What’s more American than a road trip? Like blue jeans and apple pie, it's so embedded in the culture that travelers from around the world plan a road trip just to experience our open highways and byways. From the iconic Route 66 stretching across the heartland to the rugged beauty of the Pacific Coast Highway, the US has no shortage of scenic routes. What sets the American road trip apart is the sheer diversity of experiences on offer, from camping under a star-spangled sky to exploring epic parks like the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone. “Road trips offer an opportunity to venture out and connect with a multitude of people and experiences,” says Samantha Brown, the television host behind Samantha Brown’s Places to Love on PBS. At its most basic, Brown says, road tripping is about freedom.
We asked Brown and a slew of other travel experts to weigh in on planning the perfect route, finding good food and cheap gas, and keeping safety top of mind when hitting the open road. Below, see their best tips on how to plan a road trip so you're never lost, hungry, or bored.
Map your route
The route is the heart and soul of any good road trip. And while there’s a time and place for spontaneous diversions, it’s always smart to head into a long drive with a game plan. To customize a trip with multiple waypoints, use Google Maps’ My Maps feature to create your itinerary. This allows you to add up to 10,000 places of interest, as well as driving directions. (If you use Google Maps without signing in, you’ll be capped at the number of stops you can add.) Veronica E. Garnett, founder of the Black Adventuristas travel group, plots her trips via Google Maps, then uses Waze to get driving directions with live traffic updates and potential road hazards, and TollGuru to calculate fees and see if it’s possible to avoid them altogether. (Note to app minimalists: Google Maps offers similar features.)
If you’re setting out in a recreational vehicle rented from Cruise America, Road Bear, or a peer-to-peer rental site like RVshare, which can deliver rental RVs right to your destination, be mindful of narrow roadways and other potential obstructions. Jason and Rae Miller, founders of the Getaway Couple and Nomadic News, used to travel the country in a fifth wheel travel trailer measuring 42 feet long, eight feet wide, and 13.5 feet tall. “That is right at the legal maximum size for driving on the interstate,” say the Millers, which meant they couldn’t just fire up Google Maps and go on their merry way, since some overpasses were too close to call. Instead, they would plug their destination into the RV LIFE app for turn-by-turn directions that routed them safely around unforeseen obstacles like low-hanging bridges, narrow tunnels, and steep grades. While the Millers recently traded their fifth wheel for a smaller 12-foot-tall truck camper, they still consult the app, along with the travel-planning site RV LIFE Trip Wizard, when sketching out road trips. Cole Reinhardt, vice president of digital strategy at Kampgrounds of America, Inc., is also a Trip Wizard fan, noting that the tool gives its users “RV-friendly travel routes and details on campgrounds and points of interest, including essential stops such as fuel stations.”
For American drivers trying to plan a road trip outside of the United States, don’t forget to obtain an international driving permit from AAA, says Kim Bennett, founder of the crowd-sourced itinerary platform AtlasGuru. “Sometimes the rental companies ask for this, most often they don’t. But it’s easy to get so I usually do it as a precaution.” Bennett also recommends skimming the trip reports posted by members of the AtlasGuru community. One contributor who road tripped in Hungary recently reminded fellow users that you need to purchase a special pass for the highway; if you fail to do so, you could be fined.
Find good food, cheap gas, and other points of interest
Rule number one of planning a memorable road trip? Get off the interstate. “Research scenic byways for each state and get off the freeway as much as you can,” says Sam Highley, founder of All Roads North, a luxe US road trip planning service. The US Department of Transportation designates National Byways as roads with at least one notable archaeological, cultural, historic, natural, recreational, or scenic feature; those with two or more of those qualities are classified as All-American Roads. This comprehensive mapping tool of byways allows users to search by state; each listing includes estimated mileage and driving time, plus notable attractions along the way.
The Millers trumpet GuideAlong, calling it their “new favorite app” for GPS-based narration of national parks. “My favorite feature is that it allows you to listen to your own music but lowers the sounds while [the host] provides tidbits of information or the next navigation step,” says Jason, who RV’d from Key West, Florida to Homer, Alaska last year. (Roaming around Denali National Park was a highlight.)
Before setting out for any major US park, check recreation.gov to see if pre-booking is required, advises Darley Newman, the host, creator, and executive producer of Travels with Darley and Equitrekking on PBS. “Many of these parks now require advance reservations to limit the number of travelers and avoid overtourism,” she says.
For those with no choice but to take major interstates, Brown suggests the iExit app, which provides detailed information about upcoming exits including gas stations, restaurants, and hotels. “This allows you to plan ahead so that you don’t have to settle for fast food,” says Brown. “Instead you might find a local diner just 10 miles down the road.”
Leaving adequate time for hikes—particularly in state parks and local trails—is a good way to “leave 95% of the crowds behind,” as well, says Highley. Brown concurs, plugging the AllTrails app for its detailed hiking maps and terrain notes, safety precautions, trail photos, and user reviews.
When it comes to identifying unique flora and fauna on said hikes, self-described “eager but uneducated naturalist” Highley turns to Merlin Bird ID for birdwatching, PictureThis for plant identification, and SkySafari for stargazing—or for catching celestial phenomena like the recent total solar eclipse.
Google Maps superuser Denise Barlock, an early retiree and Level 10 Local Guide, has reviewed more than 1,300 restaurants, grocery stores, and campsites across the country. “Expenses can add up quickly when you’re on the road,” she says. “So use Google Maps to search gas stations and prices for the best deal near you.” The GasBuddy app, which includes a trip-cost calculator, is another good resource for finding cheap fuel.
