This article is part of our America 250 coverage. See more stories on epic adventures, music and culture festivals, unexpected experiences, and signature foods to eat in each of the 50 states (plus D.C. and Puerto Rico).
Few travel experiences are as quintessentially American as the road trip: a fueled (or charged) car, a loose itinerary, and the promise that something exciting waits past the next curve. For generations, loading the car has been a rite of passage—equal parts discovery and reinvention. As the country approaches its 250th anniversary, we’re celebrating that restless spirit with unforgettable drives in each state.
And the American Midwest is made for road trips. It’s the perfect region for long, slow-travel days that let you wind through small towns, second cities, pockets of culinary genius, and natural beauty in states you might have only flown over before. Below, we’ve outlined a road trip for every Midwestern state, highlighting the special magic each has to offer, from Indiana’s architecture haven to Ohio’s freshwater beaches and North Dakota’s massive fields of sunflowers.
If you find yourself in another part of the United States, we also have picks for the best road trips in the Northeast, the West, and the South.
Illinois for bluffs, byways, and big river views
- Start: East Dubuque
- End: Shawnee National Forest
- Distance: 500 miles
The Mississippi River traces Illinois’s western border, followed closely by the Great River Road, a National Scenic Byway and one of the best ways to explore a lesser-visited stretch of the state.
Starting in East Dubuque, grab a hearty meal on the town’s Main Street at Pepper Sprout Midwest Cuisine before heading out toward Mississippi Palisades State Park. Wander more than 15 miles of hiking trails and scramble over craggy boulders in this 2,500-acre state park at the confluence of the Mississippi and Apple rivers. Nearby, in Savanna, stop at Havencrest Castle, a 125-year-old eclectic ode to love. From there, continue south to the riverside town of Quincy. Tour the ornate Quincy Museum, housed in the 1891 Newcomb-Stillwell Mansion in the East End Historic District, then refuel downtown with innovative Southern fare at 8te Open or breakfast bites at Thyme Square Bakery & Cafe.
Next comes one of the drive’s most scenic stretches: the 33-mile Meeting of the Great Rivers National Scenic Byway, which winds along tree-topped cliffs at the convergence of the Mississippi, Missouri, and Illinois rivers. Stretch your legs on wooded trails in nearby Pere Marquette State Park. If you need an overnight stop, check into the St. Louis Union Station Hotel, Curio Collection by Hilton, inside a former rail depot across the river in Missouri (a small cheat, we know).
In the morning, head back into Illinois to the UNESCO-designated Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site, a pre-Columbian settlement dating back more than 1,200 years. End your journey at the 289,000-acre Shawnee National Forest, where striking rock formations soar above the treetops. —Michelle Baran
The streets of Columbus, Indiana, are a showcase of famous architects, including I.M. Pei, Richard Meier, and Eero Saarinen (whose North Christian Church is pictured).
Photo by Ted Alexander Somerville/Shutterstock
Indiana for Midwestern modern architecture
- Start: Indianapolis
- End: New Harmony
- Distance: 215 miles
Did you know that Indiana has some of the most distinctive and underrated modern architecture in the United States? Begin your journey in Indianapolis and drive south along I-65 for about 50 minutes, until you reach the town of Columbus. Beginning in the 1950s, businessman J. Irwin Miller offered to pay the architect fees for public buildings around town. The patronage led to buildings by legends such as Eliel and Eero Saarinen, I.M. Pei, Richard Meier, and César Pelli, earning the town the nickname “Athens on the Prairie.” Today, seven of those buildings are designated National Historic Landmarks, and the city offers a two-hour guided shuttle tour of the highlights. Among the landmark buildings is Miller’s 1953 midcentury-modern residence, which features architecture by Eero Saarinen, interiors by Alexander Girard, and landscape design by Dan Kiley.
Continue driving southwest along I-69 toward New Harmony, a small town that housed two utopian communities between 1814 and 1927; they left behind several 19th-century vernacular structures that, lovingly preserved, now form the New Harmony Historic District. But New Harmony isn’t stuck in the past: After marrying a descendant of one of the utopian leaders and town founders, oil heiress Jane Blaffer Owen commissioned a slew of architecture and public art projects, including the Athenaeum by Pritzker Prize winner Meier and Philip Johnson’s Roofless Church. —Nicole Schnitzler
Iowa for literary clout, repurposed brick mills, and endless sunsets
- Start: Iowa City
- End: Decorah
- Distance: 219 miles
In notoriously flat, farmed Iowa, sunrises and sunsets stop visitors in their tracks as they drive between seemingly endless fields. With few hills—and, for the most part, trees or skyscrapers—the skies stretch unobstructed from horizon to horizon.
