
Rosemont is one stop up the Blue Line from O'Hare, and its River Road hotels are 1.8 to 1.9 miles from Terminal 5 by road, about 6 to 7 minutes by car. A hotel shuttle or a short cab ride is the easy way in.
Route 330 is the Pace bus for the western suburbs. It leaves from the Multi-Modal Facility and runs south along Mannheim and LaGrange Roads, calling at the La Grange Road station for Amtrak and the Metra BNSF Line.
The L reaches Wrigley Field from O'Hare with one change. Ride the Blue Line into the city, switch to the Red Line at Jackson and get off at Addison, the station for the ballpark.
From O'Hare you ride the Blue Line into the city, change to the Red Line at Jackson and ride south to Sox/35th, the stop for Rate Field.
From O'Hare the train trip is the Blue Line downtown, then a Red Line train from Jackson to Roosevelt station, then a walk. The 128 Soldier Field Express skips the walk.