I am going to have a car this weekend. I am staying at the Swissotel, but would like to avoid the Valet parking. Are there any close self park locations? How much should I be expecting to pay? Do they offer financing?

http://www.bestparking.com/

Unless you want to leave the car alone for your entire stay, the usual free in and out privileges at valet park will likely trump the rate differential. The closest option that is not too far is the Millennium Park Garage. It is accessable from lower Stetson St. or from Columbus Drive. Getting there in your car from the Swissotel will be a challenge the first time, but it is a short walk. And if you park overnight it is not cheap.

[QUOTE=ORDflyer;12259782]Unless you want to leave the car alone for your entire stay, the usual free in and out privileges at valet park will likely trump the rate differential. The closest option that is not too far is the Millennium Park Garage. It is accessable from lower Stetson St. or from Columbus Drive. Getting there in your car from the Swissotel will be a challenge the first time, but it is a short walk. And if you park overnight it is not cheap.[/QUOTE]

And rather desolate after workday hours. The walk from that garage to upper Wacker at night is not for the faint of heart. (Most likely perfectly safe, but rather grungy.)

I ended up in a garage on lower Wacker. No idea what the name was. I was trying to get to another one I saw, but no matter how I went, I could not figure out how to get there.

The garage had an elevator that ran up to upper Wacker. That worked out quite fine for me. $30 a day wasn't terrible - certainly less than the $52 a day Valet parked. I do wish they had some kind of stairway o entranceway on lower Wacker, though. Seems like it would make a lot more sense.

Definitely glad I had the car. Gave me a chance to get outside the inner city for abit, could actually get to a few more places than I otherwise would have been able to. With a little planning, and I think I saved a lot of time that I would have spent on a train.

[QUOTE=milepig;12273681]I know OP has solved his/her problem, but I have to disagree on this last point -- the Millenium Park garage is far from desolate after work hours. There's a lot going on in the Park these days, and even during the winter there are lots of (non-scary) people around, because of the Loop's night life. Quite a change from 20 years ago.

The layout of the garage, on the other hand, IS pretty grim (think mad scientists putting in concrete pillars every which-way to see how the lab rats will respond). But getting back to upper Wacker just involves taking the garage's North elevator to the street level (which is upper Randolph) and then walking north on upper Columbus a couple-three blocks to upper Wacker. The business skyscrapers quiet down after 6pm, but you pass the Fairmont and Hyatt Regency hotels, a new CVS (the only street-level retail, it's true), and the fire station, so it's never really deserted. "Grungy" as in too much concrete, perhaps, but not dangerous.

[QUOTE=lskohn;12277449]I guess I haven't found the "North Elevator" route. I'm used to walking out the lower north entrance, and then walking below grade to the intersection of Wacker/Columbus and then taking the stairs up. Even as a very skilled Chicagoan, that particular route is - well - grim.

[QUOTE=milepig;12279507]Perhaps if you had followed the pedestrian exit signs as opposed to walking through the automobile entrance/exit you would have seen the elevator. It is impossible to miss. Follow the signs to the Harris Theater or the Pedway, they all go past the elevator.

I wish I had seen this before the weekend, but for others who see this later, you can park free on the north side of Wacker Drive just west of Michigan Avenue all day on Sunday, beginning at midnight on Saturday until midnight on Sunday (this is just a few blocks from the hotel). No meters, no parking boxes. So, if you don't need the car at all that day (if you move it after mid-morning, you'll be unlikely to find another spot), you can make that a completely free 24 hour period. There are also now parking boxes on some of the streets around the Swisshotel, Fairmont and Hyatt, allowing you to purchase up to two hours at a time (with a credit or debit card) - for, I believe, $1 per hour. I'm not sure whether you can park overnight at these spots - or whether you can, but there is no charge. So, with a little bit of creativity and vigilance, you can park relatively cheaply in this area. Just be very careful. A parking ticket will be at least $50.

If you want Swissotel Parking, don't pay the drive-up rate at the hotel. You can look online for parking garages on websites like BestParking or ParkMe to find better drive-up rates, or you can visit a website such as SpotHero to find discounted rates and actually book a prepaid spot near the hotel in advance.