Before you hit the road, spend time in Iowa City, a UNESCO City of Literature thanks largely to the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop, which has drawn big names since 1936. Walk down Iowa Avenue to spot plaques honoring writers connected to the state, such as Flannery O’Connor and John Irving; browse Prairie Lights Books & Café, once frequented by Robert Frost; and have a drink at Donnelly’s Pub, where Kurt Vonnegut ordered his.
Head west on Route 6 for about half an hour to reach the Amana Colonies, a cluster of seven German villages. Little has changed since the 1800s, when they were established by a Pietist community from Europe (often mistaken for the Amish). Admire the Old World architecture, attend an art or antiques weekend, or dig into Wiener schnitzel. From there, drive northeast on Highway 151 for about 90 minutes to Dubuque, where you can spend the night at Hotel Julien Dubuque, a landmark hosting guests (including Al Capone) since 1839. Ride the funicular up the bluff, then wander the Millwork District, where former brick factories now house a brewery, galleries, and the Dubuque Museum of Art.
Continue north along the Mississippi River on Great River Road through the Driftless Area, Iowa’s hilliest region along the Wisconsin border. Stop at Fish Shack for fried perch and smoked rib sandwiches. About 30 minutes farther north, pull off at Effigy Mounds National Monument to wander sacred Indigenous earthworks shaped like lynxes and bears. End your trip in Decorah, with its lively liberal arts college and a downtown of steeples, brick row houses, and turrets that look straight out of colonial New England. —Danielle Hallock
Kansas for prairie lands, geology, and American history
Kansas’s Monument Rocks are a series of chalk formations left over from when the area was underwater in the Cretaceous era.
Photo by Rusty Dodson/Shutterstock
- Start: Kansas City
- End: Dodge City
- Distance: 330 miles
On this road trip through the Sunflower State, brick warehouses give way to fossil-stamped rock formations and historic rail towns. From Kansas City, head southwest past working ranches and cattle-grazing pastures into the Flint Hills, one of the last remaining expanses of tallgrass prairie in North America. Bison roam the rolling hills at Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve—a great place to stretch your legs on one of its many hiking trails. Spend the night at Clover Cliff Ranch Bed & Breakfast for a full-on prairie immersion.
From there, continue to Topeka to visit Brown v. Board of Education National Historical Park, the former Monroe Elementary School that commemorates the 1954 Supreme Court decision declaring segregation in public schools unconstitutional. Then press southwest toward Wichita for an overnight at the Ambassador Hotel Wichita, set in a restored 1920s bank building, before heading into the high plains in search of chalk bluffs like Monument Rocks that punctuate the flat farmland—the remains of a Cretaceous-era seaway rich with marine fossils.
Finish in Dodge City, full of preserved storefronts and rail-era architecture. Don’t miss the Boot Hill Museum, which walks visitors through the rail and livestock histories that shaped the American West. —Jennifer Flowers
Michigan for a fall foliage drive and a ferry ride
Reach Drummond Island by ferry and then spend the day hiking, fishing, kayaking, or bird-watching.
Photo by Cat Dang Photography/Shutterstock
- Start: St. Ignace
- End: St. Ignace
- Distance: Approximately 160 miles
History is at the heart of this tour of the picturesque Upper Peninsula. Start in St. Ignace, which was founded in 1671 at the Straits of Mackinac, then go east toward heavily wooded Drummond Island. (You will need a ferry to make the 15-minute crossing.) Head back to the mainland once you’ve had your fill of island life—kayaking, swimming, fishing—and spend some time in historic Sault Ste. Marie, the oldest city in Michigan and the third oldest in the entire country, before closing the loop in St. Ignace. —Chloe Arrojado, Katherine LaGrave, and Aislyn Green
Minnesota for a scenic byway and Old World brews
- Start: Ortonville
- End: Le Sueur
- Distance: 170 miles
Stretching across southern Minnesota from Big Stone Lake to Belle Plaine, the Minnesota River Valley National Scenic Byway offers a nature-filled drive through the Midwestern heartland.
