Itinerary · 14 days · 58 places
14 Days on Route 66
Two weeks on the Mother Road: from the Begin sign on Adams Street in Chicago via Lincoln's Springfield, the Gateway Arch, Tulsa and Oklahoma City, the Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo and the neon streets of Albuquerque, Winslow and Kingman to the “End of the Trail” sign on Santa Monica Pier.
Open in the appThere you can adjust the plan to your dates, your pace and your interests.
Photo: AJ Ahamad · Pexels
The route on the map
The plan, day by day
Day 1Arrival in Chicago — Mile Zero in the Loop
Arrival in Chicago
Hotel check-in
Stay in the Loop between Michigan Avenue and the Chicago River, from where the start of Route 66 on Adams Street is within walking distance.
Buckingham Fountain
Every hour on the hour, the fountain in Grant Park shoots a jet up to 46 metres high, lit in changing colours after dusk, with the Michigan Avenue skyline behind it.
Day 2Chicago — Mile Zero, art and skyline
Route 66 Begin Sign on Adams Street
The brown-and-white sign at the corner of Adams Street and Michigan Avenue marks the official start of the Mother Road heading west.
Art Institute of Chicago
Behind the two bronze lions hang Hopper's “Nighthawks”, Seurat's Sunday Afternoon and one of the largest Impressionist collections outside France.
Millennium Park
The mirrored Cloud Gate, the Crown Fountain with its changing faces and Frank Gehry's band shell lie within a few hundred metres of each other.
Skydeck at Willis Tower
From 412 metres up you look out over Lake Michigan, on clear days as far as Indiana, and the glass Ledge boxes hang freely above Wacker Drive.
Chicago River architecture cruise
From the boat, a Chicago Architecture Center guide explains the skyscrapers in order along the river, from the Wrigley Building to Marina City.
Evening: Navy Pier
The pier with the Centennial Wheel is open late into the night; from the Ferris wheel gondola you see the illuminated skyline above the water.
Day 3To Springfield — Lincoln's town
Onward to Springfield
Hotel check-in
Lincoln Home National Historic Site
The only house Abraham Lincoln ever owned stands furnished within an entire 1860s streetscape, with free ranger-led tours.
Old State Capitol State Historic Site
In the rebuilt chamber Lincoln gave his “House Divided” speech in 1858; the domed building stands in the middle of the old market square.
Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum
Life-size scenes from the log cabin to the White House, plus original letters and one of the few surviving copies of the Emancipation Proclamation.
Evening: Route 66 Motorheads Bar & Grill and Museum
A hall full of neon signs, petrol pumps and tin cars on the old 66 in the south of town, with live music in the beer garden in the evening.
Day 4St. Louis — the Arch and the old Mississippi bridge
Onward to St. Louis
Hotel check-in
Gateway Arch
Small capsule trams ride up inside the 192-metre stainless-steel arch, and from the narrow windows you see the river, the city and the Illinois plain.
City Museum
A former shoe factory full of walk-through sculptures made of scrap, slides dropping through ten storeys and a school bus jutting out over the edge of the roof.
Old Chain of Rocks Bridge
The disused road bridge with its famous bend in the middle once carried Route 66 over the Mississippi and is now open only on foot.
Evening: Ted Drewes Frozen Custard
The stand on Chippewa Street has been selling its concretes since 1941, so thick they're handed over upside down; the queue fills the car park until late at night.
Day 5Springfield, Missouri — birthplace of Route 66
Onward to Springfield, Missouri
Hotel check-in
Birthplace of Route 66 Roadside Park
On College Street a marker recalls that the telegram giving the road the number 66 was sent from here on 30 April 1926.
History Museum on the Square
Five floors above the old market square tell of the railway hub, Wild Bill Hickok's 1865 shoot-out and the making of the Mother Road.
Wonders of Wildlife National Museum and Aquarium
Behind the Bass Pro flagship store, a circuit runs through recreated habitats and around 5.7 million litres (1.5 million gallons) of aquariums with sharks and rays.
Evening: Park Central Square
In the evening the round square in the centre is ringed by bars, ice-cream parlours and the illuminated sign of the Gillioz Theatre.
Day 6Tulsa — Art Deco and Cyrus Avery
Onward to Tulsa
Hotel check-in
Cyrus Avery Centennial Plaza
At the old crossing over the Arkansas River, the bronze group “East Meets West” honours the Tulsa road builder who pushed Route 66 through.
Philbrook Museum of Art
The Italianate oil villa shows European painting and Indigenous art, with a terraced garden sloping down to a reflecting pool behind it.
Golden Driller
The 23-metre statue of an oil worker has leaned against a real derrick in front of the fairgrounds since 1966.
Boston Avenue United Methodist Church
The 1929 tower is considered one of the purest Art Deco church buildings in the USA, with terracotta ornament and slender stained-glass strips inside.
Evening: Tulsa Arts District
Around Brady Street, brick warehouses with live music, breweries and Cain's Ballroom line up one after another.
Day 7Oklahoma City — Memorial and Stockyards
Onward to Oklahoma City
Hotel check-in
Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum
Between two gates marked with the times 9:01 and 9:03 stand 168 empty chairs for the victims of the 1995 bombing.
Stockyards City
Around the world's largest stocker and feeder cattle market, saddlers and hatters have been selling to real cowboys for a hundred years.
National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum
James Earle Fraser's huge plaster sculpture “End of the Trail”, Colts, saddles and a walk-through Western town tell the myth of the West.
