Illinois · 3 roads · 42.1 catalog miles
Best Driving Roads in Illinois
Illinois has scenic driving beyond the interstate grid, including river bluffs, wooded southern hills and rural two-lane roads. These mapped itineraries highlight those regional differences.
These 3 editorial picks come from the RevRoutes Explore catalog. Each orange line is the exact saved itinerary, and its listed mileage follows that route rather than the full length of a named highway or byway. The list is a starting point for choosing a drive, not a live road-conditions report.
Exact catalog lines. Every orange route below is a real RevRoutes itinerary—not a pin, shortcut or newly calculated alternative.
IL-34 Shawnee
16.03 miles in the Illinois catalog region
- 16.03 mi
- Illinois
Exact saved Explore itinerary. The displayed distance follows this line; the full named road may continue beyond the selected start or finish.
This IL-34 selection gives the list a short Shawnee-country leg. It is a useful contrast to the long loops elsewhere in the guide, without requiring you to commit to a whole day of driving.
Official travel information: Illinois traffic and road closure resources
US-20 Galena Hills
14.79 miles in the Illinois catalog region
- 14.79 mi
- Illinois
Exact saved Explore itinerary. The displayed distance follows this line; the full named road may continue beyond the selected start or finish.
US-20 near Galena introduces northwest Illinois hill country. The short saved line represents a particular section of the highway rather than a complete journey across the state.
Official travel information: Illinois traffic and road closure resources
Karbers Ridge Road
11.29 miles in the Illinois catalog region
- 11.29 mi
- Illinois
Exact saved Explore itinerary. The displayed distance follows this line; the full named road may continue beyond the selected start or finish.
Karbers Ridge Road adds another compact southern-Illinois outing. Compare its start and finish with the Shawnee-area IL-34 entry before planning them together, and verify any separate recreation-area access.
Official travel information: Illinois traffic and road closure resources
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Planning your Illinois drive
The shortest saved route in this guide is 11.29 miles; the longest is 16.03 miles. Choose one itinerary first and account for travel to its start and back from its finish. These are separate route picks, not an automatically connected road trip, and some can share road sections.
Check official Illinois traffic and road closure resources before leaving. Park entry, timed reservations, vehicle restrictions and visitor-site permissions can be separate from whether the public highway is open. Follow current local instructions over an old map or article.
How we chose these Illinois roads
This is a focused selection from the curated RevRoutes Explore catalog, ordered editorially for driving character and reputation, not mileage. We do not pad every state to the same number of picks; more roads remain available in the app. It is not an objective ranking or a claim that the editorial team has personally driven every itinerary. Distances describe the exact saved catalog lines and can differ from official byway lengths. The maps are planning aids—not live navigation or road-condition reports.
Check official Illinois traffic and closure resources before traveling. The label-free satellite imagery is supplied by USGS The National Map; map providers receive ordinary browser requests when a map loads.
Illinois route pages
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