Illinois

Garden of the Gods, Shawnee National Forest, Illinois
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Garden_of_the_gods.jpg
Author: Daniel Schwen


Illinois is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Its name comes from the French spelling of the Illinois tribe of Native American. The word is derived from Iliniwek, which is said to mean "men" in the Miami-Illinois language, or rather, "tribe of superior men". The Illinois tribe however refered to themselves as the Inoka.

Sunset at Champaign, Illinois
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sunset_at_Grain_Elevator_012_Cropped_more.jpg
Author: Shakil Mustafa


The state of Illinois covers an area of 57,918 sq miles (140,998 sq km) and has a population of 12.9 million people. It is the most populous Midwestern state and the fifth most populous in the country. It borders on Lake Michigan to the northeast. The 42°30' north latitude forms its northern border with Wisconsin. The Mississippi River forms its western border across from Missouri and Iowa. To the east, the 87°31'30" west longtitude forms the eastern border with Indiana until Post Vincennes, thereafter the border follows the Wabash River. The northern shore of the Ohio River forms the border with Kentucky.

Illinois comprises three major geographical divisions: Northern Illinois is dominated by the Chicago metropolitan area; Central Illinois, also called the Heart of Illinois, characterized by small towns and mid-sized cities; and Southern Illinois, characterized by its warmer climate and different types of crops.

Piney Creek Ravine, Illinois
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Piney_Creek_9134_Rocks.jpg
Author: Edbwiki

Travel to Illinois

The most convenient way to reach Illinois is by road. From Wisconsin, you can take Interstate-39, 90 and 94; from Iowa, take I-74 and I-80; from Missouri, take I-55, I-57, I-64, I-70 and I-72; from Kentucky, take I-24; and from Indiana, take I-64, I-70, I-74, I-80, I-90 or I-94.

You can also take the Amtrak trains terminating in Chicago from Washington, D.C., New York City and Boston. By flight, the two main airports for Chicago are O'Hare and Midway. Smaller airports are located in Springfield, Rockford, Peoria, and Bloomington-Normal.

Travel within Illinois

If you intend to explore the state extensively, the best way is to do it by car. Many of the highways around Chicago are tollways (if you are from northeastern United States, you can use your E-ZPass and pay half the cash price).

Chicago, Illinois
© https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2010-02-19_3000x2000_chicago_skyline.jpg
Author: J. Crocker

Cities in Illinois

Places of Interest in Illinois

World Heritage Sites in Illinois

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Dear visitor, thank you so much for reading this page. My name is Timothy Tye and my hobby is to find out about places, write about them and share the information with you on this website. I have been writing this site since 5 January 2003. Originally (from 2003 until 2009, the site was called AsiaExplorers. I changed the name to Penang Travel Tips in 2009, even though I describe more than just Penang but everywhere I go (I often need to tell people that "Penang Travel Tips" is not just information about Penang, but information written in Penang), especially places in Malaysia and Singapore, and in all the years since 2003, I have described over 20,000 places.

While I try my best to provide you information as accurate as I can get it to be, I do apologize for any errors and for outdated information which I am unaware. Nevertheless, I hope that what I have described here will be useful to you.