Atlas Obscura Itineraries

Six Spots to Celebrate the Natural Beauty of Illinois

Whether you’re looking for sweeping prairie restorations, sandstone overlooks or deeply layered archaeological sites, this journey traces some of Illinois’ most compelling intersections of landscape, ecology, and human history. Moving from north to south, it unfolds as a gradual immersion into wilder, quieter spaces—where glacial formations, tallgrass ecosystems, river backwaters, and ancient rock shelters each reveal a different chapter of the region’s natural and cultural story.