Chicago’s Conservatory Holiday Flower Shows bring beauty and holiday cheer to the season

If all of the holiday madness is getting to you, try to find some time to break away for a few hours and surround yourself with beautiful holiday flowers and decorations at one of Chicago’s conservatories.

Garfield Park Conservatory’s Holiday Flower Show (located in the Show House) features fir trees decorated in holiday lights surrounded by hundreds of bold and bright red poinsettias along with ornamental peppers, plumbago, and Jerusalem cherries.

If you’re bringing children with you, they’ll enjoy the model trains that wind through the holiday flowers and miniature villages at Lincoln Park Conservatory.  There are several model trains, including an old-fashioned steam engine, freight train, and trolley that make their way through miniature Chicago-style homes and famous buildings such as the neighborhood bungalow, Chicago Theatre, and

Chicago Water Tower Place

.   Before entering the room with the holiday decorations and flowers, you can also enjoy tropical-like weather as you stroll through the hundreds of plants and trees that are growing in the conservatory.

Admission to both holiday shows is free.  The shows continue through January 9, so if the holiday season is just too busy for you, you’ll still have a week or so in January to enjoy the decorated trees, holiday flowers, and miniature trains.

Garfield Park Conservatory is located at

300 N. Central Park Avenue

.  Lincoln Park Conservatory is at

2391 N. Stock Drive

.   

Both conservatories are open every day of the year (including Christmas), from 9am to 5pm, with extended hours at Garfield Park Conservatory only on Wednesdays until 8pm. 

Directions

Garfield Park Conservatory is located west of downtown. From I-290, exit

Independence Avenue

(3800 west) and head north. Turn east onto

Washington Blvd

, then north onto Central Park Avenue (3600 west). The parking lot is on the left, just before the conservatory.  Parking is free.  You can also use the CTA Green line and exit at

Conservatory/Central Park Drive

.

Lincoln Park Conservatory is located north of downtown and adjacent to Lincoln Park Zoo.  From

Lake Shore Drive

, exit

Fullerton Avenue

and travel two blocks west. From I-94, exit

Fullerton Avenue

and travel two miles east. The Conservatory is located on the southeast corner of Fullerton and Stockton.  If you’re lucky, you may find free parking along

Stockton Drive

; otherwise use the paid parking lot for the zoo.