Great River Road - Illinois
Great River Road - Illinois is an All-American Road in Illinois. Within Illinois it covers roughly 550 miles. The map below shows its route. Use “Plan a drive” to open it in the Road Sorties route planner — already routing along Great River Road - Illinois with scenic roads turned on, ready to add your own stops.
The Illinois leg of the Great River Road follows the Mississippi past towering limestone bluffs, from the historic lead-mining town of Galena in the north down to the confluence country near Alton. Below the bluffs near Grafton, bald eagles gather by the hundreds each winter at the locks and dams. River towns, ferries, and the Pere Marquette bottomland forest line the way.
- Mississippi River bluffs
- Galena
- wintering bald eagles
- Grafton & Alton
- the Great River Road
Designated for its historic and cultural qualities
Plan a drive on Great River Road - Illinois → Drive this route in Road SortiesTurn-by-turn on iPhone · App Store
Places to stop along Great River Road - Illinois
Galena
A preserved lead-mining boomtown where most of the 19th-century brick downtown sits inside a National Register district. Ulysses S. Grant's postwar home, a gift from local citizens in 1865, is open for tours.
WebsiteMississippi Palisades State Park
Limestone bluffs and rock towers north of Savanna, a National Natural Landmark with about 15 miles of trails and several overlooks straight down onto the river.
WebsiteMississippi River Visitor Center
An Army Corps of Engineers center beside Lock and Dam 15, the world's largest roller dam. Watch towboats lock through and look for winter eagles; it sits inside Rock Island Arsenal, so bring photo ID.
Black Hawk State Historic Site
Wooded bluffs above the Rock River where the Sauk village of Saukenuk once stood. The Hauberg Indian Museum, in a 1930s CCC lodge, tells the story of the Sauk and Meskwaki.
WebsiteNauvoo
The Latter Day Saints city of the 1840s, with dozens of restored homes and shops, working demonstrations, and a rebuilt temple on the bluff overlooking a wide bend of the river.
WebsiteVilla Kathrine
A Moorish-style villa built on a Quincy bluff in 1900 by traveler W. George Metz, with river views from its grounds and a tourist information stop inside.
WebsitePere Marquette State Park
More than 8,000 acres of bluffs near where the Illinois River meets the Mississippi, with a 1930s stone-and-timber lodge, hilltop overlooks, and some of the state's best winter eagle watching.
WebsiteNational Great Rivers Museum
A free Corps of Engineers museum at Melvin Price Locks and Dam on how the river shaped the country, with scheduled tours out onto one of the largest lock systems on the Mississippi.
Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site
A UNESCO World Heritage Site preserving the center of a Mississippian city that peaked around 1100 AD. Climb Monks Mound, the largest prehistoric earthwork in the Americas.
WebsiteFort de Chartres State Historic Site
Partly rebuilt walls of the stone fort that anchored French rule in the Illinois Country in the 1750s. Its original powder magazine is thought to be the oldest building in Illinois.
WebsiteFort Kaskaskia State Historic Site
Earthworks of a 1759 French fort on a bluff high above the Mississippi, with one of the broadest river views on the Illinois side and a pioneer cemetery nearby.
WebsitePierre Menard Home State Historic Site
The early-1800s French Creole home of Illinois' first lieutenant governor, sitting on the floodplain at the foot of the Fort Kaskaskia bluff.
WebsiteU.S. Custom House Museum
An 1872 stone customs house in Cairo, now a museum of the river town's boom years and its Civil War role, when Grant made Cairo his first headquarters.
WebsiteFort Defiance
Illinois' southernmost point, where a Union fort once guarded the meeting of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. Stand on the tip and watch the two currents merge.
Website
Where to Stay along Great River Road - Illinois
13 campgrounds and RV parks sit within about 5 miles of Great River Road - Illinois.
Campsite, lodging, RV rental and membership links are affiliate links — booking through them may earn Road Sorties a small commission, at no extra cost to you. Recreation.gov links are not affiliate links.
Photos of Great River Road - Illinois
What is an All-American Road?
All-American Roads are the top tier of America's National Scenic Byways. To earn the title a road has to be a destination in its own right — offering features so exceptional, across several intrinsic qualities (scenic, natural, historic, cultural, archaeological or recreational), that they can't be found anywhere else.