How Much Does A Road Trip Cost? The Ultimate Guide (2024)

Setting out on a road trip is an exciting adventure, offering the freedom to explore new destinations at your own pace. It is my favorite way to travel, and I love everything about it, from the dreaming to the planning to the driving and experiences and everything in between.

However, if you’re fairly new to road-tripping, or planning your own vacation in general, you might be wondering: exactly how much does a road trip cost in 2024?

As you might expect, there isn’t a one-size-fits-all answer. The cost of a trip is going to vary greatly depending on how far you are traveling, what kind of places you like to stay, what kind of food you like to eat, how many people are going, and lots of other factors.

And if you are traveling outside of your home country, you have to think about conversion rates and how your currency exchanges with the country you are going to. Your money may go farther in a certain country but be worth a lot less in another.

No time to read? Here’s a printable road trip budget with some basic tips so you can determine the cost of your next vacation with ease!

All these factors may be causing your head to spin and make planning a road trip seem overwhelming and not worth your time.

This is where I can help!

In this article, I’m going to go over all the parts of a budget that you’ll need to consider when planning your road trip.

On top of that, I’ll discuss a price range for most of the categories if you are taking a road trip in the USA in 2024. If you are visiting another country, you can still use the principles in this post, but the cost ranges will be different.

Determining how much a road trip will cost can take a little bit of time, but it doesn’t have to be stressful or overwhelming.

So let’s get started! We have a lot to cover!

Things To Know Before Determining Road Trip Costs

I know you’re itching to hit the road, but before diving into the planning details of your road trip, there are a few questions you’ll have to answer that will determine your overall travel experience and expenses.

What is your overall budget?

“But Stef,” you say, “how can I determine my overall budget if I don’t know what anything is going to cost?”

Well, here’s the thing: you need to know how much you can afford on the trip as a whole BEFORE you start getting into the nitty-gritty.

A vacation should not put you in debt, and you shouldn’t spend more than what you know you can feasibly afford.

That may mean that certain road trips or vacations may not be feasible at different times in your life. And that’s OK! Know what you’re able to spend, and then if your trip starts to go over budget, you can either A) adjust certain categories to make your budget work, or B) pick a different destination.

How many people are going?

You need to know how many people will be joining you on the road trip. The number of travelers can significantly impact many of your choices and costs, such as accommodations and even the type of vehicle you might need to rent.

How many days am I traveling?

It’s important to know how many days you are traveling on your road trip. Whether it’s a weekend getaway or an epic cross-country adventure from Michigan to California, the length of your journey directly influences the costs related to accommodations, food, car rental, and fuel. 

How far am I traveling?

You’ll need to determine the distance you’ll be covering during your road trip. As expected, the further you are traveling, the more you’ll spend on gas.

How many hours per day do I want to drive?

This goes hand-in-hand with the number of days you have for your trip and how much ground you want to cover on your vacation. You’ll need to consider how many hours per day you are comfortable driving.

If you want a more relaxed road trip, plan on driving for fewer hours a day and covering less ground. If you don’t mind the long driving days, you can feasibly travel more miles in a shot – just don’t overdo it! A road trip is meant to be enjoyable, after all!

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By determining these answers before planning your trip, you’ll be able to set a more accurate and personalized road trip budget.

What to include in a road trip budget

Here’s an overview of the main categories that will be on most road trip budgets.

Keep in mind that every vacation is different, so some of these may not apply to every adventure. However, you will need to determine how many of these will be on your spreadsheet before starting your budget so that you can accurately plan.

• Flights
• Car rental
• Gas
• Tolls
• Parking
• Other transport
• Accommodations
• Food
• Tours/Attractions
• Souvenirs
• Travel Insurance
• Miscellaneous

Let’s break down each category and talk a bit about how you’ll determine your budget for each section.

Road Trip Costs: Flights

If your road trip is going to be somewhere far away from where you live, flying to and from your destination may be something you’ll need to do.

Flights can significantly impact your budget as the prices can vary greatly depending on the time of year you are traveling and even the day of the week you are flying.

