Great River Road - Iowa
Great River Road - Iowa is an All-American Road in Iowa. Within Iowa it covers roughly 320 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 - Iowa with scenic roads turned on, ready to add your own stops.
The Iowa segment of the Great River Road runs 328 miles along the Mississippi from the Minnesota border to Missouri. It's an All-American Road strung with limestone bluffs and river towns, threading 10 counties and communities including Marquette, McGregor, Guttenberg, Balltown, Dubuque, Bellevue, Sabula, Clinton, Davenport, Bettendorf, and Burlington. Effigy Mounds National Monument and Pikes Peak State Park, both near McGregor, offer some of the route's best bluff-top views across the river into Wisconsin. Farther south, Burlington's Snake Alley, built in 1894 and often called the crookedest street in the world, and the reconstructed Old Fort Madison draw detours off the main route. In 2021 the Federal Highway Administration upgraded Iowa's stretch, along with seven other states along the river, from National Scenic Byway to All-American Road status, the program's highest designation. It's part of the larger 3,000-mile Great River Road system running the length of the Mississippi.
- 328 miles, 10 Iowa counties
- All-American Road (upgraded 2021)
- Effigy Mounds National Monument
- Pikes Peak State Park overlook
- Snake Alley, Burlington
- Old Fort Madison
Designated for its scenic and historic qualities
Plan a drive on Great River Road - Iowa → Drive this route in Road SortiesTurn-by-turn on iPhone · App Store
Places to stop along Great River Road - Iowa
Driftless Area Education and Visitor Center
A center near Lansing on the unglaciated Driftless Area's bluffs, caves, and cold-water trout streams.
Effigy Mounds National Monument
More than 200 Native American mounds, some shaped like bears and birds, on bluffs high above the Mississippi.
WebsiteNational Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium
A Dubuque museum with river aquariums, a dredge boat to explore, and the National Rivers Hall of Fame.
WebsiteMines of Spain Recreation Area
Wooded bluffs and prairie south of Dubuque where Julien Dubuque mined lead in the 1790s; his limestone tomb tower stands on a bluff.
Sawmill Museum
A Clinton museum on the era when the city was a lumber capital, with a working vintage sawmill.
WebsiteBuffalo Bill Museum
A LeClaire museum on the town's famous native son and its river pilots, beside a dry-docked sternwheeler.
Nahant Marsh Education Center
A 305-acre wetland preserve in southwest Davenport with boardwalks and an education center.
WebsiteNational Pearl Button Museum
Muscatine's museum on its era as Pearl Button Capital of the World, when buttons were cut from river mussel shells.
WebsiteOld Fort Madison
A replica of the 1808 frontier fort, the first U.S. military post on the upper Mississippi, with costumed interpreters.
Where to Stay along Great River Road - Iowa
15 campgrounds and RV parks sit within about 5 miles of Great River Road - Iowa.
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 - Iowa
.jpg){kind=link}
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.