Western Skies Scenic Byway
Western Skies Scenic Byway is a State Scenic Byway in Iowa. Within Iowa it covers roughly 140 miles. The map below shows its route. Use “Plan a drive” to open it in the Road Sorties route planner — already routing along Western Skies Scenic Byway with scenic roads turned on, ready to add your own stops.
Western Skies Scenic Byway crosses 142 miles of rolling farmland through Harrison, Shelby, Audubon, and Guthrie counties. It runs roughly parallel to Interstate 80 across western Iowa, beginning near Missouri Valley at the Harrison County Historical Village and Welcome Center and passing through about 14 rural towns before ending near Guthrie Center. Its most distinctive stretch runs through Elk Horn and Kimballton, twin Danish immigrant villages where Elk Horn's working Danish windmill, shipped from Denmark and reassembled in the 1970s, is the only one of its kind still operating in the United States. Near the byway's midpoint, Stuart holds a different piece of outlaw history: it's the site of Bonnie and Clyde's last bank robbery before the pair was killed by police weeks later in 1934. Between these stops, the byway's open, rolling horizon is the source of its name.
- 142 miles, 4 western Iowa counties
- Elk Horn's working Danish windmill
- Kimballton, Danish immigrant villages
- Stuart — Bonnie & Clyde's last robbery
- parallels Interstate 80
Plan a drive on Western Skies Scenic Byway →
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.
Where to Stay along Western Skies Scenic Byway
No campgrounds are listed close to Western Skies Scenic Byway yet, but there are rooms near the route.
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