However, getting an average number is actually pretty simple. There are two websites I use to get an estimated price while putting together my budget. Google Flights and Hopper will both give you a general cost on your particular flights as well as the best time to book them.

While the actual price you pay may be a bit higher or lower, if you use both of these sites to get a general idea, you’ll be able to figure out a roundabout number to use for your budget and planning.

Road Trip Costs: Car Rental

If you aren’t taking your own vehicle on your road trip, you’ll need to rent one.

The cost of renting a car will vary drastically based on several factors. Some of these include the number of rental days, the type of car you choose to rent, the vehicle’s fuel type and efficiency, how many drivers and their ages, the number of miles included, and even where you pick up and drop off the vehicle.

I use and recommend Discover Cars to get a good idea of what a vehicle will cost. It is a great resource for assessing rental prices as it searches through multiple rental companies and all the available options.

I suggest using them and any other sites you’d like to get a ballpark figure for your rental budget category.

Road Trip Costs: Gas

Gas expenses constitute a significant portion of your road trip budget. And with prices fluctuating significantly from state to state, it can be hard to know just how much you might spend.

There’s a great resource to help with this! Check out the GasBuddy Trip Calculator. This tool factors in your vehicle’s fuel efficiency, the distance you plan to cover, as well as the current gas prices, which will provide you with a reliable estimate of your fuel costs.

Once I get this number, I always add a bit of money to the gas budget to cover side trips and potential price increases. It’s always better to overestimate a bit than overspend.

Road Trip Costs: Tolls

Tolls can sneak up on you if you’re not prepared which can then impact your budget unexpectedly.

Google Maps can help with this though. While planning your trip, use the app to check for tolls along your planned route. While this number is not always completely accurate, it can give you a general idea of what you might spend.

If you want to save money and avoid tolls completely, you can go into the navigation settings and toggle on “Avoid tolls.” You can also compare the two options to see if the difference in time is worth the money saved for each portion of the trip.

Road Trip Costs: Parking

Parking expenses can add up, especially in urban areas or popular tourist destinations.

When planning your road trip budget, consider whether your accommodations charge for parking or if you’ll need to find parking off-site. Additionally, research if you’ll need to pay for parking at attractions or entertainment venues.

If you are visiting some cities on your trip, check to see if any of them offer parking passes or discounted rates for multiple days. It’s worth taking a little bit of time to explore these options to manage parking costs effectively.

Road Trip Costs: Other Transport

Beyond the road trip itself, there may be times when it’s necessary to use other modes of transportation.

When determining how much your road trip will cost, you’ll also need to consider if you’ll need to take shuttles, taxis, or rideshares to and from the airport, hotels, or around cities.

These costs can accumulate if you aren’t thinking about them ahead of time. Planning for additional transportation needs allows you to create a more accurate road trip budget. 

Road Trip Costs: Accommodations

Where you decide to stay each night can play a crucial role in your road trip experience, and prices can vary widely based on your preferences.

Budget-friendly options like couchsurfing or car camping make for the most economical stays. Campsites are also a good way to keep costs reasonable while enjoying the great outdoors.

Airbnb and VRBO provide a middle ground, offering unique lodging experiences at varying price points. Hotels are often the most expensive choice, but they can provide additional amenities that many other places can’t.

Accommodations are probably the budget category that can vary the most. You’ll have to make your choices based on your budget and comfort preferences, which will ensure you get a restful night’s sleep during your road trip adventure. 

Road Trip Costs: Food

Food expenses on a road trip can also vary significantly depending on your choices.

Bringing your own food and utilizing grocery stores for meals on the go can significantly cut costs. On the other hand, eating out frequently at restaurants or opting for high-end dining experiences can quickly add up.

Choosing a mix of cooking on the go and treating yourself to local cuisine ensures a good balance between keeping costs down and enjoying different cuisines along the way. This is how I like to budget my food while traveling, but do what works for you on each trip.

Road Trip Costs: Tours & Attractions

How much you spend on tours and attractions during your road trip will depend on what you like to do and where you are going.

