Most travel blogs will tell you Chicago is expensive. Ours cost €6,359.14 for four people over 13 days, and the expensive part wasn’t Chicago at all — it was getting there.
Here is every euro, by category, from our July 2025 trip: two adults, two boys, Barcelona to Chicago, a week in Wisconsin for a basketball camp, and back.
Two things to know before the numbers. These are 2025 prices and things have moved since. And I work in the hotel industry, so our accommodation was booked with a travel agent discount — those three lines are lower than what you’ll be quoted, and I say so again where it matters.
The headline numbers
| Total spent | €6,359.14 |
| Per person | €1,589.79 |
| Per day (14 days) | €454.22 |
| Per person, per day | €113.56 |
| Trip length | 13 nights, 10–23 July 2025 |
| Family | 2 adults, 2 children |
Where the money actually went
| Category | Cost | % of trip |
|---|---|---|
| Flights (Barcelona ↔ Chicago, United) | €2,310.92 | 36.3% |
| Accommodation (13 nights, 3 hotels) | €1,468.33 | 23.1% |
| Food (groceries + restaurants) | €1,013.57 | 15.9% |
| Basketball camp (both boys, 1 week) | €645.89 | 10.2% |
| Attractions (CityPASS + extras) | €389.40 | 6.1% |
| Ground transport (car, fuel, parking, transit, Uber) | €354.36 | 5.6% |
| Everything else (eSIM, souvenirs, pharmacy) | €176.67 | 2.8% |
The flights are more than a third of the trip. That’s the number that reframes everything. Once you’re in Chicago, the city is not expensive — the Atlantic is.
Flights — €2,310.92
Barcelona to Chicago with United, in Basic Economy, booked in January for a July trip. Four return tickets.
Basic Economy on a transatlantic route with children comes with rules worth understanding before you book — what you can bring, where you sit, and what you can’t change afterwards.
Flying United Basic Economy from Barcelona to Chicago: what you need to know
Accommodation — €1,468.33 for 13 nights
Three hotels, and an average of €112.95 a night for a family of four.
| Hotel | Nights | Cost | Per night |
|---|---|---|---|
| Travelodge by Wyndham Downtown Chicago | 3 | €369.60 | €123.20 |
| Country Inn & Suites, Brookfield, Wisconsin | 7 | €812.62 | €116.09 |
| Comfort Inn Convention Center, Chicago O’Hare (now Spark by Hilton Des Plaines) | 3 | €286.11 | €95.37 |
Booked in February, except the last one, which we booked days ahead after cancelling a second Travelodge stay. Only one of the three would I book again — and it isn’t the one downtown.
Where to stay in Chicago with kids: all three hotels, honestly
On the discount: these rates include my travel agent discount. Budget higher than this, not the same.
Food — €1,013.57
The category where a family trip to the US is won or lost.
| Groceries | €521.52 |
| Restaurants | €492.05 |
We spent more on supermarkets than on restaurants, and that’s the single reason this trip was affordable. Whole Foods has a hot bar and salad bar you pay for by weight, with seating — a fraction of a sit-down lunch in the Loop, and faster with children, because nobody waits on a kitchen.
Across 14 days that’s €72.40 a day to feed four people, in a country where four people in a restaurant twice a day would have doubled it. We still ate out properly — deep dish at Giordano’s, Portillo’s, the Nutella Café — we just didn’t do it three times a day. Where we ate in Chicago
The basketball camp — €645.89
A week of camp near Milwaukee for both boys — the reason the trip existed and the reason we spent seven nights in Wisconsin.
For anyone pricing a US basketball camp from Europe, this is the number that’s almost impossible to find online: €645.89 for two children for the week, not counting the accommodation or the car needed to get them there. Our week at the Milwaukee Bucks summer camp
Attractions — €389.40
| CityPASS C3 (2 adults + 2 children) | €347.74 |
| Other activities | €41.66 |
The C3 covered Skydeck, the Shoreline architecture river cruise and 360 Chicago — the three most expensive things we did in the city.
What’s striking is how small this category is: 6.1% of the whole trip. Chicago’s best days cost nothing. Millennium Park, the Bean, Crown Fountain, Maggie Daley Park, Grant Park, Buckingham Fountain, the Riverwalk, the Michael Jordan statue — and Lincoln Park Zoo, one of the only free zoos in the United States, which was the best day of the three.
Is CityPASS C3 worth it for a family? The maths
Our 3 days in Chicago with kids
Getting around — €354.36
| Rental car, 7 nights (Milwaukee only) | €196.31 |
| Fuel | €50.63 |
| Parking (twice) | €11.71 |
| Ventra cards, public transport, all 4 of us | €78.77 |
| Uber / Lyft | €16.94 |
We had no car in Chicago and never needed one. €78.77 covered public transport for a family of four for the entire trip — less than a single day’s car rental plus downtown parking.
The car was rented only for the Wisconsin week, from an office within walking distance of our hotel so collection and return didn’t become an expedition. The €16.94 of Uber was all spent in the last three nights, getting from the airport hotel to the metro station — small in money, expensive in time.
