Illinois: Chicago, Lincoln and the start of Route 66

For nine people out of ten, Illinois comes down to Chicago, its towers on the shore of Lake Michigan and its wind. The rest of the state loses out: it’s a long rectangle of farming plains that stretches nearly 600 kilometres from north to south, until it touches the climate of the Deep South at the confluence of the Mississippi and the Ohio. In between: the start of Route 66, Abraham Lincoln’s home town, the remains of a great Native American city and a few canyons you really don’t expect here.

Illinois is the heart of the Midwest, with all that implies in the way of frankness, practicality and comfort food. Chicago alone deserves several days, but getting out of the city helps you understand where this America of the plains comes from.

Illinois at a glance

• Capital: Springfield
• Largest city: Chicago (about 2.7 million inhabitants, 9 million with the metropolitan area)
• Population: about 12.5 million
• Area: about 150,000 km², nearly five times Belgium
• Joined the Union: 1818, 21st state
• Time zone: Central Time (7 hours behind Brussels)
• Nicknames: Prairie State, and the slogan “Land of Lincoln” on the licence plates
• Highest point: Charles Mound, 376 metres

Geography: from Lake Michigan to the Mississippi

The north-east is dominated by Chicago and its immense metropolitan area, on the shore of Lake Michigan.

The north-west is hillier, with the small historic town of Galena, near the Mississippi, and the only real hills in the state.

The centre is the prairie: fields of corn and soybeans as far as the eye can see, with Springfield, Peoria and Champaign. Illinois is one of the country’s leading producers of corn and soybeans.

The south, nicknamed “Little Egypt”, is wooded and more rugged, with the Shawnee National Forest. Culturally, you already feel close to Kentucky or Missouri. In the far west, along the Mississippi, is Cahokia, opposite St. Louis.

A bit of history

Around the year 1100, Cahokia, near present-day St. Louis, was the largest city in North America north of Mexico. Later, the Illinois (Illiniwek) gave their name to the region. The French explorers Marquette and Jolliet passed through in 1673, and the region was part of New France until 1763.

Illinois became a state in 1818. Abraham Lincoln lived and worked there as a lawyer in Springfield for more than twenty years before being elected president in 1860. Chicago, founded in the 1830s, grew at a crazy speed thanks to the railways, the stockyards and grain. The Great Fire of 1871 destroyed the centre, which was reborn with the first skyscrapers. In the 20th century, Chicago was the city of Al Capone and Prohibition, of the Great Migration of African Americans from the South, of electric blues, and then of Barack Obama.

The must-sees

Chicago

Chicago is where the modern skyscraper was born, with the Home Insurance Building, in 1885. The city is an open-air museum of architecture, and the best way to discover it is the architecture river cruise on the Chicago River, run by the Chicago Architecture Center. For the view, go up to the Skydeck at Willis Tower, with its glass balconies over the void, or to 360 Chicago, in the former John Hancock Center.

Millennium Park and its giant “bean” (Cloud Gate), the Riverwalk and the Lake Michigan beaches are free. The Art Institute has one of the finest Impressionist collections in the world, with Seurat’s A Sunday on La Grande Jatte. The “Museum Campus” brings together the Field Museum, where you can admire Sue, the most complete tyrannosaur skeleton ever discovered, the Shedd Aquarium and the Adler Planetarium.

For atmosphere, a Cubs game at Wrigley Field, a 1914 ballpark, is a classic, as is a blues night in a club like Buddy Guy’s Legends. In Oak Park, in the suburbs, Frank Lloyd Wright’s home and studio and around twenty houses he designed can be visited on foot. And if you’re there on the Saturday before St Patrick’s Day, the Chicago River is dyed fluorescent green.

Route 66 in Illinois

At the corner of Adams Street and Michigan Avenue, in Chicago, a sign marks the start of Route 66, opened in 1926 and nearly 4,000 kilometres long to Santa Monica. The Illinois stretch runs about 480 kilometres to St. Louis. Along the way: Joliet and its old prison seen in The Blues Brothers 🎬, the fibreglass giants (the “Muffler Men”) such as the Gemini Giant in Wilmington, Pontiac and its Route 66 museum covered in murals, Atlanta and its restored petrol station, then Springfield and the Cozy Dog Drive In, which claims to have invented the corn dog on a stick. Allow two or three days to enjoy it. The road celebrated its 100th birthday in 2026 (Enjoy Illinois).

Springfield, Lincoln’s town

The capital lives and breathes Abraham Lincoln. His home, the only one he ever owned, is free to visit with a ranger, in a restored period neighbourhood. The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum is one of the liveliest in the country, with its life-size scenes. And at his tomb, in Oak Ridge Cemetery, visitors rub the nose of his bronze bust for luck, so much so that it shines like gold.

