Start from 30 curated places around Long Grove, IL, then choose the recommendations that fit your guests.
Restaurants & cafés
Joanie's Pizzeria of Long Grove
A family-run pizzeria on Robert Parker Coffin Road doing Detroit-style squares with a properly caramelized edge alongside broasted chicken that regulars consider the kitchen's real signature. The dining room is casual and owner-operated, with the kind of attention to the room you get when someone actually cares who's eating there.
Enzo & Lucia Ristorante Italiano
Italian-American trattoria in a 19th-century Victorian farmhouse on Old McHenry Road, with a long-standing reputation for handmade cappellacci stuffed with seasonal fillings. The wraparound porch patio is one of the nicest outdoor settings in Long Grove — close enough to downtown to walk, far enough to feel quieter on a summer evening.
Trails & outdoors
Buffalo Creek Trail Loop
A 3.9-mile crushed-gravel loop circling the Buffalo Creek Forest Preserve reservoir through restored tallgrass prairie and creek bottomland — the most accessible multi-terrain trail closest to Long Grove's historic district. Flat throughout, with the kind of wide open sky and waterfowl activity you don't get in wooded suburban preserves.
Captain Daniel Wright Woods & Half Day Forest Preserve Loop
A shaded 2.4-mile easy loop following the Des Plaines River through dense oak woodland in Vernon Hills — the first half stays river-adjacent on a wide gravel-and-sand path, the second loops back through upland forest. Spring wildflower coverage is exceptional and the ponds on the back half attract waterfowl into early summer.
Things to do
Long Grove Strawberry Fest
Long Grove's signature June street festival — fresh strawberries, live music on multiple stages, craft vendors, beer and wine booths, and the general energy of a town that knows how to run an outdoor party on its cobblestone streets. One of the more genuinely local festivals in the Chicagoland circuit, drawing families and day-trippers from across the north suburbs.
Long Grove Chocolate Festival
A three-day May festival that turns the historic district into a chocolate-themed street fair — specialty menu items at every restaurant, chocolate-infused drinks, carriage rides during the Cocoa Crawl, and vendor booths stacked with truffles and bark. Earnestly committed to the theme in a way that works, especially with kids.
Landmarks & sights
Robert Parker Coffin Road Covered Bridge
A century-old Pratt truss iron bridge spanning Buffalo Creek — the only covered bridge in Lake County and the anchor of Long Grove's entire downtown identity. The wooden enclosure was added in the 1970s to restrict heavy vehicle traffic, giving the 1906 structure its now-famous covered silhouette. It sits on the National Register of Historic Places and is the natural start for any walk through the village.
Historic Downtown Long Grove
Illinois' first designated historic district — a walkable loop of 19th-century storefronts on Old McHenry Road kept chain-free by a village ordinance dating to 1962. The dozen-plus independent shops include a wine bar, olive oil tasting room, glass art boutiques, a tea house, and a chocolate factory. Best explored on a weekday morning when the cobblestones are quiet and shopkeepers have time to talk.