Start at Big Stone Lake State Park, a Scientific and Natural Area (SNA) in Ortonville where the oak savanna thrives and wildflowers bloom in warmer months. Continue to the Gneiss Outcrops in Granite Falls, another SNA featuring rocks formed approximately 3.6 billion years ago—among the oldest known on the planet. Adjacent is the Minnesota River State Water Trail, a 318-mile route from St. Paul to Ortonville that’s popular with paddlers.
To better understand the region’s Native American history, stop at the Lower Sioux Agency, where the U.S.–Dakota War broke out in 1862 after years of mounting tensions following the Mendota and Traverse des Sioux treaties. In New Ulm, visit the Harkin, an authentic general store dating to 1871, and Schell’s, the second-oldest family-owned brewery in the United States. Take a tour and sample beers in the Rathskeller Tap Room. Farther east, the St. Peter State Hospital Museum chronicles the complex history of Minnesota’s first state mental hospital, opened in the 1860s and now accessible by appointment.
End your drive at Ottawa Bluffs Nature Preserve in Le Sueur, where a climb to the top of the west-side bluff delivers sweeping views of the Minnesota River Valley and access to a Native American burial ground. —Cinnamon Janzer
Missouri for its soaring arch and natural swimming holes
- Start: St. Louis
- End: Belleview
- Distance: 180 miles
A road trip through eastern Missouri takes you from the skies to the swimming holes. Start at the top of the Eero Saarinen–designed landmark in St. Louis’s Gateway Arch National Park, followed by a visit to the park’s newish museum, which tells the story of westward expansion and the Indigenous and Creole culture of St. Louis before the Louisiana Purchase.
Come nightfall, it’s time to see stars. The Crow Observatory, part of Washington University in St. Louis, hosts public viewings through its 19th-century telescope. Bed down at the Hotel Saint Louis, which occupies an 1893 landmark designed by Louis Sullivan, “the father of skyscrapers.”
Bright and early, drive an hour southwest of St. Louis to Meramec State Park to explore trails, rivers, and Fisher Cave. Through a guided tour, visitors can traverse its narrow passageways and vast limestone chambers and see calcite columns that stretch 30 feet tall, and even preserved bear claw marks.
After taking in nature’s beauty, see some man-made wonders in the town of Cuba, nicknamed the “Route 66 Mural City” for the 14 pieces of street art that line Route 66 through downtown; look for a depiction of pilot Amelia Earhart, who made an unscheduled landing here in 1928. Spend the night at the stone-clad Wagon Wheel, the oldest continuously operating motel on Route 66.
Then it’s back to nature for the Show Me State’s showstopper: geological formations called “shut-ins,” in which rivers get trapped by ultra-hard volcanic rocks and form chutes, pools, and cascades. Play around in them at Johnson’s Shut-Ins State Park, which also has well appointed cabins for overnight stays. Pair the shut-ins with a stop at Elephant Rocks State Park, about a 15-minute drive away in Belleview, which gets its name from pink granite boulders said to resemble circus elephants standing trunk to tail. An especially cool amenity is the 0.9-mile Braille Trail, the first of its kind in the Missouri state parks system; designed for blind travelers, it features interpretive signage in braille that describes the route. —Jackie Bryant, Matt Kirouac, and Stefanie Waldek
Nebraska for tiny towns and the Oregon Trail
Lake McConaughy, nicknamed Big Mac, is Nebraska’s largest reservoir and a summer beach destination.
Courtesy of Nebraska Tourism
- Start: Denver
- End: Denver
- Distance: 700 miles
This five-day road trip through western Nebraska, which starts and ends in Denver, Colorado, its nearest major airport, captivates travelers with scenic buttes and the rich history of the Oregon Trail. As you cross into Nebraska on I-76, it’ll be a three-hour drive through tiny towns and grassy fields dotted with cattle ranches until you reach Ogallala, once a stop for Pony Express riders. History buffs will appreciate the Mansion on the Hill and its preserved one-room schoolhouse, as well as Boot Hill, the final resting place for outlaws like “Rattlesnake Ed.”
From Ogallala, it’s a short drive to Lake McConaughy, Nebraska’s largest reservoir. Big Mac has miles of beach, with fine sand and clear turquoise water; rent an RV parked right on the beach, campfire included, via Lake Mac RV Rentals. The next morning, pick up the Gold Rush Scenic Byway, or U.S. 385, en route to Chadron, stopping in the town of Alliance to see Carhenge—exactly what it sounds like, with 39 automobiles, including a 1962 Cadillac, spray-painted gray and arranged by artist Jim Reinders.
