#3 in Chicago · Gold Coast · Five-Star
Waldorf Astoria Chicago
A Parisian-styled Gold Coast tower with some of the largest rooms in Chicago, the romantic address away from the Magnificent Mile crowds.
A Parisian-styled Gold Coast tower with some of the largest rooms in Chicago, the romantic address away from the Magnificent Mile crowds.
"A modern tower in perfect period dress, and the rare big-city hotel where the entry room actually feels generous."
| Criterion | Score |
|---|---|
| Romance | 9.4 |
| Service | 9.3 |
| Design | 9.4 |
| Location | 9.0 |
| Food | 9.0 |
| Value | 8.8 |
| Aggregate | 9.2 |
Scored on our six-criterion framework. See how we score.
Book it for the largest, most romantic rooms in Chicago in the city's most prestigious residential quarter. The hotel occupies a limestone tower at the corner of Walton and Rush Streets in the Gold Coast, and while it reads like a 1920s Parisian grand hotel, all colonnades, spires and a cobbled motor court, it was in fact built new between 2006 and 2009 as The Elysian, designed by the Chicago architect Lucien Lagrange, and rebranded Waldorf Astoria in 2012. That period-dress-on-a-modern-frame is the whole trick: you get the romance of an old European hotel with the plumbing, soundproofing and layouts of a contemporary one.
For a couple, the draw is space and quiet. Because the 60-storey tower carries only around ten rooms per floor, even entry categories are unusually large by US city standards, and many come with a fireplace, a terrace and a marble bathroom with a separate soaking tub. The Gold Coast setting, residential, tree-lined and a few minutes from the Oak Street luxury shops, means you are staying somewhere Chicagoans genuinely covet rather than in the tourist churn of the Magnificent Mile. It is the anniversary-and-honeymoon hotel for people who want something beautiful rather than merely big.
The entry Superior and Deluxe rooms are already among the roomiest in the city, so you do not need a suite to feel you have space. What is worth chasing is a higher floor and a corner exposure, where the Gold Coast rooftops and slivers of the lake open up, and, if it matters to you, a room with a working fireplace, a genuinely rare feature in a modern American hotel.
Couples celebrating a milestone should look at the suites, which add sitting rooms, larger terraces and the full marble-bathroom treatment, and the hotel's honeymoon and anniversary packages layer on flowers, champagne and spa credits with the private, discreet check-in the Waldorf brand does well. Wherever you land, ask the concierge which side is quietest on your dates, and request the fireplace and terrace explicitly rather than assuming the category includes them.
Ask for a higher-floor room with a fireplace and terrace, and time an early-evening drink at Bernard's, the equestrian-themed second-floor lounge, before dinner. The spa's couples treatment is the most intimate in the city; book it for the afternoon you arrive, when the two-floor spa and heated lap pool are quietest.
The main dining room is Brass Tack, an American brasserie serving breakfast through dinner and a weekend brunch, with a Midwest-sourced menu that leans into comfort classics like lobster pot pie and dry-aged steak. Bernard's, on the second floor, is an intimate cocktail lounge with warm equestrian-inspired design, and the Peacock Lounge just off the lobby handles receptions and a quiet afternoon drink. It is a solid, grown-up food-and-drink line-up rather than a destination restaurant scene, so keen diners will also want to book tables elsewhere in the Gold Coast and River North.
The Waldorf Astoria Spa spreads across two floors with a heated indoor lap pool, a relaxation suite and a treatment menu built around European skincare, and the fitness centre is fully equipped. The location is the other headline: you are a few minutes on foot from Oak Street, Chicago's luxury retail row with Chanel, Hermes, Prada and Saint Laurent, and within easy reach of the lakefront and the Magnificent Mile without having to stay in the middle of them. For shopping, walking and a quiet base, it is one of the best-placed hotels in the city.
The honest cons are mostly about what the Gold Coast is not. This is a residential-quiet address, so the outlook is of handsome low-rise streets rather than the lake or the river; if a dramatic water or skyline view is central to your trip, the Four Seasons or the Peninsula on the Magnificent Mile, or a river-bend room at the Langham, will serve you better. The building's period styling, while convincing, is also a modern pastiche rather than a genuine landmark, which matters to some guests and not at all to others.
Dining is the second caveat: it is good and comfortable, but it is no longer a marquee reason to book, so treat the restaurants as a convenience rather than the main event. And the very thing that makes the rooms so large, the low count per floor, keeps rates high, so this is not a value play; you are paying for space and setting. For couples who want exactly those things, the trade-offs are easy, but they are worth naming before you book.
Against the city's other top hotels, the Waldorf competes on room size, romance and neighbourhood rather than views or a headline restaurant. Use the table to place it against three Magnificent Mile and riverfront rivals.
| Hotel | Best for | Trade-off |
|---|---|---|
| Waldorf Astoria Chicago | Largest, most romantic rooms in the quiet Gold Coast | Gold Coast rather than lake or river views; dining not a destination |
| The Langham, Chicago | Riverfront design hotel with the finest interior river-bend views | River North setting; a business rather than residential feel |
| The Peninsula Chicago | Polished Magnificent Mile service and a standout rooftop bar | Busy Michigan Avenue location; higher pace |
If you want space, quiet and romance, the Waldorf is the pick. For the best river views go to The Langham; for Magnificent Mile polish and a rooftop bar, the Peninsula; for reliable lake-view luxury, the Four Seasons.
Not quite. It looks like a 1920s Parisian grand hotel, but it was built new between 2006 and 2009 as The Elysian, designed by Lucien Lagrange, and rebranded Waldorf Astoria in 2012. It is a modern tower in convincing period dress.
Among the largest in Chicago. With only about ten rooms per floor across the 60-storey tower, entry categories are generously sized, and many rooms have a fireplace, a terrace and a marble bathroom.
Brass Tack is the American brasserie serving breakfast through dinner and weekend brunch; Bernard's is a second-floor cocktail lounge; and the Peacock Lounge sits off the lobby. Confirm current hours when you book.
At 11 East Walton Street in the Gold Coast, a few minutes' walk from the Oak Street luxury shops and close to the Magnificent Mile and the lakefront.
Gold Coast rather than lake or river views, dining that is good but not a destination, and high rates driven by the low room-per-floor count. Space and location are the pay-off.
New openings, special offers, and the week’s best value suites. One email a week, no noise.