Route 66 Attractions: The 30 Best Stops from Chicago to Santa Monica

The best Route 66 attractions are the ones that only exist because of the road: the Gemini Giant in Wilmington, the Blue Whale of Catoosa, Cadillac Ranch outside Amarillo, the Blue Swallow's neon in Tucumcari, the wigwams in Holbrook, the burros of Oatman and the End of the Trail sign on the Santa Monica Pier. Below are my 30 favorite stops in driving order, from Chicago to Santa Monica, each one checked as open or accessible in 2025 or 2026, plus the famous names that have closed or changed.

I'm Helena, and I drove all 2,448 miles in April 2026 for the Centennial Edition of my Route 66 Field Manual. Every stop on this list is one I'd pull over for again. Where a state has more than I can fit here, I point you to my state guides instead of repeating them.

What is Route 66 famous for?

Route 66 was commissioned on November 11, 1926, and ran from Chicago to Santa Monica until it was removed from the federal highway system in 1985. It became famous in three waves. John Steinbeck called it "the mother road" in The Grapes of Wrath in 1939. Bobby Troup's "(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66" came out in 1946. And the Route 66 TV series ran from 1960 to 1964, just as the interstates were starting to replace it.

What people come for today is what grew up along the road to catch those drivers: neon motels, giant statues, gas stations turned museums, and small-town cafes that outlived the traffic.

The 30 best Route 66 attractions at a glance

Here's the whole list, east to west.

Route 66 attractions state by state

Illinois

1. Begin Route 66 sign, Chicago. The road starts on Adams Street at Michigan Avenue, across from the Art Institute. Since March 2026 there's a second, ceremonial start sign at Navy Pier. I explain both, and how the start moved over the years, in where Route 66 starts and ends.

2. Gemini Giant, Wilmington. A 30-foot astronaut from the 1960s that stood for decades outside the Launching Pad restaurant. After it closed, he was restored and moved in 2024 to South Island Park.

3. Route 66 Hall of Fame and Museum, Pontiac. Admission is free, with donations welcome, and the displays are arranged town by town in Route 66 order, Chicago to St. Louis. Out back are Bob Waldmire's bus and van. Leave an hour.

4. Chain of Rocks Bridge. The 1929 bridge over the Mississippi, with its famous bend in the middle, has been closed to cars since 1970 and is now open to walkers and cyclists.

Missouri

5. Ted Drewes Frozen Custard, St. Louis. On Chippewa Street since 1941, still family-run in its fourth generation. Order a concrete, so thick they hand it to you upside down.

6. Meramec Caverns, Stanton. Lester Dill opened the cave to tourists in 1935, and the guided tours still run about an hour and a quarter through the formations.

7. Cuba's Route 66 murals. Cuba calls itself the Route 66 Mural City, and its 14 outdoor murals show scenes from local history, including visits from Harry Truman, Amelia Earhart and Bette Davis. Pick up a mural map at the I-44 visitor center at Exit 208, then walk it.

8. Devils Elbow Bridge. A 1923 steel truss over the Big Piney River on the original alignment, now Teardrop Road. It was restored and reopened to traffic in 2014.

Kansas

9. Cars on the Route and the Centennial Arch, Galena. A restored Kan-O-Tex station with a rusty boom truck out front that helped inspire Tow Mater in Pixar's Cars. On Front Street, the old Route 66, Galena put up a 100-foot-wide Centennial Arch in 2025 that you drive right under.

10. Rainbow Bridge, near Riverton. Built in 1923 over Brush Creek, it's the last Marsh arch bridge on the whole route, and you can still drive across it on one lane.

Oklahoma

11. Ed Galloway's Totem Pole Park, Foyil. Ed Galloway spent eleven years, from 1937 to 1948, building a 90-foot concrete totem pole covered in carved figures. Preservation work was going on in spring 2026, and the park stayed open.

12. Blue Whale of Catoosa. Hugh Davis built the 80-foot whale in 1972 as something for his grandchildren to swim off. A new visitor center opened on May 30, 2026, with a gift shop and the whale's first neon sign. The visit is free, but swimming in the pond is no longer allowed.

13. Round Barn and POPS, Arcadia. The Round Barn dates to 1898 and was restored in 1992. A few minutes west, POPS stands behind a 66-foot soda bottle and sells more than 600 kinds of soda.

14. Oklahoma Route 66 Museum, Clinton. Run by the Oklahoma Historical Society, and my pick for the best museum on the road. It had the biggest day in its history on June 30, 2026, and attendance in the first half of the year was up 300%, so arrive early in summer. The whole state is in my guide to Route 66 stops in Oklahoma.

Texas

15. U-Drop Inn and Tower Station, Shamrock. Built in 1936 for $23,000, with two Art Deco towers. It's now a visitor center and the Shamrock Chamber of Commerce, so you can go inside.

16. Cadillac Ranch, Amarillo. Ten Cadillacs from 1949 to 1963, buried nose-down in a field since 1974 and moved two miles west in 1997. It's free, and adding a layer of spray paint is expected.

17. Midpoint Cafe, Adrian. The halfway point of the route, 1,139 miles from Chicago and from Santa Monica. It's famous for pie, and its longtime owner helped inspire Flo in Cars. It runs under new owners now; call ahead outside the summer season.

New Mexico

18. Blue Swallow Motel, Tucumcari. A 1939 motor court with a garage beside each room and the "100% Refrigerated Air" neon. Sleep there if you can, and book by phone: ask for a room with its own garage.

