"Steps away from many major attractions"
71 EAST WACKER DRIVE
CHICAGO, IL 60601
MAGNIFICENT MILE
The Executive Plaza is a first class hotel, in the heart of downtown Chicago. Overlooking the Chicago River, on Wacker Drive at Michigan Avenue, this hotel offers breathtaking views of Chicago, in a superb loation. Only steps away from Michigan Ave. and State Street, the hotel is in the perfect location for business or pleasure. Guest will find themselves only steps away from theatres, the Art Institute and the fine shops of the Magnificent Mile. All of the luxuriously appointed and spacious guest rooms are graced with exceptional views. The rooms are L-shaped to provide separate seating area and appointed with modern furnishings. All are equipped with thoughtful amenities. For onsite dining, The Ace Bar and Grill offers casual dining, throughout the day. Room service is available. The Executive Plaza staff is ready to help with anything guests may need. The hotel is just steps to fine dining, shopping and entertainment venues.
Downtown Chicago puts on what is perhaps the finest display of modern architecture in the world, from the prototype skyscrapers of the 1890s to Mies van der Rohe's modernist masterpieces, and the second tallest building in the world, the quarter-mile-high Sears Tower. The compact heart of Chicago is known as the Loop, because it's circled by the elevated tracks of the CTA "El" trains. For a first impression of downtown, start your explorations by seeing the energy, drive and unmasked greed exposed in the trading pits of the various commodity marketplaces. Half the world's wheat and corn (and pork belly futures) are bought and sold amid the cacophonic roar of the Chicago Board of Trade, housed in a gorgeous Art Deco tower. From the entrance at 141 W Jackson St, where it intersects with LaSalle Street, take the elevator to the fifth-floor visitor gallery (Mon-Fri 8am-1.15pm; free), where displays trace the evolution of the various frantic shouts and signals by which trade is actually carried out. A similarly energetic ballet goes on from the early hours on Chicago's stock options exchange, the largest in the US. At the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, three blocks away at 30 S Wacker Drive (Mon-Fri 7.30am-3.15pm; free), precious metals, currencies and commodities are bought and sold to the tune of some $50 billion a day. The best time to visit the exchanges is just before the close of trade, when the pressure is at its peak and tempers are most frayed.
