Best 5-Star Hotels in Chicago

The Four Seasons rises above the 900 North Michigan shops with some of the largest standard rooms in downtown Chicago and lake views from the upper floors. The 50th-floor Roman-column pool is a favorite with kids, while Adorn handles polished dinners downstairs. Service is textbook Four Seasons — unflashy, precise, and worth the rate on a special trip.

Park Hyatt Chicago overlooks the historic Water Tower from the top of the Mag Mile, and NoMI Kitchen's seventh-floor dining room and terrace have one of the best perches on Michigan Avenue. The hotel's art collection and recently refreshed rooms give it a gallery-quiet feel. Book a Water Tower-view room — the nighttime view is the point.

Viceroy grafted a sleek glass tower onto the preserved 1920s brick facade of the old Cedar Hotel, a block from Oak Street's boutiques. The rooftop pool and lounge look over the Gold Coast toward the lake, and Somerset's greenhouse-style dining room anchors the ground floor. It delivers five-star finish at a friendlier price than its Gold Coast neighbors.

Open since 1927, the Talbott keeps a low profile on a leafy Gold Coast street two blocks from the Mag Mile. Rooms are residential and generously sized, and the intimate lobby bar feels more private club than hotel. It's the choice for travelers who want the neighborhood's luxury without a see-and-be-seen scene.

Loews sits in Streeterville between the river's mouth and Navy Pier, with skyline or lake views from most floors. ETA Restaurant + Bar covers mornings through late drinks, and the seasonal rooftop terrace looks over the lakefront. The location is the draw: Riverwalk, Ohio Street Beach, and the Mag Mile are all an easy walk.

Sable, a Curio Collection hotel, is the only hotel on Navy Pier itself, so lake-facing rooms feel like a ship's cabin over the water. Its Offshore rooftop holds a Guinness record as the largest rooftop bar in the country, and summer fireworks happen practically outside your window. Best booked in warm months when the Pier is alive.

River North's standout occupies the landmark IBM Building on the river, where the Langham Club lounge, Chuan Spa's salt stone sauna, and a 67-foot pool make it easy to never leave. Rooms start around 500 square feet — enormous for downtown — with river or skyline views. If one splurge stay is the plan, this is the one.

The Godfrey's cantilevered glass architecture stands out in River North, and its 15,000-square-foot IO rooftop lounge — with a retractable roof — runs year-round. Rooms are crisp and contemporary, and you're within a few blocks of the neighborhood's gallery district and steakhouses. A social pick rather than a hushed one.