Iowa is the state that travelers pass through on Interstate 80 and rarely stop in — a perception that represents one of the most significant missed opportunities in American travel. The state that produces one-fifth of the nation’s corn and one-third of its pork has also produced Grant Wood’s iconic regionalist paintings, the Field of Dreams film site, 10,000 miles of trails and bike routes including the world’s largest annual bicycle event, a thriving craft brewery and food scene in Des Moines that rivals larger Midwestern cities, and the Mississippi River bluff country of eastern Iowa that is genuinely beautiful by any standard. Iowa rewards the visitor who comes with curiosity rather than low expectations.
Des Moines: The Midwest’s Most Underrated City
Des Moines, Iowa’s capital and largest city, has assembled a set of cultural institutions and urban amenities that are disproportionate to its metropolitan population of 700,000. The Des Moines Art Center — housed in buildings designed by Eliel Saarinen, I.M. Pei, and Richard Meier, three of the 20th century’s most significant architects — provides a contemporary art collection in a physically remarkable facility that would be celebrated in any major American city. The admission is free. The Science Center of Iowa, the World Food Prize Foundation, and the State Capitol itself (with its remarkable five-dome design — four smaller domes surround the central gold-leaf dome — and extensive mural program inside) provide a civic institution cluster that reflects Iowa’s land-grant university tradition and agricultural wealth.
The East Village neighborhood, adjacent to the State Capitol grounds, has developed into Des Moines’s most vibrant dining and retail district over the past decade — a walkable concentration of independent restaurants, craft cocktail bars, coffee shops, and independent retail that would not look out of place in Portland or Nashville. The Des Moines Farmers’ Market, held on Saturdays from May through October in the Court Avenue entertainment district, draws over 25,000 visitors per week during peak season and is the largest farmers’ market in the Midwest by attendance.
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Effigy Mounds and the Mississippi River Bluffs
Effigy Mounds National Monument, in northeastern Iowa near Marquette, preserves 200 prehistoric earthen mounds built by Indigenous people between 1,400 and 750 years ago. The mounds, many shaped in animal forms — bears, eagles, and linear shapes — are among the most extraordinary examples of prehistoric monumental earthworks in North America. The monument’s setting on the Mississippi River bluffs, with panoramic views across the river to Wisconsin, adds landscape grandeur to the archaeological significance. The Marching Bear Group, a procession of ten bear-shaped mounds extending across the bluff top, is the most impressive feature on a trail system that connects the mounds across 14 miles of river-bluff forest.
The Mississippi River corridor through northeastern Iowa — from Dubuque north to the Minnesota border — provides some of the most beautiful river scenery in the upper Midwest. The Great River Road (US Route 61) connects historic river towns including McGregor and Marquette, where the Wisconsin and Iowa bluffs frame the Mississippi in its most dramatic upper valley configuration. Dubuque, at the southeastern corner of Iowa’s River Country, preserves one of the finest collections of Victorian commercial architecture in the Midwest and provides cable car access to the river bluffs via the Fenelon Place Elevator, claimed to be the world’s shortest and steepest scenic railway.
The Field of Dreams: Dyersville
The Field of Dreams movie site near Dyersville, where the 1989 Kevin Costner film was filmed on an actual Iowa farm, has been operated as a tourist attraction since the film’s release and expanded into a permanent baseball complex following Major League Baseball’s decision to hold an annual Field of Dreams game there beginning in 2021. The original farmhouse, the corn field from which players emerge in the film, and the baseball diamond are preserved essentially as they appeared in filming. The annual MLB Field of Dreams game — two major-league teams playing in a temporary stadium built adjacent to the original field — has become one of baseball’s most emotionally resonant regular-season events.
RAGBRAI: The World’s Largest Bike Ride
RAGBRAI — the Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa — has been held every July since 1973 and is, by attendance (approximately 10,000 registered riders plus several times that many day riders), the world’s largest annual bicycle touring event. The route, which changes every year but always crosses the state from west to east (starting with a wheel dip in the Missouri River and ending with a wheel dip in the Mississippi), covers approximately 450 miles across a week. The event’s character — small-town Iowa hospitality at its fullest, with communities competing for designation as overnight host towns — creates a week-long celebration of Iowa that reveals the state’s genuine warmth and community character to thousands of riders who have never thought much about Iowa before mounting their bikes.
