Driving Roads in Illinois

Explore scenic and exciting driving roads across Illinois.

Illinois River Road

United States

Meeting Of The Great Rivers Scenic Route

United States

12 /100

53 kmUS

Driving in Illinois

Illinois offers a varied mix of relaxed river roads, winding two-lane highways, historic routes, and rural back roads. Along the western edge, the Great River Road follows the Mississippi through river towns, limestone bluffs, forested slopes, and open floodplain scenery, with particularly distinctive terrain around Galena and the northwest. The Illinois River Road adds rolling hills, wetlands, wooded valleys, and overlooks through central Illinois. Illinois Route 2 beside the Rock River between Byron and Rockford is another notably curving river drive. Farther south, the landscape becomes hillier and more enclosed as roads cross the Shawnee National Forest between the Mississippi and Ohio rivers; the Ohio River Scenic Byway provides access to this region and landmarks such as Garden of the Gods. Historic Route 66 and the Lincoln Highway offer a different kind of road trip, emphasizing small towns, roadside heritage, and long stretches of classic Midwestern highway.