Planning a road trip can be fun but alsostressful.Road trip planner apps can take some of that stress away by helping you plan, organize, and manage your travel before and during your trip. Forget about stashing bulky maps in your glove compartment, trying to decide where to stop, or just winging it. Instead, download these apps to give you peace of mind so that you can spend more time enjoying your trip.
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Automate Your Trip Planning and Organization: Google Travel
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What We Like
Automatic trip organization via Gmail integration.
Offline access so you can see your trip information even when you don't havean internet connection.
What We Don't Like
Limitations with customizing someday trips exactly the way you want.
You can count on Google to make your trip planning a breeze. Pre-constructed day plans are available for hundreds of the world's most popular destinations, which you can customize to your liking.
It's one of the most versatile travel planner apps out there, giving you one convenient place to see your hotel, rental car, and restaurant bookings.
02
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Find and Book a Last-Minute Place to Stay: Hotels.com
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What We Like
A fast, easy-to-use booking feature.
For every 10 nights you book through Hotels.com, you get one night free, provided it's the average daily rate of those 10 nights.
What We Don't Like
No option to easily cancel if you change your mind.
Whether your road tripitinerary changed, or you haven't decided on a place to stay yet, Hotels.com can help you find a place and book it when you're on the go, even when it's super last-minute. You can sort and filter hotels, see the amenities they have to offer, compare prices, and catch a glimpse of how many rooms are available.
This is the app you'll want to have handy if you want to see in-depth hotel details at a glance and need to find a place to crash ASAP without breaking the bank.
Follow the top travel Tweeters on Twitter for deals and advice on planning your next trip.
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03
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The Ultimate Map App for Planning Your Route: Roadtrippers
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What We Like
Access to free and convenient travel guides.
Share-ability so friends can join in on the planning process and suggest places to visit.
What We Don't Like
The app can use up the battery life of your device quickly. Take a car USB charger with you.
Built for travelers, Roadtrippers helps you create your route while allowing you to discover great places as you plan it out. Add a new place to your itinerary to work it into your trip.
The app features an easy-to-use interface. In addition to covering the U.S., it also covers Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.
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04
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Find Local Restaurants, Read Reviews, and Make Reservations: OpenTable
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What We Like
Lots of great filter options and suggestions.
Access to gorgeous, high-quality images of menu items and informative reviews from other users.
What We Don't Like
Reported problems and inconveniences with their built-in reward system.
Searching for specific restaurants is more difficult than simply looking at what's around in the area.
Deciding on a place to eat in a new area is quick and hassle-free with OpenTable. See what's nearby, filter restaurants by cuisine, see photos of what's on the menu, make reservations, and get personalized recommendations based on your preferences.
OpenTable is known to be one of the toplocation-based food appsavailable, so you know you can trust its information when you're dying for something to eat.
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05
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Navigate Like a Local: Waze
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What We Like
Hands-free navigation with voice commands.
Alerts-only mode for road hazards and police.
Share up-to-date ETA with friends.
What We Don't Like
Spotify and Apple Music widgets get in the way.
Cluttered maps can be confusing.
Higher battery usage than Google Maps.
Wazeis a community-driven travel app that shows you the shortest possible route to your destination. Like Google Maps, Waze makes real-time adjustments for traffic jams and other obstacles—but Waze is often more accurate since it caters specifically to drivers.
The app syncs with your Google Calendar and can tell you when you should leave for appointments based on traffic. There's also a cool option to record your own voice and use it for directions.
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06
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Know Exactly When and Where to Make a Pit Stop: iExit Interstate Exit Guide
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What We Like
Access to detailed summaries of what's at the next exit (including gas prices at nearby gas stations).
Search for the next 100 exits from your location.
What We Don't Like
The app can only be used on major U.S. exit-based highways.
No offline access, so you'll use your data plan while you're on the road.
Making a pit stop for food, gas, or a bathroom break is easy when you have the iExit app. Using your device's GPS, the app offers helpful suggestions for when and where to stop based on your location along the highway.
Whether you're looking forwell-known franchises like Starbucks and Walmart to convenient amenities like free Wi-Fi and truck or trailer parking, this app has you covered.
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07
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Find the Cheapest Fuel Nearby: GasBuddy
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What We Like
An in-app gas payment feature.
Opportunity to save 10 cents per gallon on your first fill-up and five cents per gallon on every fill-up after.
What We Don't Like
The app can take up a lot of data and battery life as it runs in the background.
GasBuddy is an app specifically designed to find nearby gas stations and save money on gas. Use it to find the cheapest gas in your area and filter gas stations by amenities like car washes, restaurants, and bathrooms.
It's the app you want to have if you're serious about finding the cheapest gas around. Information comes from users like you, so you have the most up-to-date prices.
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08
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Never Forget an Item: PackPoint Premium Packing List
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What We Like
Access to a built-in library of items to pack with the ability to add or remove items as needed.
An elegant, intuitive app interface.
What We Don't Like
Can't input multiple destinations for a single trip.
Not a free app.
PackPoint helps you make sure you have everything you need based on where you're going and what you're doing. In addition, the app takes into consideration the length of your trip and the expected weather conditions. Perhaps best of all, this app turns a mundane chore into something that's actually quite fun.
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09
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Find Out Where to Park and How Much It Will Cost: Inrix ParkMe
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What We Like
ParkMe is the only app that also includes street parking and parking meter rates where available, in addition to parking lots.
Real-time updates on available parking spots.