If you are visiting a lot of national parks, you probably won’t spend much money in this category, but if you are visiting a lot of cities, you’ll probably spend more on museums and landmark attractions.

Spend some time researching what sights you would like to explore along your route and what the admission prices are. You can then decide how much you can spend on attractions and pick the ones you want to visit the most that fit into your budget.

If you are hitting a lot of national parks, consider getting the annual park pass for access to all the national parks and monuments for free for the year. You can save a lot of money and time with the pass.

Another thing to look into: in certain cities, GoCity offers entry to multiple attractions for one price, providing a great way to explore and experience the local sights for a discount.

Road Trip Costs: Souvenirs

Souvenirs can be a fun way to commemorate your road trip, but it’s a good idea to set a budget for them beforehand.

Consider the significance of an item before you buy and decide if it’s worth dipping into your souvenir budget to purchase it. It might seem silly to do this for a handful of small items you find along the way, but you’ll be surprised how much they add up if you aren’t keeping track of them.

Having a predetermined spending limit ensures that you can enjoy collecting those memorable souvenirs without compromising your overall budget. 

Road Trip Costs: Travel Insurance

Travel insurance might not be something that you would normally consider purchasing or budgeting for on a road trip, but it’s a great thing to have and can provide peace of mind.

Consider options like World Nomads or Safety Wing depending on your particular needs and budget. These two companies have great choices and can protect you if you need medical attention, lose your bags, and much more.

Before heading out on the road, evaluate your travel insurance needs based on the length and nature of your trip so you’re adequately protected in case of any unexpected situations. 

Road Trip Costs: Miscellaneous

In the unpredictable world of road trips, it’s crucial to set aside some extra funds for miscellaneous expenses.

Unexpected costs such as speeding tickets, blown tires, other car emergencies, or replacing things you forgot at home all add up. Having room in your budget for these unplanned events will allow you to handle any unforeseen circumstances without derailing your entire budget and creating stress on your vacation.

How much does a road trip across America cost?

The cost of a road trip across the United States will vary depending on the route, length of time, type of accommodations, car rental and fuel costs, attractions or activities you choose to do, and the other categories of your budget. As I discussed above, you can do a road trip pretty cheaply if you’re willing to compromise in certain areas, but it can also be as expensive as you want it to be.

But to give you a fair estimate, we’ll take a hypothetical road trip from New York City to San Francisco, California along I-80 as an example to show how you could do this trip. Here are the specs we are going to use:

• A 14-day journey (not counting travel days)
• Flying from Minneapolis there and back
• Renting a car

Here’s a breakdown of the expenses you could expect for this type of cross-country trip, keeping in mind this is just a case study to show you how to do a budget and what you’ll have to think about.

Flights

Since this road trip starts in New York, we will assume you’ll have to fly there so you can make the most of your two-week adventure. You’ll then have to fly home from San Francisco.

If you are coming from Minneapolis/St. Paul (MSP), you could expect to pay around $120 for the flight to New York and around the same for the flight from San Francisco back to Minneapolis. On average, you’ll pay about $240 per person for flights.

Car Rental

Since you’re driving across the country and dropping your car off at a different location than you picked it up, you’ll probably pay more for a one-way rental. You’ll also want to consider a company that will let you have unlimited miles since you’re covering a great distance.

For this example, we’ll say you want an intermediate car with one driver for 13 days. You’ll pick up the car at JFK airport and drop it off at the San Francisco airport. With these specs, you’re looking at around $1200-$1500 for the rental. This doesn’t include extras or additional coverage.

Gas

Gas is going to be a pretty big expense on this road trip. However, with a lot of highway driving, you will save some money with the higher fuel economy.

Assuming you get an intermediate car like a Toyota Corolla, which has pretty good fuel economy, and you drive approximately 3500 miles (accounting for some side trips), you’ll pay somewhere around $350-$400 for gas.

Keep in mind that gas prices change constantly and sometimes drastically, so you could very well pay a lot less than this or a lot more depending on when you go and what the current price per gallon is.

Tolls

If you follow I-80 for this entire road trip, you’ll pay around $40 in tolls. Toll prices do change occasionally as well, so again, use this as an estimate for your budget. You may pay a little more or a little less than this.

