St. Charles, Geneva & Batavia

St. Charles, Geneva and Batavia are the Tri-Cities, three river towns stacked along the Fox River in Kane County with historic downtowns, riverfront parks and the Fox River Trail connecting all three. St. Charles is the largest, with the Arcada Theatre, the Hotel Baker and a Main Street of shops and bars; Geneva has Third Street’s boutiques, the Kane County courthouse and Metra service; Batavia is the smallest and most industrial, with windmill-factory history and Fermilab on its east edge. They are 40 miles west of the Loop and feel like small towns with big-town restaurants.

Where it is

On the map, St. Charles sits at Route 64 and the river, Geneva at Route 38 and the river a few miles south, and Batavia south of Geneva at Wilson Street. Metra’s Union Pacific West line ends at Elburn with stops at Geneva and La Fox, about an hour to Ogilvie; St. Charles and Batavia have no train. Randall Road runs north-south on the west side of all three, Route 31 and Route 25 follow the river, and I-88 is a ten-minute drive south of Batavia. The Loop is an hour or more by car.

What to know if you’re moving here

The river and the downtowns are the draw, and the commute is the price.

• Housing is historic homes near the downtowns and subdivisions on the edges, built from the 1830s on, with typical prices of roughly $300,000 to $1.2 million as a broad editorial estimate as of September 2026.
• Parking is driveways and garages, with free municipal lots in all three downtowns.
• Public schools are St. Charles Community Unit School District 303, Geneva District 304 and Batavia District 101.
• Kane County property taxes apply, and all three towns have historic districts with review boards.
• Geneva’s Metra stop is the only train; St. Charles and Batavia residents drive to it or to I-88.
• The drawback is the drive, an hour-plus to the Loop, and Randall Road traffic on weekends.

What to do if you’re visiting

Each downtown is walkable on its own, and the Fox River Trail connects them for a bike ride. St. Charles has the theater and the bookstore, Geneva has Third Street, and Batavia has the riverfront.

• Touring rock and comedy acts play most weekends at the Arcada Theatre, the 1926 vaudeville house on Main Street in St. Charles where the original pipe organ still rises from under the stage.
• Around the corner on 2nd Avenue, Town House Books has sold books in an 1853 house since 1974 and shares the building with a scratch-kitchen cafe.
• Geneva’s Third Street starts with candy: Graham’s Fine Chocolates & Ice Cream has made toffee, turtles and ice cream in its front window since 1987, and a block south The Little Traveler fills 36 rooms of an 1862 mansion with gifts and an afternoon-tea cafe.
• Dinner in Geneva means a seasonal Mexican menu and a long mezcal list at Bien Trucha on West State Street, where the bar keeps a deep list of tequilas and mezcals alongside the food.
• Batavia’s Riverwalk and the Batavia Depot Museum on the river tell the windmill-factory story, and Sturdy Shelter Brewing pours 18 taps next door in the mid-1800s Batavia Music Hall.
• Fermilab in Batavia has a visitor center, bison herd and prairie trails open to the public, and the Fox River Trail runs 40 miles along the river through all three downtowns.