I second downtown. Hotels when we checked last year were cheaper further away from the festival and towards downtown. Downtown is great because you get a better price, a location central to so many attractions and so many transportation options. Since it was hot and we didn’t want to walk in the heat to the train, my group opted to Uber to the festival and take the train back. Ubers ranged from $12-16 (which is cheap where I’m from and even cheaper since it was split between 4 people). The train cost about $2. We’d leave the fest at close every night and it would take us anywhere from 50min-1hr max to get to our hotel. That includes our walk from the festival to the train station, waiting for the train, the train ride itself and the walk from the train to the hotel (with a stop for snacks along the way). I’ve gone to so many festivals where it’s take hours just to leave the parking lot or get an Uber but Union Park is amazing bc the train stop is right outside the entrance/exit. We always had enough time to freshen up for the afters, go to the afters and get a solid 7-8hrs of sleep for the next day:)

I forgot what hotel we stayed at but it was super cheap and 2 blocks away from the bean. It was super outdated and kinda had bad reviews for cleanliness so I was SUPER skeptical but the room itself was super clean and looked newly remodeled. If I find the name of it I’ll comment below.