The best parks in Chicago

The Chicago Park District maintains more than 600 facilities throughout the city, ranging from wee neighborhood playlots to the vast lakeside grounds of Grant Park, Lincoln Park and Jackson Park. The city’s parks offer fitness classes, culinary training, art and music instruction, summer day camps for kids and rec leagues for adults, cultural programming including free concerts and outdoor movie screenings—and sometimes just a simple respite from the stress of the city. Where to start? Leaving aside Chicago’s beaches (unfair advantage, honestly), these are some of our favorite city parks.