Forget New York. The Windy City has got the festive season all sewn up, discovers ROB COWEN

LIGHTS twinkled all the way down Michigan Avenue, bathing shoppers in a golden glow.

Carols drifted from the doors of Bloomingdale's, Nordstrom and Tiffany, and all around people sang along, their voices muffled by scarves and carrying ribbon-topped presents.

It was like walking into a Christmas card.

Click here for the latest Chicago deals

I love the festive season and nowhere looks better in the run up to December 25 than Chicago's Magnificent Mile, as this stretch of retail heaven is known.

Even New York's famous shopping spots can't match its seasonal splendour and it was well worth the extra hour west on the plane.

The atmosphere is small-town America but looming in the darkness were reminders that this is America's third biggest city, home to buildings of such sheer verticality that a cricked neck is a constant threat.

Chicago is the birthplace of the skyscraper.

Willis Tower, better known by its former name Sears Tower, is the country's tallest building at 1,451ft.

Numerous leviathans surround it, from beautiful art deco stone to massive mirrored glass, a benefit of employing the biggest names in 20th-century architecture to do your town planning.

Louis Sullivan, Frank Lloyd Wright and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe all plied their trade here, rebuilding the city after the Great Fire razed it to the ground in 1871.

The best place to get some perspective is The Signature Room bar on the 95th floor of the John Hancock Center.

Lines of neon disappeared into the darkness of the pancake-flat prairies to the west.

Below lay the thriving cultural and commercial centre and to the north and south the chic, low-lying neighbourhoods President Obama called home until taking office.

I downed bags at the striking Radisson Blu Aqua Hotel, a new-build which is not out of place among the architectural luminaries in the heart of Downtown.

From a distance it resembled a thawing block of ice.

Inside, motifs on the walls and floors combined modern glass and chrome with traces of Chicago's industrial past: exposed brick, leather panels and steel girders.

From the balcony of my room I took in the soothing enormity of Lake Michigan.

Then I headed out into the night.

Chicago is famously home to the blues and the Kingston Mines bar is the place to sample some of the best.

Following delicious lobster bisque and a steak at III Forks restaurant, it was only a short taxi ride uptown to the trendy Lincoln Park area.

This was awash with vintage shops, parks and cool watering holes. Inside the spit-and-sawdust venue the blues was moonshine-raw but the audience lapped it up while the venerable owner did the rounds in his cowboy threads and sunglasses.

Only his stories of playing with Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker betrayed his 75 years.

Morning broke cold, bright and blue; ideal walking weather.

I joined locals with steaming cappuccinos watching the ice skaters in nearby Millennium Park.

The McCormick Tribune Rink is open until March and all ages mingled on the ice, their movement mirrored in the jelly bean-shaped sculpture Cloud Gate by British artist Anish Kapoor.

It was a wonderfully wintry snapshot.

A guided tour with Absolutely Segway in Grant Park is a fantastic way to delve into the city's history.

Guide Aaron's tales of his hometown dated back to its origins as a frontier post deep in "Indian country".

We glided past gigantic avenues leading towards the bright lights of Macy's on State Street and the theatre district.

A clunking train overtook our two wheels on the elevated rail or "L" that loops the centre.

Behind us the parkland trees shook in the breeze.

It was all a far cry from the Thirties industrial backwater and gangster playground Aaron described as we warmed up at one of the many street stalls with a Chicago-style hot chocolate, laced with cinnamon and cream.

Click here for amazing Chicago deals

With 26 miles of waterfront it's easy to see why many mistake Chicago as coastal.

The turquoise waters of Lake Michigan, larger in size than Croatia, stretch out to the horizon and Shedd Aquarium at its edge strengthens the seaside impression.

With children dragging parents off for a penguin encounter or to rub noses with a beluga whale, I opted for a browse around the fossilised creatures in the Field Museum, the natural history Mecca close by, and an encounter with the world's largest T-Rex skeleton.

Doubling back through Grant Park, I warmed up with a whistlestop tour around the Art Institute of Chicago.

Here, Edward Hopper's Nighthawks rubs shoulders with seminal van Gogh, Monet and Cezanne in a mesmerising collection of some of the world's greatest works.

On Washington Avenue the smell of gl¼hwein and freshly mulling cider became irresistible.

It emanated from Daley Plaza where a 55ft Christmas tree sat surrounded by Christkindlmarket.

Shoppers ducked about pine-scented wooden huts selling handcrafted wooden toys and decorations.

Like them, I stocked up on a wealth of stocking fillers.

As I wound my way back to the hotel, there was no question in my mind; when it comes to seasonal spirit, Chicago is my kind of town.

THE KNOWLEDGE

British Airways (0844 493 0787/ www.ba.com) offers return flights from Heathrow to Chicago from £500.

Radisson Blu Aqua Hotel (0800 374 411/www.radissonblu.com) offers doubles from £128 per night (two sharing), room only, or £151 per night (two sharing), B&B.

Absolutely Chicago Segway Tours (dialling from the UK: 001 312 552 5100/ www.chicagosegways.com) offers city tours from £38 (for two hours).

Chicago Convention and Tourism Bureau: 0207 367 0944/ www.choosechicago.com