Route 66 Park at Lake Overholser
An observation tower shaped like a road sign and a walkable map of the Mother Road sit on the shore of the lake the old alignment crossed.
Evening: Bricktown Canal
Small sightseeing boats tie up along the canal through the warehouse district, and the waterfront is full of restaurants and live music until late.
Day 8Amarillo — Cadillac Ranch and Sixth Street
Onward to Amarillo
Hotel check-in
Cadillac Ranch
Ten Cadillacs have been stuck nose-first in a wheat field west of town since 1974; spray cans are explicitly welcome.
Historic Route 66 District on Sixth Street
Thirteen blocks of old brick buildings with antique shops, record shops and the original 1920s roadbed beneath the asphalt.
American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame and Museum
The hall of the world's largest horse-breeding association shows saddles, pedigrees and films of cutting and reining.
Evening: Golden Light Cantina
Next to the oldest continuously operating grill on Texas Route 66, country and blues bands play on a small stage in the evening.
Day 9Albuquerque — Old Town and the neon of Central Avenue
Onward to Albuquerque
Hotel check-in
Old Town Albuquerque
Around the adobe church of San Felipe de Neri from 1793 lie low adobe courtyards where Navajo and Pueblo traders lay out silver jewellery on blankets.
Indian Pueblo Cultural Center
New Mexico's nineteen Pueblos tell their own story here; at weekends groups from the villages dance in the courtyard.
Nob Hill on Central Avenue
The stretch of the old 66 east of the university has kept its 1940s neon signs, with bookshops and cafés in between.
Evening: Sandia Peak Tramway
The longest aerial tramway in the USA climbs to 3163 metres in fifteen minutes; from the top you see the Rio Grande and the city lights.
Day 10Winslow — Standin' on the Corner
Onward to Winslow
Hotel check-in
Standin' on the Corner Park
At the corner of Second Street and Kinsley Avenue stand the bronze man with a guitar and the red flatbed Ford from the Eagles song “Take It Easy”.
La Posada Hotel and Gardens
Mary Colter's last great railway hotel complex, from 1930, has been restored to its original state: tiled floors, gardens and trains passing right behind the terrace.
Old Trails Museum
In an old bank branch on Kinsley Avenue are Harvey Girl uniforms, photos of railway operations and Hopi artefacts.
Homolovi State Park
North of town lie the foundations of 14th-century Hopi villages, scattered with thousands of potsherds that must be left where they are.
Evening: Second Street in old Winslow
The two-lane alignment of the old 66 through the centre glows with restored motel signs in the evening, and a few bars and the brewery are open.
Day 11Flagstaff — ponderosa pines and an observatory
Onward to Flagstaff
Hotel check-in
Walnut Canyon National Monument
A stepped path leads down into the canyon to 25 Sinagua cliff dwellings built beneath limestone overhangs 800 years ago.
Historic Downtown Flagstaff
Brick buildings from the logging era surround the old station; BNSF freight trains run right through town every ten minutes.
Riordan Mansion State Historic Park
The 1904 duplex of two lumber-baron brothers stands unchanged in the pine forest, complete with furniture, toys and Stickley interiors.
Museum of Northern Arizona
The museum on Fort Valley Road presents the geology of the Colorado Plateau, Hopi pottery and Navajo weaving in a building of malpais stone.
Evening: Lowell Observatory
Pluto was discovered on Mars Hill in 1930; in the evening the historic Clark Refractor and the telescopes of the Giovale Open Deck Observatory open to visitors.
Day 12Kingman — the longest stretch of the old road
Onward to Kingman
Hotel check-in
Arizona Route 66 Museum in the Powerhouse
The old 1907 power station traces the road from ox carts through the Ford caravans of the Dust Bowl years to the travel boom of the 1950s.
Mohave Museum of History and Arts
Mining, Hualapai baskets and a collection devoted to Andy Devine, the Western actor who grew up in Kingman.
Locomotive Park
Santa Fe steam locomotive 3759 has stood on a length of track by the roadside since 1957, next to a rest area looking out to the Hualapai Mountains.
Historic Andy Devine Avenue
The main thoroughfare still bears the neon signs of the old motels, with workshops, souvenir shops and classic cars at the kerb in between.
Evening: Beale Street Historic District
The town's oldest brick buildings cluster around the Beale Hotel; in the evening a few breweries and bars are open, with street music in summer.
Day 13Mojave — Barstow and Calico
Onward to Barstow
Hotel check-in
Casa del Desierto Harvey House
The Moorish-looking 1911 station was both hotel and Harvey restaurant; its arcades stand unchanged beside the BNSF rail yard.
Route 66 Mother Road Museum
The station's west wing holds photos, petrol pumps and motel registers from eighty years of road traffic through the Mojave.
Calico Ghost Town
The 1880s silver town lies as a half-restored ghost town in the colourful hills; you walk through mine tunnels, the school and the saloon.
Evening: Main Street Barstow in neon light
Along the old alignment glow the signs of the El Rancho and the Route 66 Motel, dating from before the Interstate.
Day 14Santa Monica — the end of the Mother Road
Onward to Santa Monica
Hotel check-in
Santa Monica Pier and the End of the Trail sign
At the end of the pier a wooden sign marks the official finish of Route 66, with the Ferris wheel and carousel turning above the Pacific behind it.
Palisades Park
The narrow strip of palms on the bluff above the Pacific Coast Highway is your last look back over 3940 kilometres of road.
Departure from Los Angeles
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Viatro AI opens this plan in the app — with map, travel times and opening hours. You change the days, pace and places yourself.
