“Hot town, summer in the city…”
Back of your neck feeling a little gritty?
Well, don’t dismay, the travel experts at GO Airport Shuttle have come up with a lot of good ideas to help you beat those high summer temps across the country. As The Lovin’ Spoonful said…”Despite the heat, it’ll be alright!”
If you live in a city like New York, Los Angeles or Chicago, you have a pretty good start on staying cool this summer. As a matter of fact, 7 of the 10 largest U.S. cities share the same geographic heat-busting feature by being located next to a large body of water. “It’s cooler near the lake,” is what Chicago TV weather folks have said for years. Interestingly, the Number One practical tip for dealing with super summer heat is total submersion into a large amount of water, according to NPR.
Cooling summer ideas for some of our most traveled cities are listed below. You can imagine similar activities from city to city. So, if your exact travel destination isn’t listed, chances are you’ll find interesting summer cool-off options like these you can use wherever you go. And, if you’re bound for Paris, you’re in luck; the River Seine is open for swimming for the first time in 100 years!
Stop One: the beach. With 27 beaches covering 26 miles of Lake Michigan coastline, you have quick easy access to cool water whenever you feel the urge to take a dip. All free, too. Here’s the sandy scoop. Forgot your bathing suit, but still want a cool lake breeze? Stop Two: Navy Pier, with inside and outside activities, plus fireworks a few nights a week, not to mention boat rides to explore the lakeshore. Plus, the air conditioned Ferris Wheel and the largest rooftop deck in the country. It’s all there.
Some people think Lake Michigan is too big, so staying inland might be preferred. All across the city you’ll find splash pads for some quick relief. But the most interesting walk-in fountain you can find features water sprays from the mouths of real Chicagoans at the Crown Fountain in Grant Park. Take your shoes off and join the crowd.
Chicago offers several great museums, too, all air conditioned. But there’s nothing like the Shedd Aquarium to lower your body temperature and make you feel refreshed like examining cold water fish up close, or dolphins, or orca whales.
Interesting crowd-less museums to consider: The American Writers Museum offers a lot of interactive learning and the International Museum of Surgical Science will open your eyes to a oddly intriguing world.
Where else in the Windy City can you cool off, and perhaps get away from the crowds of people also trying to do the same thing. That’s the challenge. But in Chicago, you can always find a bowling alley or game room for a few good hours of chill. There’s a new casino downtown, as well as movie theaters, and plays, along with several comedy venues. Magic shows are popping up, too. We heard one dad from Chattanooga found his magic show through a ChatGTP-prepared travel itinerary. And, of course, Chicago has more roof top bars.
You can pretty much find a lot of what Chicago offers the summer visitor in search of cooler climes in other large cities, too. Use these suggestions as a guide. We’ll also try to highlight a few unique options in some of our other favorite cities as well. Trust GO Airport Shuttle to find the “coolest” places in every city we serve.
Are you sure you want to visit Phoenix in summer? The AVERAGE August temp can be over 100 degrees!
So let’s start with ice skating. Phoenix offers several options to help you get a little exercise while you’re getting out of the sun. Check out the rinks here. Then there’s indoor golf to help you brush up on your game when it’s too hot outdoors. For more indoor activities, you could probably spend all day at a Fat Cats location, with bowling, movies and games. Or, if you just want a movie, check out all the half-price movie offers in town here.
If you want to see how animals stay cool in Arizona, you’ll have to hit the Phoenix Zoo early. It’s open from 7 am to 2 pm during the summer. Outside of tons of hotel pools, for a real dip in some naturally cool waters, head out of town for tubing on the Salt River in nearby Tonto National Forest.
No matter what summer day you land at DIA (Denver International Airport), you’ll be able to look west and see at least one snow-capped mountain. So, you might expect the best advice to get cool in Colorado is to head for the hills. The traffic might deter you, especially on weekends. But Denver does offer some surprising ways to deal with its dry summer air.
You can rent a pool! Denver has a growing business offering pool rentals. Sort of like an AirB&B of swim. Check out what’s available here. Or, if you prefer a more active approach, waterparks have been a Denver staycation activity for years. Outdoor, indoor, they can be big, too. And so many to choose from. You can also make your own water ride by renting/buying an inner tube and visit either Boulder or Golden for some excellent creek-tubing.
Go underground. The famous Brown Palace Hotel offers tours that point out the various underground tunnels connecting the hotel to various locations downtown. That’s cool.
Here’s another city not close to a large body of water. One quick hot-weather beater solution is a museum. Atlanta has plenty of them, offering a wide range of wonderful air-conditioned experiences to fill your days. But who wants to be cooped up all vacation?
Then head for the Hooch and rent a kayak on the nearby Chattahoochee River. Then come back to town for some rooftop roller skating with some cool evening breezes.
For a change of pace, try a late afternoon tasting tour through a nice shady Atlanta neighborhood with the Grant Park Food and Cemetery Tour.
A quick, cool refreshing experience in this Texas city is the Fort Worth Water Garden, featuring three different pool-like experiences covering four and a half acres. Natural air-conditioning at its finest.
Ice skating will always cool things off a bit. Here’s a good choice. Open 7 days a week, too. But if you just want to have fun and stay cool, take a walk down the Margarita Mile, a self-guided tour of the best margaritas in Dallas. You’ll forget about the heat in no time.
Those are some of the largest non-water/lake side cities you can easily visit with the help of GO Airport Shuttle where you might have to dig a little harder to find relief from the hot summer sun. But here are a few truly unique summertime activities in some of our favorite cities if you happen to find yourselves touring on a typical hot summer day:
Kansas City—buried for over 100 years, this riverboat was unearthed as a time capsule of life in the 1850s. They call it “King Tut’s tomb on the Missouri River.”
Stay cool, while you learn a little history with the Arabia.
Houston—if you can’t make it to nearby Galveston on the Gulf Coast, you can find several swimming holes right in town. You’ll feel the chill of outer space at the Houston Space Center. Then maintain the cooling mood with a visit to the fist Cosmic Cocktail Lounge in the world.
Philadelphia—Two great choices to find a cool break in Philly would be one on water and one on land. For the water, check out the entire seaport of Philadelphia for a ton of activities and dining. Going inland, Longwood Gardens offers a summer festival of fountains to help you deal with those hot summer days.
New York—The Big Apple offers a lot of the same kind of cooling experiences that Chicago does, only BIGGER and MORE. Here’s a quick starter guide, including glamping on Governor’s Island. NYC is surrounded by water, so evening cruises are always a delight, such as the Willy Wall. And, if the best thing you can think of is a cool ice cream cone, New York gives you plenty of choices for treats between all your museum/theater visits.
Los Angeles—the ocean and surfing is waiting for you, of course. But how about those hot summer nights? Check out the Hollywood Forever Cemetery for classic movies in the dark. Some spooky, too. There’s also nearby Catalina Island. But for a refreshing cool breeze, you’d be hard-pressed to outdo the zipline experience in Skull Canyon.
So, there you have it: Cool, get-me-out-of-this-high-heat activities in ten cities across the U.S., all with comfy and convenient GO Airport Shuttle service to help make your summer vacation even better even though all the thermometers across the country seem to keep going higher and higher and higher. Stay cool with GO Airport Shuttle no matter where you go.