Iowa is a heartland state of rolling prairies, covered bridges, and charming small cities anchored by a surprisingly vibrant Des Moines arts and food scene. Home to the world-famous Iowa State Fair, Grant Wood country, the Field of Dreams movie site, and the historic Amana Colonies, Iowa rewards visitors who look beyond the cornfields to find genuine Midwestern character.
Top day trips
Handpicked excursions within easy reach.
Amana Colonies
The Amana Colonies are seven villages founded by the Community of True Inspiration, a German communal religious society that lived and worked collectively here from the 1850s until 1932. The draw today is that history made tangible: brick and sandstone communal kitchens and shops turned into bakeries, meat markets, wineries and furniture workshops, spread across a few miles of farmland. It's a slow, walkable day of eating and browsing rather than a single big sight.
Highlights: Amana Woolen Mill — oldest operating woolen mill in the United States, with free weekday factory tours and a retail shop · Old Style Colony Museum — six restored historic buildings illustrating communal life from the 1850s to the Great Change of 1932 · Amana Colonies Winery — tasting room pouring house-made fruit wines including the signature rhubarb wine · Ox Yoke Inn — family-style German-American dining with sauerkraut, bratwurst, and homemade bread · Schanz and Krauss Furniture — craftsmen producing handmade cherry and walnut furniture in the Amana tradition
Madison County Covered Bridges (Winterset)
Winterset and the surrounding county hold a handful of 19th-century wooden covered bridges, made famous well beyond Iowa by the novel and film 'The Bridges of Madison County'. On their own the bridges are simple lattice-truss structures over creeks, but chasing them across the county's back roads, combined with Winterset's small courthouse square, makes for an easy, low-key rural day.
Highlights: Roseman Bridge (1883) — most-photographed covered bridge in Iowa and the filming location for The Bridges of Madison County · Holliwell Bridge — longest of the six at 122 feet, spanning Middle River with original timber construction intact · Hogback Bridge — positioned beside Pammel State Park, combining a bridge visit with accessible nature trails along the North River · John Wayne Birthplace Museum — childhood home of the film star, located in downtown Winterset near the Welcome Center · Madison County Covered Bridge Festival — annual second-weekend-of-October celebration with arts, crafts, and guided bridge tours
Field of Dreams (Dyersville)
This is the actual farm and baseball diamond built for the 1989 film 'Field of Dreams', kept largely as it appeared on screen, with the white farmhouse, the diamond cut into the cornfield, and bleachers along one side. It's a small, quiet site rather than a theme park - most of the visit is simply standing on the field and taking in the setting the movie used.
Highlights: Original movie diamond — the actual baseball field from the 1989 film, with the cornfield still bordering left and center field · Ghost Players appearances — performers in vintage 1919 White Sox uniforms emerge from the corn on select summer days to play catch with visitors · Run the bases — visitors are allowed on the field to run bases, catch fly balls, and use the on-site batting cage · National Farm Toy Museum (Dyersville) — extensive collection documenting Dyersville's 70-year history as a farm toy manufacturing hub · Historic MLB game site — venue for Major League Baseball regular-season games played on the grounds from 2021 through 2024
Pella (Dutch Heritage & Tulip Time)
Pella was settled by Dutch immigrants in the 1840s and has kept that identity visible in its town square's stepped-gable storefronts, a working windmill, and a historical village of preserved period buildings. Outside of the Tulip Time festival weekend in early May, it's a quieter town square day built around the historical village and windmill; during Tulip Time it becomes a genuinely busy festival with parades and dancing in traditional dress.
Highlights: Vermeer Windmill — at 124 feet, the tallest working windmill in North America, with interior grinding-floor tours available · Pella Historical Village — 21 restored 19th-century structures including a Dutch cottage, wagon shop, and grist mill · Tulip Time Festival — second week of May, with 150,000 tulips in bloom, Dutch costumes, klompen dancing, and street scrubbing · Jaarsma Bakery — baking Dutch Letters (almond-paste puff pastry) since 1898, one block from Molengracht Plaza · Molengracht Plaza — Dutch-canal-themed shopping district with specialty retailers and waterway views in the town center
Dubuque (Mississippi River & Caves)
Dubuque sits on a bluff-lined stretch of the Mississippi River and has built its visitor draw around that setting: a national river museum and aquarium, the Fenelon Place Elevator funicular climbing the bluff, and riverboat cruises on the water itself. It's a full day of river-focused sights rather than a single attraction, with the bluffs giving views over Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsin at once.
