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Things to know about Champaign Illinos

Champaign County, Illinois, is a small, pleasant town with a variety of sights and activities, as well as fantastic shopping, terrific restaurants, informal cafés, and polite hospitality. This Illinois college town is a hidden gem, known for its technological brilliance and prominent universities.

Most popular attractions and things to do in Champaign

Downtown Champaign

There are almost 1,700 al fresco chairs on these tree-lined lanes in the summer, with merchants selling comic books, antiques, salvaged architectural pieces, tea, rare coins, flowers, music, and more. With its abundance of century-old brick buildings, this is a lovely area to promenade, but it also packs a cultural punch thanks to its five historic theaters and a flurry of events and festivals throughout the year.

Krannert Art Museum

The Krannert Art Museum has two floors and various fine art galleries. The Krannert art collection spans millennia and includes ancient Andean artworks, West African headwear, and American and European paintings from the last two centuries. Permanent and recurring exhibits are featured at Krannert’s galleries.

Virginia Theater

The foyer and auditorium of this luxurious movie theater, which was built in 1921, have an elaborate Renaissance Revival exterior and Spanish Revival interior. The Virginia Theater acts as a movie theater and a performing arts facility, offering a variety of concerts, talks by prominent cultural leaders, dance performances, and film screenings, just as it did in its early days.

Anita Purves Nature Center

The Anita Purves Nature Center, located at the north end of Crystal Lake Park, is an environmental education center that offers hands-on learning programmes, environmental displays, and a nature-themed play area. A field station display, four multi-purpose rooms, an observation room, an educator resource room, and the Audubon Nature Shop sell souvenirs and other unique nature-related goods at the Anita Purves Nature Center.

Champaign library

This downtown Champaign library, which opened in 1876, is brimming with resources. If you’re looking for something to do indoors, this public library is the place to go. It not only has an excellent book selection, but it also provides free internet access and DVDs. Not to mention its striking architecture and excellent service.

Spurlock Museum

The Spurlock Museum at the University of Illinois is an ethnographic museum that collects, preserves, documents, exhibits, and analyzes cultural heritage objects. Ancient Egyptian art, works from the old Mediterranean and current Africa, and art from East Asia, Europe, Mesopotamia, and the Americas are on display in the museum’s main galleries.

Best time to visit Champaign Illinois

The climate in the bulk of Illinois is humid continental, with all four seasons readily observable. Here, summers are hot and humid and winters are frigid and snowy. The spring and fall seasons are marked by cool weather and clear blue skies. Although beautiful all year, summer is the greatest time to explore Champaign. Rainfall is evenly distributed throughout the year, with July and August being the wettest months.

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