About Route 66 Trip Guide
Route 66 Trip Guide is a free, independent website for people planning to drive Route 66, from Chicago to Santa Monica or any stretch in between. It has no accounts and nothing to install.
What you will find here
- A map of 823 stops near the road, in 12 kinds, from neon motels and ghost towns to museums and state parks, plus 34 classic places to eat.
- A trip planner that turns any two towns into a day-by-day plan you can open in Google Maps, print or share.
- Guides to all 8 states and 36 towns, the best attractions and a 14-day itinerary.
Where the information comes from
Everything here is built from open, public sources, and we name them:
- Places: Wikidata (public domain, CC0). A few well-known Route 66 businesses that Wikidata does not list come from OpenStreetMap.
- The road and the map: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), with map tiles from OpenFreeMap.
- Photos: Wikimedia Commons. Every photo has a credit link to its file page, which names the author and the license.
- Addresses, phone numbers and opening hours: OpenStreetMap, Wikidata and public business listings.
The descriptions are written for this site from the facts in those sources. We do not copy text from other websites or guidebooks.
How we choose the stops
Nobody pays to be listed, and no stop is ranked higher because of a sponsor. When the planner or a "best of" list picks stops, it uses a score made from facts: whether the place is a true Route 66 icon, whether it carries the road's name, how many people read about it, what kind of place it is and how far it sits from the old road. Places we know to be closed for good are marked and left out of plans.
What to keep in mind
- Opening hours, phone numbers and even whether a place is still open can change faster than our sources. Check with the place itself before you drive out of your way.
- Miles and driving times are rounded and always "about". Route 66 was rerouted many times, so the distance depends on the alignment you follow.
- This is a guide, not a navigation app. The plan tells you where to stop; your maps app does the turn-by-turn, and the signs on the road come first.
- We are not affiliated with any state or federal highway agency or with any Route 66 association.
How the site is paid for
The site is free to use and shows no ads today. If we add advertising later, it will be marked as such, and advertisers will have no say in which stops we list or how we describe them. How the site handles your data is in our privacy policy.
Contact
Write to hello@route66tripguide.com about anything: a question, a place we missed, a mistake. A place has closed, a photo shows the wrong building, a fact is off? Tell us; every place page also has a "Suggest a fix" link. Corrections from people who know the road are the best source we have.