<p>Has anyone visited yet? If so, how did it go, what did you do? Classes, overnight? Any suggestions? Also, anyone familiar with the area, what's the best method to get from Chicago to Notre Dame? Husband and son are spending one night in Chicago. I'm thinking take the South Shore railroad to South Bend and the bus on the return to O'Hare.</p>
<p>The best method would be to rent a car and drive from O'Hare to South Bend.
It is very easy. You can either take 90 to Indiana and go by downtown or take 294 to Indiana, a little longer, but you skip downtown. It is about 105-110 miles to the South Bend exit off of 90.</p>
<p>If you don't want to drive, you can take the O'Hare Blue line, <a href="http://www.ohare.com/ohare/ground_transport/ground_cta.shtm%5B/url%5D">http://www.ohare.com/ohare/ground_transport/ground_cta.shtm</a>
to downtown. The blue line will take you downtown, the loop and you can walk to Amtrak/Union Station, or you can take the South Shore from the Randolph street station. (If you take the South Shore, stop a moment in Millenium Park. The station is basically under the park. New tourist stop in Chicago.) If you want some places to eat near there, let me know.</p>
<p>I know that there are some buses that take you to the loop/downtown hotels, that is another option. I don't know if they stop at the train stations. You can also take a cab. If they take the Blue Line, the South Shore is about a 2-3 block east on Randolph. The walk to Amtrak would take them about 10 minutes.</p>
<p>Coach USA has a bus goes from O'hare to South Bend. One of the drop off points in South Bend is on campus- by Hammes Bookstore. They currently are running a special- get a round trip ticket for the price of a one-way ticket. You can find them on-line. The train is a bit trickier from O'hare. I've done both, I prefer the bus- cleaner, quieter, etc. But renting a car is the easiest, once you get out of Chicago- take the Indiana Toll road to the Notre Dame exit. Then you will have transportation around South Bend- not that there's much to see!</p>
<p>I would definitely have your son stay overnight with a student in a dorm, if possible. My daughter did this in the fall of 2003 and really got a feel for the university, the students, and the overall atmosphere. She also attended classes in the morning. They have a program set up for visiting seniors who are matched with a student. D had a wonderful visit. Of course it meant hubby spent the night in a motel by himself but he was with d for the rest of the time. </p>
<p>The other posts are great directions. If they decide to rent a car, it's an easy trip, unless there is a lot of traffic in Chicago. We made two trips this fall for football games. One trip from Chicago took 6 hours (ugh!) - the second took approximately 2 1/2 to 3 hours. It all depends on the traffic and what time they arrive in Chicago.</p>
<p>Hope they have a great trip!</p>
<p>When I went I flew into O'Hare airport in Chicago and rented a car. It was easy enough to get to South Bend by car.</p>