Barlock also uses Google Maps to search for local restaurants offering takeout and curbside pickup, plus interesting things to see and do. “You can use the search bar for specific things like ‘scenic spots,’ ‘waterfall,’ or ‘trailhead,’” she says, adding that the more detailed your search request is (like “oceanfront RV campground” or “kayak rental daily rate”), the better the results. The Explore tab surfaces events happening nearby, as well as curated lists of local recommendations, and the Save tab lets you favorite places you’ve already been and flag places you want to go in the future. Once you’ve plotted everything on your map, download it for offline usage before you take off; you’ll thank yourself later if your reception cuts out.
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Have special dietary considerations? Black Adventurista member Holly McGuinn of Queens, New York, uses the HappyCow app to sleuth out the best vegan and vegetarian restaurants on the road. With more than 220,000 listings in its global database, it also covers bakeries, health food stores, farmers markets, and juice bars. TVFoodMaps has drummed up thousands of as-seen-on-TV restaurants featured on popular shows such as Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives and Man v. Food, while Jane and Michael Stern’s Roadfood spotlights authentic regional cuisine at mom-and-pop restaurants. And nothing beats the 1,000-plus “wondrous” eats detailed on Gastro Obscura, a worldwide dossier for adventurous foodies.
If you’re looking for roadside photo ops, Gastro’s parent site, Atlas Obscura, is unmatched for finding offbeat things to see, from the biggest ball of twine in Minnesota to a psychedelic mirror maze in San Francisco. Outdated as the website is, Roadside America is also chock-a-block with quirky attractions—and surfable in app form too.
For a little history, follow the lead of Jasmin Hogan, a San Antonio-based member of the Black Adventuristas, who once drove an extra 600 miles to turn a road trip from Maryland to Texas into “an epic African-American history journey.” She and her sister hit up historic sites and museums dedicated to Black history and ate at Black-owned restaurants.
Florida, Louisiana, Alabama, New Hampshire, and other states have notable Black heritage trails. The National Park Service made a list of places featured in its short film, “Twenty & Odd,” exploring 400 years of African American history; highlights include Fort Monroe National Monument in Virginia and Georgia’s Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historical Park. To find out which civil rights monuments fall along your route, consult this interactive mapping tool from the US Civil Rights Trail, a project that documents more than 100 important landmarks across 15 Southern states.
Put safety first
Not everyone has the privilege of traveling where they want, when they want. LGBTQ+ and BIPOC travelers, as well as individuals with accessibility concerns, may wish to take additional precautions.
Wheelchair Travel compiles accessible travel resources, including rentals for wheelchair vans and medical equipment, and publishes wheelchair-friendly city guides. The National Park Service also provides information about accessible experiences within each park; navigate to the “Plan Your Visit” tab for additional info.
Human Rights Campaign’s State Maps of Laws & Policies is designed to help LGBTQ+ travelers determine the potential risk of certain routes. Users can search the map by issue, surfacing states with laws that address hate or bias crimes based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Refuge Restrooms, another app and online database searchable by location, helps transgender and gender-nonconforming people find safe bathrooms, even in rural areas.
Victor H. Green, a Black postal worker from Harlem, published a guides series called The Negro Travelers’ Green Book from 1936 to 1967; it was essential reading for Black motorists because it told them where they could safely eat, sleep, and gas up in Jim Crow’s America. Today, The Post-Racial Negro Green Book, compiled in 2018 by New Orleans-based writer Jan Miles, replaces the Black-friendly hotel and diner listings of yore with a state-by-state index of 21st-century racial bias against African Americans—documenting incidents of police brutality and harassment.
Lastly, anyone hitting the road should also be mindful of the growing number of wildfires impacting US travel, says Highley, who relies on the Watch Duty app to monitor developing conditions.
Book accommodations in advance
There are tons of sites out there to help you find the perfect pit stop along your route. Look for hotels or Airbnbs with flexible cancellation policies; sites like Travelocity have filters for exactly this. Campendium is a solid app for finding RV and tent campsites, and Brown calls the HotelTonight app a “lifesaver” for last-minute hotel bookings. “When I need a hotel quickly, I don’t want to sift through hundreds of options,” she says. “I just want the top five in my price range.”
If you just want a refresher stop, McGuinn recommends Dayuse, an app lets you rent a hotel room—and all its accompanying amenities, like the swimming pool and fitness center—by the hour or multi-hour block, with rates up to 75% off an overnight stay.
Or just let someone else take over the planning
If wrangling all of the above is too much of a time suck, you can always pay the professionals to do it for you. Luxury companies like Audley Travel offer self-drive itineraries for some of the most popular corners of the United States, from coastal California to New England. Heritage Inspirations in New Mexico introduced a series of Click-and-Buy Road Trips for half-day, full-day, and multi-day itineraries from Santa Fe, Taos, and Albuquerque. Each downloadable PDF includes detailed driving directions, plus insider intel and packing tips from company guides.
When Highley and his team are tailor-making a road trip for All Roads North, they try to understand a client’s primary motivation for traveling—a strategy useful for all road trippers. “It might be that they have a specific interest or region they want to explore, but equally want to connect with family, disconnect from work, or challenge themselves,” says Highley. “When you start the conversation in terms of experiences and emotions, rather than simply places to see and things to do, we are able to plan a much more rewarding trip.”
He’s also a big proponent of the less-is-more ethos: Spend more time in fewer places and really dig deep. By connecting travelers with wildlife biologists, Navajo musicians, astrologers, art collectors, rising chefs, and other local experts, they’re able to build an enriching itinerary that would be hard to orchestrate on one’s own.
Most importantly, adds Newman, just “roll with it.” Every road trip will have its hiccups. “Don’t be afraid to go off the beaten path,” she says. “Some of the best travel experiences can be unplanned.”