Heading north on 385, you’ll come to peaceful Chadron State Park, offering horseback riding and hiking. In Chadron, visit the Mari Sandoz Heritage Center, celebrating Nebraska’s most prolific writer, who chronicled pioneer life and Indigenous people. Fort Robinson State Park, 20 minutes away, is home to sweeping, bison-grazing vistas and a checkered past: Natives were pushed off the land to create a military fort in 1874; what followed was the killing of Chief Crazy Horse during the Sioux Wars and later a POW camp for German soldiers in World War II. Book a rustic space in the former officer barracks, now reserved for guest lodging from April through November, or a room in the historic, no-frills lodge. They’re nothing fancy, but offer a fun sleepaway camp vibe.
Scottsbluff, near the Wyoming border, was a stop on the Oregon Trail, and its Scotts Bluff Visitor Center is the perfect place to explore frontier history. From there, enjoy a hike, bike ride, or drive to the summit of Scotts Bluff National Monument for panoramic views before heading back into town for cold beers and hot wings at Flyover Brewing Co. where, after a week enjoying Nebraska’s riches, you’ll be well-positioned to argue its so-called flyover status. —Rebecca Treon
North Dakota for sunflower fields and big-sky drives
- Start: Grand Forks
- End: Fargo
- Distance: 590 miles
North Dakota’s tourism tagline is “Be Legendary,” and legendary is perhaps the best word to describe road trips here. As one of the least-populated states (only Alaska, Wyoming, and Vermont have fewer residents), it offers blissfully few humans and lots of land to roam. Rolling prairies, craggy badlands, and grasslands are populated with elk, bison, bighorn sheep, coyotes, and more than 300 bird species; the state also has more wildlife refuges than any other. Theodore Roosevelt, whose namesake national park spans 70,447 acres in western North Dakota, credited the state’s rugged beauty with shaping his political success, saying, “If it had not been for the years spent in North Dakota and what I learned there, I would not have been president of the United States.”
The question, then, is not if North Dakota is right for a road trip, but where to start and end: There’s a 223-mile journey from Fargo to the geographical center of North America (Rugby, North Dakota, thankyouverymuch); you could also begin in Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site near Stanton and drive 121 miles toward Lake Sakakawea and the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation.
But our pick this year celebrates the helianthus. Ukrainian immigrants introduced sunflower cultivation in the late 1800s, and today North Dakota grows 40 percent of the nation’s crop, with more than half a million acres dedicated to the bloom. From late July through August, brilliant yellow fields blanket the prairie. To experience them, start in Grand Forks (home to the North Dakota Museum of Art) and drive west on U.S. 2 toward Lakota, then north via ND-1 to Langdon. The next day, head south toward Cooperstown for small-town charm framed by sunflower fields before ending in Fargo with craft beer at Drekker Brewing Company.
On day three, follow I-29 south toward Walcott, then turn west to Bismarck for Missouri River views. Along the way, look for North Dakota Sunflower Mailboxes, where complimentary edible sunflower seeds make the perfect road trip snack. —Katherine LaGrave
Ohio for freshwater beaches and rust belt revival
Ohio’s Marblehead Lighthouse on Lake Erie is the oldest lighthouse in continuous operation on the Great Lakes, since 1822.
Photo by Fotogro/Shutterstock
- Start: Toledo
- End: Ashtabula
- Distance: 175 miles
Ohio spans many distinct cultural regions and ecosystems, but in summer, few are as refreshing as the shoreline. A drive along the Lake Erie Coastal Ohio Trail, a National Scenic Byway, is the best way to take it all in.
Start in Toledo, at the lake’s western tip, where you can tour historic ships at the National Museum of the Great Lakes and enjoy a Hungarian hot dog at Tony Packo’s before checking into the Hotel Royal, a renovated turn-of-the-century railroad inn with five cozy rooms.
Just east lies the Marblehead Peninsula and the Lake Erie Islands, a beloved summer resort area for more than 150 years. Book a room at Hotel Lakeside in its namesake Chautauqua community, or ferry to Put-in-Bay and stay at the 1870s-era Park Hotel.
