Highland Park: Culture, Rail and Trails in the Preserve

When looking for a hotel in Highland Park, it’s worth first organizing your planned stay around your interests: arriving by train, culture or time outdoors on the trails will raise different questions. Highland Park offers specific points of reference for this, each clearly distinct. The stop at the Ravinia entrance concerns your arrival; the Preserve brings together trail use, landscape and clear rules; and theater, concerts and the preservation of a historic building provide cultural highlights. This can help you assess which aspects matter for your own hotel and travel plans.

Plan Your Train Journey

Metra’s Union Pacific North Line trains stop at Ravinia’s historic entrance. If you plan to travel by train, you can use this named stop as a reference when making your plans. Check the schedule for your travel date so the connection suits your arrival. The Metra stop is a specific point of reference for getting there; the trails and cultural offerings address other questions, such as whether you’d rather spend time outdoors or at an event.

Trails and Landscape in the Preserve

The Preserve of Highland Park includes hiking and biking trails that connect residential neighborhoods, downtown Highland Park and regional bike trails. These connections give the trail network several points of reference: it extends from travel within the city to connections with regional bike trails. The Preserve also offers trails through restored woodlands, wetlands and prairie. If you’d like to combine your stay with nature and activity, you can consider both the landscape and the trail connections. Bicycles are allowed on the Preserve’s trails; pedestrians have the right of way, and posted trail rules apply. If you ride there, use the trails with consideration for pedestrians and follow the signs.

Fishing at North Pond

North Pond has its own clearly defined conditions. Fishing is allowed in designated areas, including at the overlook on the east shore; catch-and-release only. Swimming is not allowed. This makes fishing at the pond different from using the trails: biking is subject to trail rules and pedestrian right of way, while fishing is governed by the designated area and the catch-and-release rule.

Theater, Concerts and Historic Heritage

Cultural offerings include a range of formats. Highland Park Players provides accessible, hands-on theater for the City of Highland Park. Highland Park Strings offers free community concerts. The hands-on theater and the concerts therefore have different focuses; free admission is also part of the concert offering. If an event is important for your travel dates, check the schedule in advance before planning the rest of your itinerary around it.

The historic Francis Stupey Cabin broadens the cultural perspective to include the preservation of a specific building. The Highland Park Historical Society maintains and preserves the cabin. Unlike theater and concerts, the focus here is not an event but the preservation of a historic structure. This lets you consider a distinct aspect of Highland Park’s historic heritage alongside its cultural offerings.

Explore more destinations: Bannockburn, Libertyville, Antioch, Lincolnshire, Waukegan, Lake Zurich, Winthrop Harbor, Lake Forest.

For the broader travel overview: Lake.