Highlights: National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium — river ecology center with towboat exhibits, live river animals, and a restored paddlewheel steamboat · Fenelon Place Elevator — historic cable car climbing 189 feet in two minutes to a panoramic three-state overlook over the Mississippi · Crystal Lake Cave — limestone cavern with natural amethysts, stalactites, and an underground lake, open for guided tours year-round · Eagle Point Park — bluff-top city park with a WPA pavilion and sweeping views over the Mississippi River, free to enter · Cable Car Square district — Victorian commercial streetscape on Fourth Street with independent restaurants, galleries, and the cable car terminus
Iowa City (University Town & Literary Heritage)
Iowa City is built around the University of Iowa, and its identity leans heavily on that university's writing program - the Iowa Writers' Workshop has shaped the city's literary reputation for decades. The day here mixes campus architecture, most notably the domed Old Capitol at the center of the Pentacrest, with the pedestrian mall and bookshops that give the downtown its college-town character.
Highlights: Old Capitol Museum — Iowa's original state capitol (1842) with free self-guided tours through restored legislative chambers on the Pentacrest · Prairie Lights Bookstore — nationally recognized independent bookshop on Iowa Avenue, flagship of the city's UNESCO City of Literature designation · Pedestrian Mall (Ped Mall) — car-free downtown corridor with restaurants, shops, and cafes walkable from the University campus · Iowa Writers' Workshop campus — home of the most influential MFA creative writing program in the US, with a campus literary walking trail · Devonian Fossil Gorge (Coralville) — naturally exposed 375-million-year-old fossil bed revealed by the 1993 flood, free to visit
Clear Lake (Buddy Holly Memorial & Beach)
Clear Lake is a natural lake town whose best-known landmark, the Surf Ballroom, is where Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper played their final show before the February 3, 1959 plane crash that killed them - an event later called 'The Day the Music Died'. Beyond that history, the town itself is a lake resort with a public beach and a walkable main street, so the day mixes music history with an afternoon by the water.
Highlights: Surf Ballroom — original rock-and-roll venue where Buddy Holly's final concert took place February 2, 1959, with historic interior preserved · Buddy Holly crash site memorial — monument in a rural cornfield marking the 1959 plane crash site, accessed via a short walk off Gull Avenue N · Clear Lake City Beach — sandy public beach on a 3,643-acre glacial lake with swimming, boat rentals, and summer recreation · Winter Dance Party (February 3) — annual Surf Ballroom tribute concert attracting national audiences to commemorate the 1959 crash · Mason City day extension — Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Park Inn Hotel and Music Man Square, 10 miles east, pair naturally with Clear Lake
Effigy Mounds National Monument
Effigy Mounds preserves prehistoric burial and ceremonial mounds built by Native American cultures over roughly 2,500 years, many shaped like animals and set along wooded bluffs above the Mississippi River. It's a hiking day more than a sightseeing one - the mounds themselves are subtle, low earthworks best appreciated on foot along the monument's trail network, with river overlooks as the visual payoff.
Highlights: Great Bear Mound — largest effigy mound in the monument at 137 feet, shaped as a bear and dating to the Woodland cultural tradition · Fire Point Overlook — 2.5-mile moderate trail to a panoramic Mississippi River bluff viewpoint, considered one of Iowa's finest natural vistas · 200-plus prehistoric mounds — concentration of bird and bear effigy mounds spanning approximately 2,200 years of indigenous ceremonial practice · Driftless Area scenery — rolling bluffs, spring-fed valleys, and Mississippi bottomlands untouched by the last glaciation, with a scenic IA-76 approach · Yellow River State Forest — adjacent public land with additional hiking and backcountry options, extending the visit beyond the monument boundaries
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Multi-day tours from Iowa
If you have longer than a day, these are organised multi-day trips that start here.
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Day trip tips
Make the most of your excursions.
Start early — most popular day-trip destinations get crowded by mid-morning.
Check return transport times before you leave — missing the last train or bus can be costly.
Carry water, snacks, and layers — weather and food options can be limited at smaller destinations.