Great River Road - Illinois
Great River Road - Illinois is a State Scenic Byway in Illinois. Within Illinois it covers roughly 480 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
Plan a drive on Great River Road - Illinois →
What is a State Scenic Byway?
State Scenic Byways are roads a state has formally recognized for their scenic, natural, historic or cultural value — each state's own curated collection of drives worth taking slowly.