Have you wanted to give bike touring a try? Have you thought of a route in Illinois but are unsure of how to get you and your bike there? Using our Amtrak’s walk on bicycle service allows you to do close-to-home day, weekend, or even longer trips.

Ride Illinois developed an informal guide to encourage and assist Amtrak-based bicycle tourists by providing information for participating communities, including links to maps with good rural routes near the town.

Download our Bike On Amtrak Guide

Consider the following trips:

One Town:

Take a day or overnight trip to an Amtrak town, exploring the town and the surrounding areas.

One-Way along an Amtrak Line:

Extend your bicycle ride area by taking the train to one Amtrak town and biking to another, returning from there.

As an example, maybe you’d like to bike the Route 66 Trail from Chicago, returning by train from St. Louis—or an earlier stop, if needed. Or, on a windy day, you’d like to “cheat” with a one-way, all-tailwind ride!

Between Amtrak Lines:

Especially if Chicago is part of your trip, you could plan a ride between two towns on different Amtrak lines.  One longer example—riding a section of Illinois’ Mississippi River Trail!

The guide currently includes pages on Bloomington-Normal, Carlinville, Champaign-Urbana, Dwight, Pontiac and Quincy with plans for more communities to be included!