Epic Route 66 Road Trip - From Chicago to Los Angeles

Twenty-three days on Route 66 from Chicago to Los Angeles, 2,250 miles across eight states, which is the full version rather than a sampler.

Chicago opens it with three nights and live jazz at Andy’s, then Springfield in Illinois, then St Louis and the Gateway Arch, which at 192 metres is the tallest arch in the world and is ridden to the top in small pods. Springfield in Missouri follows via the Meramec Caverns, which the James brothers reportedly used as a hideout, and the Ozarks.

Tulsa comes next for its Art Deco district, built on oil money in the 1920s, then Oklahoma City and the National Cowboy Museum. Amarillo follows with the Big Texan Steak Ranch, a Route 66 institution moved to its present site when the interstate bypassed the old road, then Tucumcari and a 1960s motel of the kind the route is remembered for.

Santa Fe gets two nights of adobe architecture and the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture below the Sangre de Cristo mountains. Gallup follows via the ghost towns of Los Cerrillos and Madrid, then Holbrook with Canyon de Chelly and its Ancestral Puebloan cliff dwellings, and the route continues through Arizona to the Grand Canyon and on to Los Angeles. Original Travel include the hire car, accommodation, the passes and tours, concierge access, a 24-hour helpline and carbon absorption. International flights and most meals are separate. Prices run from 5,150 to 7,200 pounds per person, which for twenty-three nights with a car is reasonable value.