Road trip planner and cost calculator

Pick a guide route or up to eight places, and see the driving distance and time, the states you cross, the road rules there and what the trip will cost.

Where are you going?

Start from a guide route

Your stops, in order 1. 2. 3. 4.

Choose at least two places (up to 8). Leave the rest empty. A guide route above takes priority.

Your trip

Vehicle Miles per gallon Gas price ($/gal) Nights Lodging per night ($) Travelers Food per person per day ($) Where you live

Lodging and food start as typical budgets; change them to match your plans. Leave the gas price empty to use each state’s average.

Choose a guide route or at least two places, then press “Plan and calculate”.

How the road trip planner works

Choose one of our motorcycle roads or RV routes, or pick up to eight places in the order you want to visit them. The road trip planner asks an OpenStreetMap routing service for the actual roads, then shows the distance, the driving time without stops and every state you pass through. The map line follows the road, not a straight line between pins.

What the cost calculator adds up

Gas is priced state by state: the miles you drive in each state are multiplied by that state’s average price for regular gas from AAA, divided by your vehicle’s fuel economy. Lodging is nights × your nightly budget, and food is days × travelers × your daily budget. Both start with typical numbers that you should change to match your plans.

National park fees and the annual pass

Parks within about 25 km of the route are added with their vehicle (or motorcycle) entrance fee. If you live outside the US, the extra $100 per person aged 16 and up at the eleven busiest parks is included. When the America the Beautiful pass ($80 for residents, $250 for everyone else) costs less than paying at each gate, the calculator uses the pass and shows what you save.

Road rules in every state

Speed limits, phone laws and, for motorcycles, helmet and lane-splitting rules change at each state line. Each state on your route links to its full page in our driving laws by state section.

Tips for a realistic plan

Most travelers enjoy four to five hours of driving a day, not the nine or ten that maps allow. Add time for photo stops, construction and slow mountain roads, and fill up before long empty stretches; our route pages list exactly where gas runs out. Tolls, parking and tours are not included in the estimate, so check the local details on each place page before you book. Prices change, so treat every result as a budget, not a quote.