Amana Colonies
The Amana Colonies, in east-central Iowa near Iowa City, are a group of seven villages established in the 1850s by German pietist immigrants who organized their community on communal property principles until 1932 when the “Great Change” transformed the colonies to a more conventional corporate structure. The villages preserve a remarkable concentration of 19th-century German-American architecture — stone buildings, brick workshops, woolen mills, and communal kitchens that have survived because the community’s communal history prevented the demolition and replacement that consumed most comparable 19th-century settlements. The Amana Heritage Museum and the continued production of Amana-branded appliances (the Amana refrigerator manufacturer traces its origin to the colonies) connect the historical community to contemporary Iowa in ways that make the Colonies more than a museum piece.
Iowa’s travel rewards are personal and cumulative rather than spectacular — it is not a state of dramatic natural spectacle but of genuine American texture: the farm landscape that produces the nation’s food, the small towns that maintain their downtown character more intact than many larger cities, the river bluffs that reveal an Iowa unknown to the interstate driver, and the cultural institutions of Des Moines that reflect the state’s quiet pride in its intellectual and agricultural heritage.
Frequently Asked Questions
What cultural institutions make Des Moines worth visiting?
Des Moines has assembled a set of cultural institutions disproportionate to its metropolitan population of 700,000. The Des Moines Art Center — housed in buildings designed by Eliel Saarinen, I.M. Pei, and Richard Meier, three of the 20th century’s most significant architects — provides a contemporary art collection in a physically extraordinary facility. The admission is free. The Iowa State Capitol has five domes (four smaller domes surround the central gold-leaf dome) and an extensive interior mural program. The Des Moines Farmers’ Market, held Saturdays from May through October on Court Avenue, draws over 25,000 visitors per week during peak season and is the largest farmers’ market in the Midwest by attendance. The East Village neighborhood adjacent to the Capitol has developed into Des Moines’s most vibrant dining and retail district — a walkable concentration of independent restaurants and craft cocktail bars.
What is Effigy Mounds National Monument and why is it significant?
Effigy Mounds National Monument in northeastern Iowa near Marquette preserves 200 prehistoric earthen mounds built by Indigenous people between approximately 1,400 and 750 years ago. Many mounds are shaped in animal forms — bears, eagles, and linear shapes — making them among the most extraordinary examples of prehistoric monumental earthworks in North America. The monument’s setting on the Mississippi River bluffs provides panoramic views across the river to Wisconsin that add landscape grandeur to the archaeological significance. The Marching Bear Group — a procession of ten bear-shaped mounds extending across the bluff top — is the most impressive feature. The trail system connects the mounds across 14 miles of river-bluff forest. The nearby Fenelon Place Elevator in Dubuque, claimed to be the world’s shortest and steepest scenic railway, provides cable car access to the river bluffs from the historic downtown.
What is RAGBRAI and why is it significant as an Iowa event?
RAGBRAI — the Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa — has been held every July since 1973 and is, by attendance, the world’s largest annual bicycle touring event. Approximately 10,000 registered riders (plus several times that many day riders) follow a changing route that always crosses the state from west to east — beginning with a wheel dip in the Missouri River and ending with a wheel dip in the Mississippi — covering approximately 450 miles across a week. Each year’s route passes through different Iowa communities that compete for designation as overnight host towns. The event reveals Iowa’s small-town character and genuine hospitality at full display and draws thousands of riders who have never thought much about Iowa before mounting their bikes. RAGBRAI has been running continuously since 1973, making it one of the longest-running cycling events in the world.
What is the Field of Dreams site in Iowa?
The Field of Dreams movie site near Dyersville is where the 1989 Kevin Costner film was filmed on an actual Iowa farm. Since the film’s release the site has operated as a tourist attraction, and it expanded significantly after Major League Baseball decided to hold an annual Field of Dreams game there beginning in 2021 — two major-league teams playing in a temporary stadium built adjacent to the original field, with players emerging from a corn field in a visual reference to the film’s most famous scenes. The original farmhouse, the corn field, and the baseball diamond are preserved essentially as they appeared during filming. The annual MLB game has become one of baseball’s most emotionally resonant regular-season events, drawing national television audiences far exceeding those of typical regular-season games.
What are the Amana Colonies and what makes them historically unusual?
The Amana Colonies are a group of seven villages in east-central Iowa established in the 1850s by German pietist immigrants who organized their community on communal property principles until 1932, when a vote known as the “Great Change” transformed the colonies to a more conventional corporate structure. The villages preserve a remarkable concentration of 19th-century German-American architecture — stone buildings, brick workshops, woolen mills, and communal kitchens that survived precisely because the community’s communal history prevented the demolition and replacement that consumed most comparable 19th-century settlements. The Amana Heritage Museum interprets the communal history. The Amana brand of household appliances (the Amana Corporation, now a subsidiary of Whirlpool, traces its origins to the colonies’ refrigeration workshops) connects the historical community to contemporary American manufacturing.
