- Carbondale (Southern Illinois University, first Memorial Day celebration)
- Jonesboro (Lincoln and Douglas' third debate, Trail of Tears park, Shawnee National Forest office)
- Dongola (barn tours, 1818 church, canoeing, mule barn restaurant, gifts)
- Alto Pass (vineyards, antiques, apples, peaches, Bald Knob Cross, stables)
- Metropolis (home of Superman, Ft. Massac)
- Cairo (General Grant directed Civil War troops to Belmont, Forts Henry and Donelson from here, confluence of the two great American Rivers, "underground railroad" history, well-kept museum and historical library)
- Mound City (staging area for Civil War Union troops, large boat shipyard, war hospital, hospital ship, National cemetery)
- Marion, Herrin, Carterville (Crab Orchard and several other recreational lakes, wildlife, John A. Logan College)
- Parks (Giant City, Fern Clyffe, Dixon Springs [swimming, rock climbing, picnics)
- Tunnel Hill Hiking-Biking Trail (Vienna to Harrisburg, through an old railroad tunnel)
- Historic sites (Forts Massac, Defiance, Wilkinsonville, Bald Knob Cross, Tower Rock)
- Natural areas (Cypress Creek National Wildlife Refuge and wetlands center near Vienna; Cache River Natural Area [canoeing], Little Black Slough, Heron Pond, Union County Refuge, Horseshoe and Mermet Lakes [fishing, diving], Little Grand Canyon, Shawnee National Forest [horseback riding])
- Cape Girardeau (river town, steam train at Jackson, victorian houses, new bridge, 60 restaurants, pools, parks, Gen. Grant's office (restaurant), Southeast Missouri State University)
- Murphysboro (bbq restaurant in old depot, river park, Kinkaid Lake)
- Golconda (Ohio River taxi rides, river history, antiques, old hotel/cafe, marina)
- Mill Creek (major mining, tool-making in Mississippian era, 1000 years ago)
- Grand Tower Rock (Lewis & Clark said it was the great divide of the Mississippi River)
- Sikeston (home of "throwed rolls")
- Columbus-Belmont park, Kentucky (Civil war battles, scenic river bluff overlook, Mississippi River ferry, Big Oak Tree State Park-MO, East Prairie Museum)
- Shawnee Community College at Ullin
- "America" - planners prepared for Washington, D.C. to be relocated to north of Cairo
- Scenic new locks and dams north of Mound City and south of Golconda on the Ohio River
- Thebes Courthouse (Lincoln, Dred Scott history, Mississippi River overlook, water's edge park, rail bridge)
Cypress Creek National Wildlife Refuge
Cache River State Natural Area
Southernmost Illinois Tourism Bureau
Southernmost Illinois country is where Illinois began for the European era of America.