Illinois Destination Guide

This Illinois destination guide is where you can find available luxury five star Illinois resorts, comfortable four star Illinois hotels, clean three star Illinois lodges, convenient two star Illinois inns, budget one star Illinois motels and the best vacations rentals in Illinois. This where you book a room and make hotel reservations at a place to stay and find information and tips on travel to Illinois. This getaway guide will help our readers find the perfect lodging accommodations in Illinois. Whether you are traveling with your family on a leisure holiday vacation or visiting for corporate business, our Illinois lodging guide will help you find a hotel room that suits your specific needs. Find travel books, travel gear, and event tickets, in IL.

Illinois constitutes the 21st state of the United States, located in the former Northwest Territory. The capital of Illinois is Springfield while its largest city is Chicago, along the waterfront of Lake Michigan. Most of the state's population resides in Chicago and its suburbs. The U.S. postal abbreviation for the state is IL. Surrounding states are Wisconsin to the north, Iowa and Missouri to the west, Kentucky to the south, and Indiana to the east. Illinois also borders Michigan, but only via a water boundary in Lake Michigan.

Illinois has three major geographical divisions. The first is Chicagoland, including the city of Chicago, its suburbs, and the adjoining exurban area into which the metropolis is expanding. This region includes a few counties in Indiana and Wisconsin and streches across much of the Northern Illinois toward the Iowa border, generally along and north of Interstate 80. This region is cosmopolitan, densely populated, industrialized, and settled by a variety of ethnic groups. Southward and westward, the second major division is Central Illinois, an area of rolling hills and flat prairie. Known as the Land of Lincoln, it is characterized by small towns and mid-sized cities. Agriculture, particularly corn and soybeans, figures prominently. Major cities include famously average Peoria, Springfield (the state capital), and Champaign-Urbana (home of the University of Illinois). The third division is Southern Illinois, or Little Egypt, distinguished from the other two by its warmer climate, different mix of crops (including some cotton farming in the past), more rugged unglaciated topography, coal mining, and proximity to the juncture of the Mississippi River and Ohio River. In extreme northwestern Illinois the Driftless Area, a region of unglaciated and therefore comparatively higher and more rugged topography, occupies a small part of the state.

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Illinois contains a variety of geographical regions and landforms within its boundaries. The northeastern portion of the state is characterized by glacial lakes, bogs and lakeshore dunes. It contains the metropolitan area of Chicago and is dissected by several Interstates. Small state parks throughout this region preserve wetlands and glacier-carved natural areas. Chicago Portage National Historic Site and Illinois & Michigan Canal National Heritage Corridor commemorate the role of the region in American history.

Cities with Lodging Hotels in Illinois
Algonquin Alsip Altamont Alton Arlington Heights Aurora Bannockburn Barrington Bedford Park Belleville Bensenville Bloomingdale Bloomington Bolingbrook Bourbonnais Bridgeview Buffalo Grove Burr Ridge Calumet City Calumet Park Carbondale Carol Stream Caseyville Champaign Charleston Chicago Collinsville Crystal Lake Danville Decatur Deerfield Dekalb	Des Plaines Dixon Downers Grove East Hazel Crest East Moline Edwardsville Effingham Elgin Elk Grove Village Elmhurst El Paso Evanston Fairview Heights Farmer City Forsyth Franklin Park Freeport Galena Galesburg Geneseo Geneva Gilman Glendale Heights Glen Ellyn Glenview Gurnee Hamel Harvey Highland Park Hillside Hoffman Estates Itasca	Jacksonville Joliet Lake Bluff Lansing Libertyville Lincolnshire Lisle Litchfield Lombard Loves Park Macomb Manteno Marion Markham Marshall Maryville Matteson Mattoon McHenry McLean Melrose Park Mendota Metropolis Mokena Moline Monee Monmouth Monticello Morris Morton Morton Grove Mount Prospect	Mount Vernon Mundelein Naperville Niles Normal North Aurora Northbrook North Chicago Northlake Oak Brook Oakbrook Terrace O'Fallon Oglesby Okawville Olney Orland Park Palatine Paris Peoria Peru Pickneyville Princeton Prospect Heights Quincy Rantoul Richmond River Grove Rochelle Rockford Rock Island Rolling Meadows Romeoville	Rosemont Saint Charles Salem Schaumburg Schiller Park Sheffield Skokie South Beloit South Holland Springfield Staunton Stockton Streator Sycamore Tinley Park Troy Tuscola Urbana Vandalia Vernon Hills Warrenville Washington Waterloo Watseka Waukegan West Dundee Westmont Wheeling Willowbrook Winthrop Harbor Wood Dale Woodstock

Illinois, stretching from Lake Michigan to the Mississippi River, embraces vast, rich farmlands, the giant city of Chicago, rolling glacial plains and, to the south, the hills and valleys of the Illinois Ozarks. Illinois boasts 6900km (4300 miles) of scenic shoreline, 1100 historic sites and half a million acres of state parks. Abraham Lincoln, the 16th US President, spent most of his professional (he was a lawyer) and political life here.

Like every state, Illinois contains diverse recreation opportunities in every region. The Lake Michigan lakeshore of northeastern Illinois, and many man-made lakes, provide visitors and residents with access to water sports. Shawnee National Forest maintains access to hiking, camping, fishing and mountain biking.