What We Don't Like
Rates and hoursmay be inaccurate in some areas.
ParkMe claims to be the world's largest and most accurate parking database. It allows you to purchase your parking spot through the app and compare prices across parking providers to help you save more money.
If you're road tripping around major cities in the U.S., Canada, or Europe, this app can be a huge help. You can even compare parking options and prices so that you always get the best deal.
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10
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Automate Your Itinerary: TripIt
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What We Like
Automatically creates itineraries from your inbox.
Widget displays trip details on your home screen.
What We Don't Like
Annoying amount of alerts by default.
If you're planning a trip, you'll likely have a lot of confirmation emails for hotels, appointments, restaurants, and attractions. TripIt syncs with your inbox and uses that information to compile an itinerary so that you don't have to scramble for it.
The free version is fine for road trips, but if you ever fly, the premium version gives you the option to upgrade seats and track reward miles.
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FAQs
Which app is best for planning a road trip? ›
- Roadtrippers. Roadtrippers is one of the most practical and popular road trip planning apps out there. ...
- Google Maps. Every road-tripper needs a trusty navigation app in their arsenal, and Google Maps reigns supreme in that category. ...
- Waze. ...
- GasBuddy. ...
- Roadside America. ...
- iExit Interstate Exit Guide. ...
- HotelTonight. ...
- Airbnb.
- Badger Maps.
- Google Maps.
- Waze.
- MapQuest.
- Roadtrippers.
- My Route Online.
- RouteXL.
- Speedy Route.
Google Maps is an excellent tool to plan a road trip. You can use the tool to discover the best routes between destinations, save routes offline, and navigate on your road trip!
Is there a free app for planning a road trip? ›You can use Roadtrippers for free to find these great places and come up with some big ideas. Start plotting your route with up to seven waypoints.
What is the best website or app for trip planning and why? ›- TripIt. Best trip planner app overall. View now.
- HotelTonight. Best trip planner app for hotels. View now.
- Roadtrippers. Best trip planner app for road trips. View now.
- Rome2rio. Best trip planner app for international travel. ...
- Skyscanner. Best trip planner app for flights.
The Google Maps app has long been known as the golden standard in navigation, due to the fact that it provides high-quality directions for far more than driving.
How do I plan a long distance road trip? ›- Start planning sooner rather than later. ...
- Take advantage of planning tools. ...
- Prep your car. ...
- Pack a roadside emergency kit. ...
- Add side trips to your itinerary. ...
- Consider an epic road trip that's all about the route. ...
- Be realistic about your total mileage.
After trying all the different road trip planning apps, yes, we would say Roadtrippers is one of the best if not the best route planning app. And at $29.99, it's an affordable price to try it for a year.
What is the easiest route planner? ›Google Maps – Best for Simple Routes
By far, the most common route planner app is Google Maps. Virtually everyone uses this tool to get from one place to another, but not many are aware that it's capable of planning routes with multiple stops.
- BatchGeo.
- Esri ArcGIS.
- Google Maps API.
- Google Earth Pro.
- Geopointe.
- Salesforce Maps.
- ArcGIS Online.
- ArcGIS Pro.
Does Google have a road trip planner? ›
Google Maps is the best tool for planning your next trip, whether you're just using it for adventure inspiration, to share ideas with your friends, or creating a detailed step-by-step road trip itinerary.
What is the most detailed map app? ›- Waze Navigation & Live Traffic. Waze. ...
- OsmAnd — Maps & GPS Offline. OsmAnd. ...
- Sygic GPS Navigation & Maps. Sygic. ...
- Circuit Route Planner. Circuit Routing Limited. ...
- Petal Maps – GPS & Navigation. ...
- TomTom GO Navigation. ...
- AllTrails: Hike, Bike & Run. ...
- MAPS.ME: Offline maps GPS Nav.
Packed with powerful AI-driven features, Navmii is by far better than Google Maps. It also allows auto-rerouting when there is a change in road and traffic conditions.
What is the number one travel website? ›- Booking. On this site, you can get discounts on almost anything, including flights, hotel, cars, activities, and more.
- Expedia. ...
- Kayak. ...
- Scott's Cheap Flights. ...
- Tripadvisor. ...
- Priceline. ...
- Hotwire. ...
- Orbitz.
- Plan your trip budget. This is the most important step and will affect the rest of your vacation planning process. ...
- Choose the top places you'd like to go. ...
- Research flights and dates. ...
- Look for deals. ...
- Start saving up. ...
- Create your itinerary. ...
- Go and enjoy your trip!
You can use Google Maps as a trip planner through the "Places" and "My Maps" features. Both the Google Maps website and app let you save locations to lists, which you can then get immediate directions to. When getting directions, you can look up reviews and add multiple stops to your route.
How do I create a road trip itinerary? ›- Create A New Untitled Map. Firstly, log in with your email into the Google account and go to Google Maps website > Your Places > Maps > Untitled Maps. ...
- Select a New Untitled Layer. ...
- Generate a Route Map. ...
- Review Your Generated Route Plan. ...
- Access Map On Your Phone.
While both Google Maps and Waze provide similar services, Google Maps is much more comprehensive. As covered, Waze is a more driver-focused app, whereas Google Maps provides navigation for anyone, whether they're commuting using public transportation, walking, riding a bike, or driving.
Does Google Maps have a road trip planner? ›Google Maps has a route planning capability. You can even plan a route for many locations using Google Maps. It can serve a variety of purposes aside from driving, such as walking and biking.