Continuing along the coast, stop in friendly towns like Huron—and nearby Chef’s Garden Farm Market and Culinary Vegetable Institute—on your way to Cleveland. A $175 million expansion of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame is slated to open this fall. In the meantime, visitors can cruise the Cuyahoga River via the Cleveland Water Taxi and reserve tables at James Beard Award–recognized restaurants such as Cordelia (and its new sister spot, Rosy). Downtown’s Fidelity Hotel, inside the historic Baker Building on Euclid Avenue, makes a stylish base.
From there, continue east through Lake County, where beaches, lighthouses, and historic estates double as overnight accommodations, including Charles Schweinfurth’s Willoughby House and Frank Lloyd Wright’s Louis Penfield House. End your route in Ashtabula County, home to the state’s largest concentration of 19th-century covered bridges and the Hubbard House Underground Railroad Museum, which shines a light on Ohio’s abolitionist history. —Hannah Walhout
South Dakota for corn palaces and Badlands drama
- Start: Sioux Falls
- End: Spearfish
- Distance: 390 miles
Start this road trip in South Dakota’s largest city with such Sioux Falls staples as the SculptureWalk, the world’s largest annual exhibition of public sculptures, and stock up with macarons (in unique flavors like puppy chow and snickerdoodle) from CH Pâtisserie, which is led by Top Chef: Just Desserts winner and James Beard Award Semi-Finalist Chris Hanmer.
Head out driving west along I-90, and in Mitchell, stop at the World’s Only Corn Palace, a site showcasing the proud harvest of South Dakota farmers. The Moorish revival building has been going strong since the 1890s, and its exterior walls are decorated with murals made of corn.
About 200 miles farther on your journey, you’ll come across Badlands National Park, where you can cruise the South Unit’s perimeter for views of its iconic rock formations, while also keeping an eye open for the area’s abundant wildlife, from bison to bighorn sheep. Back on I-90, fuel up on maple-flavored doughnuts from Wall Drug, an institution since 1931 made famous for its decades of roadside hospitality and much-advertised “free ice water.”
Finish your drive in Spearfish, where you can enjoy a Pile O’Dirt Porter or 11th Hour IPA at Crow Peak Brewing before kicking back at Spearfish Canyon Lodge for a well-deserved rest. —Nichole Schnitzler
Wisconsin: for bucolic farms and Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright was so inspired by Wisconsin’s Driftless Area that he built a home here, called Taliesin.
Courtesy of Taliesin Preservation Visitor Center
- Start: Viroqua
- End: Spring Green
- Distance: 115 miles
In their retreat after the last Ice Age, the glaciers of the upper Midwest scraped and ground down peaks and filled in crags, leveling the landscape most associated with Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Iowa. But more than 24,000 square miles where these states converge around the Mississippi was untouched by the ice sheets, leaving hills and dales to roll freely, secreting forest-banked rivers and sandstone sentinels. This is known as the Driftless Area, and most of it resides in southwestern Wisconsin, a rural region that begins approximately 120 miles west of Milwaukee, where handmade signs advertise direct-from-the-farm eggs and winding roads link small towns and nature preserves.
Start your road trip in the bohemian town of Viroqua, where the recently restored 1899 Hotel Fortney offers a cozy welcome and local eateries such as chef Luke Zahm’s Driftless Café reflect the region’s farm-to-table ethos.
From here, it’s about 20 miles east to the Kickapoo Valley Reserve, a conservation area surrounding the Kickapoo River whose Indigenous rock art suggests it was once a sacred area for hunters’ vision quests. The park managers don’t disclose the rock-art locations because the works are prone to erosion, but a web of hiking trails in the park introduces the stone overhangs and river bends that might once have provided refuge. Hiking routes blend natural history and nature.
A trek at Devil’s Lake State Park in Baraboo, about 60 miles further east, reaches Devil’s Doorway, a natural portal of stacked rock. At 500 feet, it overlooks what the ancestral Ho-Chunk people call Tee Wakącąk, or Sacred Lake, and the park is filled, like much of the region, with effigy burial mounds.
An influential landscape, the Driftless was even key in nurturing architect Frank Lloyd Wright’s love of nature. Growing up in Madison, he often worked on his uncle’s farm in the Wisconsin River Valley, where he eventually built his home, the famed Taliesin in Spring Green, about 40 miles southwest. —Elaine Glusac
