Wellness
Chicago's best running follows the 18.5 mile Lakefront Trail along Lake Michigan, the 606, an elevated former rail line and the longest of its kind in the Western Hemisphere, and the Chicago Marathon's course through 29 neighbourhoods.
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Updated 40 min ago
Chicago has built one of America's best urban running networks around Lake Michigan and a handful of genuinely distinctive repurposed spaces. Here are the best running routes in Chicago for 2026.
The Lakefront Trail runs 18.5 miles from Ardmore Avenue in the north to 71st Street in the south, flat and paved, hugging Lake Michigan the entire way. Since a 2018 separation project it has a dedicated 18-mile bike path alongside the 18.5-mile pedestrian path, and it is the backbone route most locals build other loops around.
Lincoln Park, Chicago's largest park, offers a loop of roughly 3 to 4 miles including a 1 mile loop around North Pond, on mixed paved and wooded paths past the Lincoln Park Zoo, Lincoln Park Conservatory and the Chicago History Museum, free, flat and shaded.
The 606, also known as the Bloomingdale Trail, runs 2.7 miles on a paved elevated greenway cutting through Logan Square, Humboldt Park and West Town. It follows a former Chicago and Pacific Railroad line dating to the 1870s, elevated 20 feet above street level after a 1910 city ordinance, and converted into a trail in 2015. It is the longest rail-to-trail elevated greenway in the Western Hemisphere, and the second longest in the world after Paris's Promenade Plantée.
A loop of about 3.5 miles combines Millennium Park, Maggie Daley Park and Grant Park, passing Cloud Gate and Buckingham Fountain, extendable by about 2 more miles to include the Museum Campus and the Field Museum, Shedd Aquarium and Adler Planetarium cluster. The Chicago Riverwalk offers a shorter, flat 1.3 mile paved option along the Chicago River downtown.
The Bank of America Chicago Marathon, run each October, starts and finishes in Grant Park, crosses six Chicago River bridges and passes through 29 neighbourhoods including Lincoln Park, Greektown, Pilsen, Chinatown and Bronzeville, with less than 32 feet of elevation gain over the full 26.2 miles, and has produced seven marathon world records.
The Lakefront Trail and Lincoln Park are the most reliable choices for a flat, scenic run; the 606 is worth the trip for anyone wanting a genuinely different, elevated urban route.
This article was compiled by AI and screened before publishing. See our editorial standards.
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