How to Spend 3 Days Traveling Route 66 in Missouri

Posted: 12/19/23 | December 19th, 2023

A lot of people assume you need to travel abroad to have transformative travel experiences, but that’s simply not true. In this guest post, Raimee Iacofano, my former creative director and creator behind RaimeeTravel, shares how a road trip across one of the most underrated American states can show you a whole new world.

This year I had a big goal: to get outside of my international travel bubble and explore more of my home country, the United States! After years of going abroad every time I had some time off, I wanted to switch things up a bit and prioritize destinations closer to home that weren’t necessarily on my radar.

Thanks to the folks at Visit Missouri, I was able to turn that dream into reality on an extravaganza down the historic Route 66!

This iconic historic highway stretches from Chicago, Illinois, to Santa Monica, California. It gained fame as a major path for travelers, serving as a key route for migration west during the 20th century, and has since become a symbol of American freedom and adventure.

To my surprise, I discovered more than the sprawling highways and flat farmland people tend to think about when it comes to the Midwest (and I’m from Michigan, so I know people don’t typically think of our region as a fun getaway destination!).

On this three-day itinerary, you’ll experience the best things to see and do across Missouri, like massive caves, lush parks, and the kind of quirky road stops I can’t imagine finding anywhere else.

Here’s how to spend three days along Route 66 from St. Louis to Springfield:

Missouri Route 66 Road Trip Itinerary: Day 1

National Museum of Transportation
This museum has an extensive collection of transportation vehicles, including planes, trains, automobiles, and trolleys. You’ll find the types of retro cars you only really get to see in movies and vintage planes that make you question all laws of physics.

My favorite thing in this museum was the Virgin Hyperloop, which is essentially a tube intended to move cargo at airline speeds but at a fraction of the cost, suspended by magnetic systems in a vacuum tube.

Even though the Hyperloop might not ever actually get made for use by passengers (which is totally fine by me, because it seems slightly terrifying), it’s fascinating to imagine and learn about what the future of transportation could look like.

2933 Barrett Station Rd., St. Louis. Open daily 9am-4pm. Admission is $15 ($6 for kids, $12…