Cahokia Mounds

Opposite St. Louis, Cahokia Mounds protects the remains of the largest pre-Columbian city north of Mexico. Around 1100, it is thought to have had as many inhabitants as London at the same period. Its builders, the Mississippian culture, raised more than a hundred earthen mounds, including Monks Mound, around thirty metres high, whose base is wider than that of the Great Pyramid of Giza. The site is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. You climb to the top by a staircase for the view of St. Louis.

Starved Rock

1 hr 30 south-west of Chicago, Starved Rock State Park surprises everyone who thinks Illinois is flat. The Illinois River has sculpted around twenty moss-covered sandstone canyons, with waterfalls in spring or after heavy rain. In winter they freeze into columns of ice. The name comes from a legend: a group of Illiniwek besieged on top of the rock are said to have starved to death there. The park is very busy at weekends: go on a weekday.

Galena

In the far north-west, Galena is a small 19th-century brick town, left almost intact, with a main street full of shops and restaurants. General Ulysses S. Grant lived there before the Civil War, and his house can be visited. Ideal for a weekend from Chicago.

The south: Shawnee and the Mississippi

Right in the south, the Shawnee National Forest hides another “Garden of the Gods”, an area of spectacular rock formations on a hilltop, with an immense view over the forests, especially in autumn. Along the Mississippi, the Great River Road links pretty towns such as Alton and Elsah, at the foot of limestone bluffs, and Nauvoo, a former Mormon town.

More offbeat: the small town of Metropolis, on the Ohio, proclaimed itself the “Hometown of Superman” in 1972, taking advantage of its name. It has a giant statue of the hero on the main square and a festival every June.

Itinerary ideas

4-5 days, Chicago and around. Chicago (3 days) → Oak Park → Starved Rock (1 day) → Galena (1 day).

One week, Route 66. Chicago (2-3 days) → Route 66 to Springfield (2 days) → Cahokia and St. Louis. To be extended into Missouri and Oklahoma for those who want to drive the whole road.

In combination. Chicago combines easily with Wisconsin (Milwaukee is 1 hr 30 away), Michigan (the Lake Michigan dunes) or Indiana.

On the plate

• Deep dish pizza, a thick pizza baked in a pan like a pie, with the cheese underneath and the tomato sauce on top. Pizzeria Uno claims to have invented it in the 1940s. One slice is often enough to fill an adult.
• Tavern-style pizza, with a very thin crust and cut into squares, which many locals actually prefer to deep dish.
• The Chicago hot dog, in a poppy seed bun, with mustard, onions, neon-green relish, tomatoes, a pickle spear, sport peppers and celery salt. Above all, never ketchup.
• Italian beef, a sandwich of thinly sliced roast beef, dipped in its juices, popularised by the series The Bear 🎬.
• Garrett Popcorn, in Chicago, in a caramel-cheddar mix.
• In Springfield, the horseshoe sandwich: toast, meat, a mountain of fries and a cheese sauce.
• And for the brave, Malört, a very bitter wormwood liqueur, a local rite of passage.

Culture and trivia

• The Great Fire of 1871 is said to have started in the barn of Mrs O’Leary, whose cow supposedly kicked over a lantern. The cow was exonerated by the city council in 1997.
• Chicago blues was born of the Great Migration of African Americans from Mississippi. Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf electrified the blues here, and the Chess Records label recorded the beginnings of rock ‘n’ roll.
• Ronald Reagan was born in Illinois, in Tampico, and Walt Disney in Chicago.
• Barack Obama made his whole political career in Chicago. His presidential centre opened in Jackson Park in June 2026.
• Illinois was the first state to ratify the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery, in February 1865.

When to go

• Summer (June to August): the best time for Chicago, with the lake beaches, the festivals (the Blues Festival in June, Lollapalooza in August) and outdoor terraces. It can be very hot and humid.
• Spring and autumn (May, September-October): mild and pleasant, ideal for Route 66 and the parks. The autumn colours are lovely in the south.
• Winter (December to March): freezing in Chicago, with a wind that cuts right through you and temperatures often below –10 °C. The Christmas markets and the frozen waterfalls of Starved Rock nevertheless have their charm.

Practical information

• Recommended length of stay: 3 to 4 days for Chicago, one week with Route 66 and Springfield.
• Getting there: Chicago’s O’Hare airport is one of the largest in the world, with direct flights from many European cities, including Brussels (United). Chicago is also the hub of the Amtrak rail network.
• Getting around: in Chicago, the elevated train (the “L”) and walking are enough. A car becomes essential for Route 66 and the rest of the state.
• Budget: Chicago is expensive, but a little less so than New York. The rest of the state is very affordable.
• Things to watch out for: in Chicago, as in any big city, find out which neighbourhoods to avoid at night. In the south, watch out for tornadoes in spring.
• One more tip: book the architecture cruise and the Skydeck ahead in summer, and try a deep dish at least once… sharing it.