We want to fly into Chicago, take the train into the city from the airport for a couple days visit, and then take some sort of public transportation (train maybe?) to a southerly location where we can pick up a rental car. We want a southerly car pickup location because we need to drive down a couple hours into Indiana for a day. Then, we want to reverse the process and drive back up to the southern Chicago metro area, drop off the rental car and then take some sort of public transportation to the airport. We can use either Midway or O'Hare as an airport.
Is this idea even feasible? I'd be okay with the idea of an airport rental, but my husband dosn't want to get tied up in Chicago traffic, and that is why we thought maybe we could get to the southern outskirts by train before picking up a rental car. Or, if we did just do the airport rental location, how long would it take to drive from either Midway or O'Hare to northern Indiana if it were rush hour? We'll be taking 65 into Indiana. Thanks.
South metro Chicago car rental location by public transportation
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Where in Indiana do you need to go?
BTW, I-65 doesn't go into Chicago. You have to take another route to get to I-65 from Chicago first.
I meant we have to eventually get on to 65 to go to Indiana because we are going down to Lafayette. Thanks.
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My initial thought without doing any research would be to take the el to Midway airport and get your car there. On the way home, you will need to change el lines - Orange to downtown - Blue to O'Hare. Others might have better ideas, but this is what comes to mind.
If you leave Chicago from a nearby downtown rental , take Lake Shore Drive, (also quite scenic) to the Skyway, then the Indiana toll road,( less traffic) later accessing I-65 S that way, I see no reason to spend the extra time and effort going out to Midway.
We always take Lake Shore Drive when we leave Chicago, and it is not a bad drive at all. We NEVER take the Dan Ryan in or out of the city when approaching from Indiana.
I have never done what you are proposing, as we always drive from Cincinnati to Chicago, through Lafayette.. and I have never had any major problems we couldn't avoid by just getting off and going on the normal roads/ routes for awhile if there was a huge accident or something. We DO try to avoid rush hour.. but that's par for the course anywhere.
I hope someone local can give you some better exact directions, but just wanted to calm your concerns over a route we have done many times for forty years.
A) Midway is on the South Side; B) If you're trying to drive out of the city in rush hour, good luck with that.
Having done the drive from Chicago to Lafayette many times, I'd go with lincasanova's recommendation. I wouldn't spend the time to go to Midway to pick up a rental car. Just get one downtown.