Trump International Hotel & Tower Chicago ★★★★★

A 98-Story Tower Built Around the River

Trump International Hotel & Tower Chicago rises 98 stories and 1,388 feet from the north bank of the Chicago River, designed by Adrian Smith with structural engineer William F. Baker, the same pairing behind several of the world's tallest buildings. Three setback terraces step the tower down toward its neighbors rather than overwhelming the skyline in one unbroken line, and a curved, wing-shaped stainless-steel mullion system wraps the glass façade in a profile that reads differently from every angle along the river. The result is one of the more technically ambitious buildings added to Chicago's skyline this century, and it was planned around river views from the start rather than retrofitted for them later. The tower's concrete structure, reinforced with roughly 50,000 tons of steel, was itself a engineering milestone when the building topped out.

Why It Works

We chose this hotel because its architecture and its river setting are inseparable: the building's riverfront park and riverwalk, opened in 2010, turned what could have been a private tower base into a public stretch of the Chicago Riverwalk, and the hotel's 339 rooms are laid out so that river and lake views reach nearly every floor. The Spa at Trump, at 23,000 square feet, and Sixteen, the hotel's fine-dining room, have both carried Forbes Travel Guide's five-star rating since 2013, placing the property among a small group of American hotels holding that distinction for both lodging and restaurant.

Why This Location

The hotel sits at 401 North Wabash Avenue in River North, on the Chicago River itself, within walking distance of the Magnificent Mile's shopping and a short riverwalk stroll from the Loop. River North's gallery district and restaurant scene surround the tower on its landward side, while the river frontage gives the property a water-level vantage point the Magnificent Mile's other hotels, set back from the water, cannot match. The riverwalk below connects on foot to Navy Pier in one direction and the Loop's bridges in the other.

Fast Facts

• Price: €€€€ (ultra-luxury)

• Vibe: architectural, riverfront, five-star

• Rooms: 339

• Best For: skyline and river views, spa travelers, fine dining

• Our Favorite Thing About the Hotel: the 23,000-square-foot Spa at Trump

• Dining: Sixteen (fine dining), The Terrace, Rebar

• Amenities: indoor pool, spa with eleven treatment rooms, riverwalk access, valet parking

• Attractions: Chicago Riverwalk, Magnificent Mile, River North gallery district

A Spa Built Around the Same View as the Rooms

The Spa at Trump spans 23,000 square feet across eleven treatment rooms, a Swiss shower, and saunas, with an indoor pool positioned to carry the same river and skyline views found in the guest rooms above. It is a scale of spa facility unusual even among Chicago's luxury hotels, and the design pairs the building's structural ambition with a wellness program sized to match it, down to the pool deck's own river-facing glass wall.

Dining With a Procession Through the Tower

Sixteen, the hotel's signature restaurant, is built as an architectural sequence of spaces rather than a single dining room, and it has held a Forbes five-star rating alongside the hotel since 2013. The Terrace extends dining onto the riverfront in warmer months, with direct sightlines to the river and Lake Michigan beyond it, while Rebar covers the mezzanine bar scene for guests who want a shorter, less formal evening.

Before You Book

This hotel suits travelers prioritizing architecture, river and skyline views, and five-star spa and dining credentials in a central River North location. Guests who prefer a lower-key boutique scale or a strictly historic building should look elsewhere in the city's hotel landscape. For a Chicago stay built around the river and the skyline together, this tower remains one of the most architecturally significant options in the city.