Everything else — €176.67
| Souvenirs, cosmetics, small treats | €120.46 |
| eSIM (one card, unlimited data, 15 days) | €28.45 |
| Pharmacy | €27.76 |
One eSIM for the whole family at €28.45. We shared the data and it was fine for two weeks — four separate cards would have been four times the price for no benefit.
What a Chicago-only trip would cost
Our trip was really two trips: Chicago and a basketball camp in Wisconsin. If you’re only doing Chicago, here’s what our numbers say, with the method shown so you can check it.
Costs that were purely Chicago:
| Accommodation, 6 nights (Travelodge + O’Hare hotel) | €655.71 |
| Attractions (CityPASS + extras) | €389.40 |
| Public transport (Ventra) | €78.77 |
| Uber / Lyft | €16.94 |
| Subtotal | €1,140.82 |
Add the flights — €2,310.92, unchanged, because you’d fly to Chicago either way.
Add food. Our food spend ran across the whole 13 nights, so this part is a genuine estimate: prorated across 6 of 13 nights, roughly €468.
A six-day Chicago-only trip for four, on our spending pattern: around €3,990 — call it €4,000, or about €166 a day for a family of four, all in, flights included.
Take the flights out, and Chicago itself cost us around €1,600 for six days with four people. That’s the number worth remembering, because it’s the one that doesn’t depend on where you’re flying from.
What surprised us
- The flights were the trip. 36% of everything, booked six months ahead, and still the largest line by a distance.
- The free days were the best days. Lincoln Park Zoo and Millennium Park cost nothing and are the two the boys talk about.
- Groceries beat restaurants, and not by a little. That one habit is worth more than every discount code we used.
- The cheap airport hotel wasn’t cheap. €95 a night looked like a saving until you count the Ubers and the forty minutes at each end of every day.
- Attractions were only 6% of the budget. You could halve this number by skipping the CityPASS and still have a full trip.
Where we’d spend more, and where we’d spend less
More: on the downtown hotel. We saved perhaps €20–30 a night at the Travelodge and lost sleep for it, then paid for a replacement hotel anyway.
Less: on the last three nights near O’Hare. Staying downtown for those nights would have cost more per night and saved us the Ubers, the transit time and the tiredness.
The same: food. Supermarket lunches, proper dinners when they were worth it. That balance was right.
Could you do it cheaper?
Yes, and here’s where the room is, in order of size:
- Flights. Ours were booked in January for July. Different dates, a different airport, or a stopover would move this more than every other saving combined.
- Skip the CityPASS and pick one observation deck instead of two. That’s most of €347.74.
- Eat from supermarkets more than we did. We were already doing it; you could push further.
- Stay in one hotel. Three hotels in 13 days cost us two half-days of moving.
What I wouldn’t cut: the camp, and the zoo day that cost nothing.
Chicago Family Trip Cost: FAQs
How much does a trip to Chicago cost for a family of 4?
Our 13 night trip from Barcelona cost 6,359.14 euros for two adults and two children, including flights, three hotels, food, attractions, a rental car and a week of basketball camp in Wisconsin. That works out at 1,589.79 euros per person, or 113.56 euros per person per day. Flights were the single largest cost at 2,310.92 euros, more than a third of the total.
How much do you need per day in Chicago with kids?
Excluding flights, our Chicago costs came to roughly 1,600 euros for six days with four people, which is about 265 euros a day for the family. That covers accommodation, attractions, public transport and food. Chicago itself is not an expensive city once you are there, because so many of the best things to do are free.
What is the biggest cost of a family trip to Chicago?
Flights, by a wide margin. Ours were 2,310.92 euros for four people from Barcelona, booked six months in advance, which was 36 percent of the entire trip budget. Accommodation came second at 1,468.33 euros for 13 nights, and food third at 1,013.57 euros.
How much do hotels cost in Chicago for a family of four?
We paid 1,468.33 euros for 13 nights across three hotels, an average of 112.95 euros per night for a family of four. Those rates include a travel agent discount and are 2025 prices, so public rates will be higher. We booked five months in advance for a July stay.
How can you save money on food in Chicago with kids?
Use the supermarkets. We spent 521.52 euros on groceries against 492.05 euros in restaurants, which averaged 72.40 euros a day to feed four people. Whole Foods has a hot bar and salad bar priced by weight with seating, costing a fraction of a sit down lunch in the Loop and taking half the time with children.
Do you need a car in Chicago?
No. We had no car for our days in Chicago and never needed one. Ventra cards covering public transport for all four of us cost 78.77 euros for the whole trip, less than one day of car rental plus downtown parking. We only rented a car for the week in Wisconsin, at 196.31 euros for seven nights.
How much does a US basketball camp cost for two children?
Our week long camp near Milwaukee cost 645.89 euros for both boys in July 2025. That figure covers the camp only, not the accommodation or the rental car needed to get them there, which added roughly 1,000 euros for the week.
Is Chicago expensive to visit with children?
Less than you would expect. Attractions were only 6.1 percent of our total spend, at 389.40 euros including a CityPASS C3 for four people. Millennium Park, Cloud Gate, Crown Fountain, Maggie Daley Park, Grant Park, Buckingham Fountain and Lincoln Park Zoo are all free, and the free days were the ones our boys enjoyed most.
