Reviews

Best B and B in the country, hands down, no question. Stayed here for four nights at the end of May while attending a conference in DT Chicago.

Lovely neighborhood with lots of nice places to eat and drink. FANTASTIC cooked to order breakfasts. Free internet. Air conditioning. Great staff who are helpful, friendly and will leave you alone when you want them to. Short walk to the train to downtown. Huge, rambling space, with lots of public spaces you can relax in if you want to. Very welcoming. I stayed in the Da Vinci room, which has both a desk in the room and an office space just outside it in a private alcove with the room's bathroom. Lovely bathroom with whirlpool tub and heated floor. Street parking, which was easy to get near the B and B the one day when I did have a car. A great experience. Will definitely stay here the next time I am in Chicago.

Travelers who can appreciate an artsy, eclectic approach to hospitality will dig Ray's Bucktown B&B.The place reflects the neighborhood (roughly bounded by Fullerton Avenue to the north, Ashland Avenue to the east, Western Avenue to the west and Division Street to the south), which is a mix of bohemian artist types (lots of galleries, independently owned ethnic restaurants and coffee houses) and upscale condos and boutiques. Which is to say: Ray's is luxurious (top-notch linens, heated bathroom floors for all the rooms, a sauna and steam room in the garden level), quirky (vintage maps and eye-catching displays of all manner of sculpture and visual art everywhere you look), and sophisticated (no "Little House on the Prairie" sentimentality). It caters to people who want a uniquely Chicago place to stay, but who do not want all the forced cozy kitsch that goes with many B&Bs. Five guest rooms each have their own baths, as well as TVs with TIVO, Wi-Fi, whirlpool tubs, heated bathroom floors and pillow-top mattresses. The decor throughout is done in a neutral palette of mostly browns, grays and blacks. It's soothing, but not boring. Surfaces are sleek, not cluttered, and each room has little touches that make it unique beyond the layout. The DaVinci room, for example, has a bookshelf filled with old texts about science and geometry. For breakfast in the morning, guests can opt to sit in the kitchen and drink their coffee in solitude or join guests at a larger table (2010).

Best B and B in the country, hands down, no question. Stayed here for four nights at the end of May while attending a conference in DT Chicago.

Lovely neighborhood with lots of nice places to eat and drink. FANTASTIC cooked to order breakfasts. Free internet. Air conditioning. Great staff who are helpful, friendly and will leave you alone when you want them to. Short walk to the train to downtown. Huge, rambling space, with lots of public spaces you can relax in if you want to. Very welcoming. I stayed in the Da Vinci room, which has both a desk in the room and an office space just outside it in a private alcove with the room's bathroom. Lovely bathroom with whirlpool tub and heated floor. Street parking, which was easy to get near the B and B the one day when I did have a car. A great experience. Will definitely stay here the next time I am in Chicago.