Parking

Parking costs are going to be a little more complicated to determine based on where exactly you decide to go.

For the sake of this case study, we’ll say that you won’t have to pay for parking at any of your accommodations, but you’ll pay for day parking in Cleveland, Chicago, Des Moines, Omaha, Salt Lake City, and San Francisco. Assuming you’ll pay somewhere around $20/day, let’s budget about $120 for parking.

Personally, when I plan my trips, I determine my parking costs a lot more exactly, but this example is a pretty decent estimate of what it might cost to park for a day in any large city.

Other Transportation

For days when you are sightseeing in a city, it often makes sense to park your car and use public transportation like buses, subways, trolleys, and taxis to get around instead of paying for parking everywhere you go and dealing with the hassle.

You could expect to pay around $10-20 a day for these, so let’s use this number for 6 days for our example. I’d probably round up a bit too, so we’ll budget about $150 for public transportation for this trip.

Accommodations

This is another area where the prices are going to vary significantly depending on where you like to stay on your road trips.

We will use a middle-of-the-road hotel price of around $175 a night for our example. For 14 nights, the budget for your accommodations would be about $2450.

Food

As we discussed earlier, your food costs will depend on your dining choices.

If you eat at local restaurants for at least 2 meals a day, you could average $60 per person a day. For those who prefer to bring some food from home and supplement with groceries along the way, budget around $15 to $25 per person per day.

Let’s say you want to do a bit of both on this trip. We could feasibly average about $40 per person per day in food costs, which comes out to about $560 per person.

Tours & Attractions

Technically, you could pay almost nothing in this category if you wanted to just do all the free stuff and nothing else. However, it’s likely you’ll want to spend some money to see the iconic attractions along the way. That’s why you’re doing this trip in the first place, right?

Using the New York to San Francisco example, we’ll say you want to see some national parks, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, the Skydeck in Chicago, Henry Doorly Zoo & Aquarium in Omaha, spend some money in Reno at the casinos, and rent some bikes in San Francisco. This comes out to about $300/person in attractions, accounting for a little extra as well.

Souvenirs

Souvenirs are an entirely personal choice, but for our purposes, set a budget of $100 for souvenirs for this trip.

Travel Insurance

For a comprehensive travel insurance plan from Safety Wing, budget around $45 per person for a road trip of less than 4 weeks.

Miscellaneous

No matter how long your road trip is, it’s always a good idea to include at least $200 in your budget to cover unexpected expenses such as minor repairs, unforeseen tolls, speeding tickets, or other surprises along the way.

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So, what’s the final estimated cost of this road trip?

Drum roll, please…

This hypothetical road trip budget comes out to $5755 for one person.

Does this number seem pretty steep to you? Or were you expecting it to be higher?

Either way, this number isn’t meant to be what you personally would pay for this particular road trip. It’s meant to show you how to go about figuring out what you could pay for a road trip using the parameters I did for the example. You could obviously make this much cheaper but also more expensive depending on your preferences.

Things to consider for out-of-country road trips

If you are trying to figure out a budget for an international road trip, here are a few things you’ll need to consider.

Exchange rate

You’ll need to know how much you are paying in US dollars when working on your budget so you can plan accordingly. What might sound like a good budget in the local currency might be much higher when you convert it.

There are apps and websites that will tell you the exact exchange rate of any currency at any particular time, so use these when working out your vacation budget.

International Driver’s License

Depending on the country you are visiting, you might need an international driver’s license to drive in that country.

Every country is different, so do yourself a favor and spend a few minutes researching your destination to see if you need one.

If you do, they are fairly easy to obtain. If you have a AAA membership, you can get one at your local branch. If you aren’t, the other option is to get one through the International Automobile Association, which can be done online.

How to save money on road trip costs

So you’re ready to start planning the budget for your United States road trip, but you want to learn ways to keep costs down so your vacation doesn’t break the bank.

I’ve got an entire blog post dedicated to the best and easiest ways to save money on a road trip. Check it out for all the details!