Best Road Trip Routes in Indiana

Indiana's road trips span the covered bridges of Parke County, the Indiana Dunes lakeshore, the Ohio River scenic corridor, and the Amish country of Elkhart and LaGrange Counties.

Ohio River Scenic Byway (SR-56/SR-156)
From the Illinois border east along the Ohio River to the West Virginia border — the Indiana section passes through Newburgh (Civil War history), Evansville (Angel Mounds State Historic Site — the best-preserved prehistoric Native American site in Indiana, a Mississippian culture town of 1,000 CE), Madison (Indiana's finest antebellum river town — Lanier Mansion, Shrewsbury House, and the most intact 19th-century commercial district in Indiana), and Hanover (Hanover College, 1827 — Indiana's oldest college, on a bluff above the Ohio).

Covered Bridge Tour (Parke County)
From Rockville (Parke County seat) — a self-guided auto tour of 31 covered bridges. The Covered Bridge Festival (second week of October) draws 900,000+ visitors. The Billie Creek Village (a reconstructed 1870s village with three covered bridges on its grounds) is the central attraction.

Indiana Dunes and Chicago South Shore
From Indianapolis north on I-65 to Merrillville, then west to Hammond and the Indiana Dunes. The Indiana Dunes NP (visitor center, beach, 3-Dune Challenge), the South Shore Line electric train (connects to downtown Chicago), and the historic Pullman National Monument (Chicago, across the state line — the planned worker's community) combine a lakeshore and industrial heritage experience.

Amish Country (Elkhart and LaGrange Counties)
From South Bend east on US-20 to Elkhart (the RV Capital of the World — 80% of US recreational vehicles are manufactured here), then into LaGrange County (the largest Amish community in Indiana, 30,000+ Amish). Shipshewana's Menno-Hof Mennonite and Amish Visitors Center, the outdoor Shipshewana Flea Market (Tuesday and Wednesday, May–October — one of the largest flea markets in the Midwest), and the horse-drawn buggy roads of the LaGrange countryside.