The Four Seasons Hotel Chicago sits high in the 900 North Michigan tower, where the Gold Coast meets the Magnificent Mile, its 345 rooms stacked in the upper floors above the shops. The altitude is the point: rooms look clean over the rooftops to Lake Michigan, pink at sunrise, arctic and cinematic in winter, and the noise of Michigan Avenue never reaches you. A top-to-bottom renovation completed in 2022 swapped the old chintz for soft neutrals, marble and lake-blue accents without sanding off the hotel’s classic manners.
Those manners are the draw. This is a house with long-serving staff who remember returning guests and treat children as clients rather than complications; the in-room camping tents and kids’ menus are famous for a reason. Adorn Bar and Restaurant handles modern American cooking and a serious weekend brunch, and the Roman-columned indoor pool under a skylight remains one of the loveliest places to swim in the Midwest.
Quibbles: the seventh-floor lobby makes for a slightly odd arrival, and drivers should budget for Gold Coast valet pricing. Neither dents the case. For shopping weekends, family trips or business stays that need calm rather than scene, it remains the city’s most complete luxury hotel, with Oak Street Beach and the Museum of Contemporary Art both a short walk away.
