Springfield Convention & Visitors Bureau

The Bureau's primary offerings are printed information and personalized planning advice. Free materials available at the front counter include the official Visit Springfield destination guide (a substantial booklet covering all major attractions, restaurants, and lodging with detailed maps), individual brochures for each major Lincoln site, the Illinois Route 66 corridor guide (covering all Illinois Route 66 attractions from Chicago to the Mississippi River), restaurant guides for downtown Springfield and the surrounding area, and seasonal events calendars listing major Springfield happenings across the year.

Personalized planning advice is available from the staff during business hours. Bureau employees and volunteer docents can answer specific questions about timing (when to arrive at the Lincoln Home Visitor Center to claim same-day tour tickets, which ALPLM theatrical productions are running shorter wait times, what time to arrive at the Cozy Dog for shorter lunch lines), routing (how to combine downtown Lincoln sites with the more distant Lincoln's Tomb and Cozy Dog without backtracking, optimal Route 66 routing for travelers continuing south toward Litchfield and St. Louis), and substantive recommendations on restaurants, lodging, and additional attractions appropriate for specific visitor profiles.

The Bureau also operates a website (visitspringfieldillinois.com) with substantial information — event calendars, restaurant directories, hotel listings with current rates, and downloadable maps and guides — and a phone information line (217-789-7000) staffed during business hours for visitors who want planning advice before arriving in Springfield. Many visitors call ahead with specific questions; the Bureau's staff is generally responsive and substantive on phone consultations.

The Lincoln Home National Historic Site operates a separate National Park Service Visitor Center at 426 South 7th Street (across the street from the Lincoln residence itself, about five blocks south of the Convention & Visitors Bureau). The Lincoln Home Visitor Center is specifically oriented toward the Lincoln Home tour experience — it's where visitors obtain timed-entry tour tickets, view the orientation film on Lincoln's Springfield years, see introductory exhibits on the Lincoln family, and access the surrounding restored historic neighborhood.

The two visitor centers serve different functions and most thorough Springfield visitors stop at both. The Convention & Visitors Bureau handles general Springfield tourism orientation, multi-site planning, and the broader Route 66 corridor context. The Lincoln Home Visitor Center handles specific National Park Service site logistics for the Lincoln residence and the surrounding restored neighborhood. The two visitor centers are about five blocks apart and easily combined in a single walking exploration of downtown Springfield.

The Lincoln Home Visitor Center opens at 8:30 AM daily and is the recommended first stop for visitors prioritizing the Lincoln Home tour itself (since the timed-entry tour tickets are released starting at 8:30 AM and can be fully claimed by mid-morning during peak summer months). Visitors not specifically prioritizing the Lincoln Home tour can start at the Convention & Visitors Bureau instead for broader Springfield orientation.

Springfield's position at the approximate midpoint of Illinois' 301-mile Route 66 corridor — Chicago to the Mississippi River at Granite City — makes the Convention & Visitors Bureau a natural information hub for Route 66 travelers driving the full Illinois alignment. The Bureau maintains substantial Illinois Route 66 corridor materials, including alignment-specific maps for the original 1926 Route 66, the various realignments that occurred through the 1930s-1970s, and the current best-driving routes that preserve the Mother Road experience while connecting to modern road infrastructure.

For travelers continuing south from Springfield, the standard recommended sequence is: Cozy Dog Drive In lunch on South 6th Street (the original Route 66 alignment heading south), then a drive south along Old Route 66 through Litchfield (50 miles south, with the Ariston Cafe as a worthwhile stop), then continuing through Mt. Olive and the Soulsby Service Station to Granite City and the Chain of Rocks Bridge (the original Mississippi River Route 66 crossing into Missouri). The full Springfield-to-Granite City drive takes 3-4 hours unhurriedly with stops.

For travelers heading north from Springfield, the route reverses through Lincoln (the Illinois town named for Lincoln in 1853, with the World's Largest Covered Wagon attraction), Atlanta (the Paul Bunyan Statue), Pontiac (the Route 66 Hall of Fame Museum), Dwight (the Ambler-Becker Gas Station), and ultimately Chicago (the Route 66 Begin Sign at Adams and Michigan). The full Springfield-to-Chicago drive takes 4-5 hours unhurriedly with stops, about 200 miles total. Many Illinois Route 66 travelers use Springfield as the midpoint overnight stop on a 2-3 day full-corridor itinerary.

Springfield's annual events calendar produces several distinct peak tourism periods that affect Bureau operations, hotel availability, and overall city character. The Illinois State Fair (typically the second and third weeks of August) is the city's largest annual event — approximately 800,000 to 1 million visitors across the fair's 11-day run, with substantial impact on downtown lodging availability and general traffic. State Fair attendees who also want to do Lincoln sites should plan early-morning Lincoln site visits before the fair opens around 11 AM.

The International Route 66 Mother Road Festival (typically late September) brings several hundred classic cars to downtown Springfield for a long weekend of Route 66 celebration including the Saturday evening cruise, a Cozy Dog eating contest, live music, and vendors. The 2026 edition will be particularly substantial as part of the Route 66 Centennial commemoration. The festival operates on the downtown Springfield streets immediately surrounding the Old State Capitol and produces the highest single-weekend Route 66 tourism volume in the city's year.

Lincoln-anniversary observances drive smaller but meaningful peak periods. February 12 (Lincoln's birthday) typically produces a weekend of Lincoln-themed programming at the ALPLM, the Lincoln Home, and Lincoln's Tomb. April 14-15 (the assassination and death anniversaries) produces more subdued commemorative programming. May 4 (the Springfield funeral anniversary) is sometimes observed with smaller-scale programming at Oak Ridge Cemetery. The Bureau publishes detailed schedules for each year's Lincoln observances and is the recommended source for planning anniversary visits.

The Bureau is open Monday through Friday from 8 AM to 5 PM and Saturday from 9 AM to 4 PM, and is closed on Sundays. The Sunday closure means weekend visitors should plan to stop at the Bureau on a Saturday rather than Sunday for in-person planning assistance, or use the Bureau's website and phone line for Sunday planning needs. The downtown location is generally accessible — short metered street parking is available on the surrounding blocks, and the President Abraham Lincoln hotel parking garage (two blocks west) accommodates longer-stay parking for $15/day.

Downtown Springfield is genuinely walkable from the Bureau location. The Old State Capitol is two blocks south, the Lincoln-Herndon Law Offices are three blocks west, the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library & Museum is three blocks west, the Illinois State Capitol building is five blocks west, and the Lincoln Home Visitor Center is approximately six blocks south. Walking between Springfield's major sites is typically faster and more pleasant than driving and re-parking; the Bureau's staff can provide detailed walking maps and route recommendations.

For visitors with mobility limitations, downtown Springfield is generally ADA-accessible at the major Lincoln sites but the sidewalks and surrounding streets have varying quality. The ALPLM, Lincoln Home Visitor Center, Old State Capitol, and Illinois State Capitol are all fully wheelchair-accessible with elevators and accessible restrooms. Lincoln's Tomb is accessible to the interior corridor but the surrounding Oak Ridge Cemetery grounds have variable surface conditions. The Bureau staff can provide specific accessibility information for each site.