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awards-accolades

Awards and accolades

Chicago’s awards and accolades, which recognize everything from dining and hotels to business and tourism, extend through the years. Here’s just a sampling of the recognition the city has received.

2023

City-wide awards

  • Condé Nast Traveler Readers’ Choice Awards ranked Chicago #1 on their list of Best Big Cities in the U.S. for an unprecedented seventh consecutive year
  • Condé Nast Traveler Readers’ Choice Awards ranked Chicago first on their list of Best Big Cities in the U.S. 
  • Chicago has been ranked as the second best city in the country in the2023 America’s Best Cities Report
  • Chicago was ranked best city in the world in the 2023 Time Out Index Survey

Hotels

  • The Langham Chicago was ranked in the top ten (#8) of the Best Hotels in the USA by U.S. News & World Report
  • The Peninsula Chicago was named the “#2 Hotel in the World” by La Liste and “Best Hotel in Continental U.S.” by Travel + Leisure World’s Best Awards 2023
  • The Langham, Peninsula Chicago, and Trump International Hotel & Tower were each awarded 5-star ratings in the 2023 Star Awards Winners – Forbes Travel Guide

Transportation

Dining, attractions, and neighborhoods

  • Chicago’s German-American Oktoberfest was named one of the best Oktoberfests by USA Today’s 10Best Readers’ Choice Travel Awards
  • Navy Pier named best place to see fireworks in the nation by USA Today’s 10Best Readers’ Choice Travel Awards
  • The Chicago Architecture Center River Cruises aboard Chicago’s First Lady ranked #2 in USA Today’s 10Best Readers’ Choice Travel Awards
  • Damarr Brown of Virtue in Hyde Park received the Emerging Chef award from the James Beard Foundation
  • Tim Flores and Genie Kwon of Kasama were jointly awarded Best Chef: Great Lakes for their work at Kasama in Ukrainian Village
  • Michelin Guide restaurants:
    • 46 restaurants were listed in the Bib Gourmand category
    • Sixteen restaurants have a one-Michelin star rating
    • Four restaurants have a two-star rating
    • One restaurant (Alinea) has a three-star rating
      • Alinea was honored by Forbes Travel Guide with a 5-star rating in the 2023 Star Awards Winners – Forbes Travel Guide
  • O’Hare International Airport was named the Favorite Airport for Dining for the 4th straight year by Trazee Travel
  • The Garfield Park Conservatory was named one of the Best Botanical Gardens in America by explore.com
  • Chicago was ranked the sixth best US city for sports fans by sportsbrief.com and third best in the US (14th overall) by BCW Global Sports Practice

2022

City-wide awards

Hotels

Transportation

  • O’Hare International Airport has been named the “Best Airport in North America” for the 19th consecutive year and “Best Airport Dining” for the third consecutive year by Global Traveler (GT) magazine.
  • O’Hare International Airport has been designated the “Most Connected Airport in the World” by Official Aviation Guide (OAG) for the first time since 2016.

Dining, attractions, and neighborhoods

2021

City-wide awards

Transportation

Dining, attractions, and neighborhoods

Hotels

2020

Tourism

  • Condé Nast Traveler Readers’ Choice Awards rank Chicago #1 on their list of Best Big Cities in the U.S. for an unprecedented fourth consecutive year.
  • GayCities.com 2020 “Best of GayCities” Travel Awards: Best Iconic Road Trip (runner-up), Urban Outdoor Hangout (runner-up), Murals that Matter (bronze), Pride in Black-owned Businesses (silver)

Business

2019

Tourism

  • Condé Nast Traveler Readers’ Choice Awards rank Chicago #1 on their list of Best Large Cities in the U.S. for the third consecutive year.

Attractions

  • The Frederick C. Robie House in Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood and the Unity Temple in suburban Oak Park are named UNESCO World Heritage sites, part of eight sites that represent the 20th-Century Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright.

Food and drink

Hotels

Meetings

  • Chicago was named one of the topNorth American markets that meeting planners intend to use in the next two years, according to STR’s 2019 DestinationMAP (Meeting Assessment Program).

2018

Tourism

Food and drink

Business

Tech Innovation

  • Smart Cities Connect awards Chicago a Smart 50 Award for its innovative Array of Things program, the first of its kind to be implemented on a city-wide scale.

2017

Tourism

Food and drink

Hotels

Tech innovation

2016

Tourism

Food and drink

Hotels

View past awards and accolades

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