19. Blue Hole, Santa Rosa. A spring-fed pool that stays around 62°F all year, popular with swimmers and scuba divers. It has closed at short notice before, so check the day before you go.

20. El Rancho Hotel, Gallup. Built in the 1930s by R.E. Griffith, brother of the director D.W. Griffith, as a base for Hollywood westerns. The rooms are named after the stars who stayed in them. More in my guide to Route 66 stops in New Mexico.

Arizona

21. Petrified Forest National Park. The only national park with a piece of Route 66 inside it. About six miles from the north entrance, a pullout with a 1932 Studebaker marks the old alignment, with the telephone poles still standing beside it.

22. Wigwam Motel, Holbrook. Fifteen concrete and steel teepees, open since 1950 and still run by the Lewis family, with old cars parked out front. A night was about $120 in fall 2026.

23. Standin' on the Corner Park, Winslow. The corner from the Eagles' "Take It Easy," opened as a park in 1999. Since late 2025, a "singing highway" on Route 66 at the east side of town plays a line of the song through the tires if you drive it at 35 mph.

24. Meteor Crater. About a mile wide and 550 feet deep, six miles south of I-40 at Exit 233. It's open daily from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., but floor tours were paused for trail restoration when I checked.

25. Seligman. In 1987, barber Angel Delgadillo and his neighbors formed the association that got "Historic Route 66" signs put back up, and the revival started here. His 1923 barbershop was restored in April 2026. West of town begins the longest unbroken stretch of the old road.

26. Hackberry General Store. Opened in 1932 and turned into a Route 66 attraction by artist Bob Waldmire in the 1990s. Today it's a souvenir shop packed with old signs, gas pumps and cars. Full Arizona details are in Route 66 stops in Arizona.

27. Oatman and Sitgreaves Pass. The road climbs over the Black Mountains on hairpin curves to Oatman, where wild burros, descendants of the miners' pack animals, wander Main Street. Feed them only the alfalfa cubes sold in town, never carrots or other human food.

California

28. Roy's Motel and Cafe, Amboy. The 1959 boomerang sign is one of the most photographed signs on the whole route. In mid-2026 Roy's was a gas station and souvenir shop, with the owner working to reopen the motel rooms by the end of the year.

29. Elmer's Bottle Tree Ranch, Oro Grande. About 200 metal "trees" hung with more than 1,000 colored bottles, built by Elmer Long in the early 2000s on two acres beside the old road. It's free.

30. End of the Trail sign, Santa Monica Pier. Dedicated on November 11, 2009, the road's 83rd birthday. The official end is about a mile inland at Olympic and Lincoln, but the pier is where everyone takes the last photo.

Route 66 roadside attractions: the giants, whales and buried cars

If what you're after is pure roadside weirdness, the kind built to make a family pull over in 1965, this is the short list: the Gemini Giant, the Blue Whale, Ed Galloway's totem pole, the 66-foot bottle at POPS, Cadillac Ranch, the Wigwam teepees and the Bottle Tree Ranch. Most cost nothing more than a soda or a can of paint, and none takes more than an hour.

My Route 66 bucket list: the ten I'd never skip

If you can't do all 30, these are the must-see Route 66 stops I'd protect in any itinerary, one or two per state:

• The Begin sign in Chicago, at the very start.
• The Chain of Rocks Bridge, on foot.
• A concrete at Ted Drewes.
• The Rainbow Bridge in Kansas.
• The Blue Whale and the Clinton museum in Oklahoma.
• Cadillac Ranch, with your own can of paint.
• A night at the Blue Swallow in Tucumcari.
• The Petrified Forest pullout and the Wigwam in Holbrook.
• Oatman over Sitgreaves Pass.
• The End of the Trail sign on the pier.

Those fit easily into the two-week Route 66 itinerary I drive myself. If you're working out how many days to give the whole road, start with the Route 66 road trip planner, and for where to eat on the way, see the best Route 66 diners.

Closed, changed or worth a phone call

Lists of Route 66 attractions go out of date fast. These are the ones I'd check before you plan a day around them:

• New Mexico Route 66 Museum, Tucumcari. Closed abruptly in July 2025 after a dispute with the city over rent. Its last day open was July 19.
• Munger Moss Motel, Lebanon, Missouri. Sold after the death of its longtime owner. Most rooms are becoming studio apartments, with about 15 kept for short stays through Airbnb, and the neon sign was donated to the city.
• Meteor Crater floor tours. Paused for trail restoration. The site itself is open daily.
• Roy's, Amboy. Fuel and souvenirs only in mid-2026, no cafe service and no motel rooms yet.
• The Blue Whale's pond. No swimming, despite all the old photos.
• The Launching Pad, Wilmington. The restaurant is closed; the Gemini Giant moved to South Island Park.
• The Mojave road. Part of National Trails Highway east of Amboy has been closed for bridge work. Check before you go; I track it in the planner.

That's how the Field Manual works too: closed places are marked closed, and anything uncertain carries a "verify operating status before travel" flag. If we couldn't verify it, we left it out.

Thirty stops, one road

You could see every attraction on this list in two weeks, but half the fun is in between: the motel owner who tells you where to eat, the town that isn't on any list. Use these 30 as anchors and leave room around them.

When you're ready to plan the days, the Route 66 Field Manual has a chapter for each of the eight states, 169 maps, and 9 hotels and 9 restaurants per state on three budgets, all checked on my April 2026 drive. The printed book and the digital edition come together in one order for $47.