Havana, Illinois

Oct 27

My first travel blog is featuring the town where I went for my mini honeymoon: Havana, Illinois. Havana is a town that my husband and I visited last year around Christmas time. It was shortly after my dad passed away, and I wasn’t really in the mood to write about it. It was one of the best Christmas towns I have seen. It was like being in a Hallmark movie. They had a parade and then the town gathered around to watch the high school band play Christmas songs while the children visited Santa across the street. All of the shops were adorned with Christmas decorations and the grinch even made an appearance.

Havana is located in West Central Illinois in Mason County and has a population of approximately 3,000 people. Havana is on the Illinois River and the main street is paved with beautiful red brick and lined with boutiques, antique shops, and the best Chinese restaurant around. If you visit Havana, you have to go to Chinatown. Everything is delicious and everyone in the restaurant is extremely friendly. Go see them and get some food. I recommend the crab rangoon and any version of the lo mein. You will thank me later.

Havana also has some beautiful nature areas. My husband and I spent all day at the Emiquon Nature Preserve and the Sand Prairie-Scrub Oak Nature Preserve, which is technically in Kilbourne, but it is a short drive from Havana. The views in these areas at fall are to die for! I’ll add a bunch of photos at the end of this post! Side note: the Sand Prairie-Scrub Oak Nature Preserve road is made of sand. You might not want to try it if you don’t have four-wheel drive. Thank goodness for my Jeep.

We also ended up at an adorable orchard. Orchard Hill Farm is located in Lewistown, Illinois. Another short drive from Havana. The pumpkin donuts and chocolate chip cookies are amazing. My husband says the jelly is really good as well. They had a play place outside for the kids, Sasquatch, small pumpkins, an old tractor, and a barn. It started to rain as we arrived at the Orchard, so I didn’t want to risk ruining my camera. I got a few photos, and they will be posted at the end of the blog.

I love small towns. Everyone we encountered during both of our trips to Havana was kind and helpful. This is a small town that would be fun to visit for a weekend getaway with the girls or your significant other. Or if you want some alone time. I wish we could have stayed longer, but our full-time jobs didn’t allow us to getaway for that long. I am sure we will make our way back here in the future. We are hooked on the food from Chinatown! Luckily, it is just under a two-hour drive from where we live.

Do you have any small towns in Illinois/Missouri/Kentucky/Indiana that we need to check out? Please let me know by commenting down below!

Here are the photos from our mini honeymoon in Havana, Illinois: