Chicago

Chicago is America's most underrated great city — a place of extraordinary architectural ambition (it invented the skyscraper in 1885 after the Great Fire of 1871 destroyed the original city), world-class museums and cultural institutions, excellent deep-dish pizza, the Blues tradition that shaped American music, and a lakefront that provides one of the finest urban waterfronts in the world. The Architecture Foundation River Cruise is the single best introduction to Chicago's built environment — 90 minutes on the Chicago River with expert commentary on the extraordinary variety of 20th-century buildings lining the banks. The Millennium Park, with Anish Kapoor's Cloud Gate ("The Bean") and Frank Gehry's Pritzker Pavilion, is excellent. The Art Institute of Chicago holds one of America's finest art collections, particularly strong in French Impressionism (Seurat's Sunday on La Grande Jatte is here) and American art. The Museum of Science and Industry, the Field Museum (natural history), the Shedd Aquarium and the Adler Planetarium cluster on the Museum Campus along the lakefront. The Chicago Blues scene, centred on the South and West Sides, is still alive in venues like Buddy Guy's Legends. Wicker Park and Logan Square are the most interesting neighbourhoods for independent culture. The deep-dish pizza debate between Giordano's, Lou Malnati's and Pizzeria Uno is the city's most passionate culinary argument. Visit in summer; Chicago winters are genuinely brutal.