Best Road Trip Planning Apps – The Top Apps We Used & Loved On Our Road Trip

Road Trippers

This is the BEST if you have a bunch of stops you want to make along the way, but need to know the best route. Also super helpful for planning on what cool stops you want to make along the way. There is a paid version, but I get everything I need from the free version.

Best For:
– Planning your itinerary
– Browsing free travel guides made by others
– Looking for cool stops on your planned route

Google My Maps

I have so SO MANY saved My Maps on Google. This is the best possible tool for planning everything in advance. I have a map per trip, then break out categories by night. I save the hiking trails, restaurants, photo spots, EVERYTHING we need on it.

Best For:
– Planning spots along your trip over time on a map
– Mapping your route from spot to spot
– Offline maps usage, downloading maps to use with no wifi

Instagram

If you aren’t using the save feature on Instagram, you are MISSING OUT. I literally have folders for so many cities, so that when I finally go through them I know where I want to hit. When going through Memphis, for example, I found some local Memphis bloggers and went through their locations and SAVED SO MANY. They live there, they usually are going to be way more helpful than Google Maps.

Best For:
– Finding local gems along your route
– Saving local gems so you can access them later

Travel Bloggers

Do not sit there and just google “things to do in Yellowstone” because you’re about to get the same list everyone and their grandma uses. Ditch it. Instead, check out if a travel blogger has some references. They know their shit, they keep the best lists, and they update them constantly. They’re going to tell you EVERYTHING you need to know. If you don’t know any travel bloggers, start with these!

My Favorite Travel Bloggers:
The Mandagies – My favorite travel bloggers!
Local Adventurers – So many curated travel guides
Adventures of A+K – Austinites!!! Living the van life

iEXIT

We all need a break on our road trips! iExit is awesome for telling you exactly what you can find at every exit. Especially useful when you KNOW you need dinner in the next hour or so, but you don’t know where to get off. Use this to show you every upcoming spot so you can figure it out quickly! Also, bathroom breaks.

Best For:
– Breaking out facilities at every upcoming spot
– Gas prices for upcoming exits

Gas Buddy

The best app to save cash on gas! We always had this so that we could figure out where to get gas, and with the RV the savings would end up REALLY adding up. Seriously, super helpful and worth having. You’d be surprised how ripped off you can be without it.

Best For:
– Finding the best gas prices on your route
– Finding amenities at gas stations on your route

Waze or Google Maps

Honestly, while I know people are die-hard Waze, I am a Google Maps advocate. But either way, you need to have ONE of these apps. It’s best for planning out your route with multiple spots, finding stops along the way, and just avoiding traffic in general.

Best For:
– Planning your route with multiple stops
– Avoiding the worst traffic jams
– Finding efficient stops along the way

Spotify

You cannot convince me Apple Music is better than Spotify. You get all your music, you can make collaborative road trip playlists with your travel buddies, you have access to the best podcasts to listen to, and so much more. I have a whole GUIDE to my favorite road trip podcasts, all on Spotify.

Best For:
– Creating collaborative playlists for the group
– Finding podcasts to listen to on your drive
– Literally music and podcasts in general

License Trip Game

An absolute CLASSIC of a game. I will not be describing why this is a must, I am simply telling you to do it.

Splitwise

If you’re going on a trip with multiple people, this is the best way to keep track of expenses! It even lets you add in tips & tax, and select which items you each ordered. It’s going to save you so much time, energy, and arguments after the trip about who owes who what.

Best For:
– Keeping track of expenses across multiple people
– Dividing receipts up based on who ordered what
– Allowing for one collective Venmo payment

Dyrt

If you’re like me, you’re a big fan of free camping. Dyrt is SO HELPFUL in breaking down the camping options, free and paid, and sharing reviews on them. Helpful when you aren’t planning a ton of your stays until the day of (us). They also have a BLM app so you can find national property for free. If you road trip often, probably worth premium!!!!

Best For:
– Finding free campsites and parks on the go
– Reviews and ratings of campsites and parks

Campendium

We used this app most! Created mostly for van life and RV life, but absolutely helpful for campers too. This is going to find you the best free and paid camping spots, boondocking, dump sites, and give you details about each of them. We loved the boondocking feature the most with this!

Best For:
– Finding free camping and boondocking spots
– Reviews, ratings, and prices of campsites
– Dump site finding for the RV after boondocking
– Provides wifi signal data too