A Beginner’s Guide to Planning a Road Trip

Your dates are the foundation, whether you have a long weekend, a week, or more to work with. They narrow everything down, whether you're flying somewhere for an international road trip or pulling out of your own driveway. Once they're locked in, you can start weighing up destinations and rough routes.

The worst thing you can do at this stage is overreach. Shortly after I moved to Iceland, I had a long weekend free and friends visiting from Australia, and decided we should drive to Ásbyrgi Canyon, eight hours from Reykjavik. No worries, we’re Aussies and used to long distances, I thought. We camped one night on the way there, one night in the canyon, and another on the way back. It was fun, but we spent far too much time driving for the amount of time we had. If I were planning a similar trip today, it would be scaled back, aiming for somewhere far closer.

Family road trip planning for beginners follows the same principle, only more so: Traveling with a kid or two means multiplying the stops you'll make, so halve the distance you think you can cover and build your days around that.

When I'm planning a road trip itinerary for myself or someone else, the first thing I'll do is open Google Maps. Custom maps for every trip are the way to go, so that I can pin anything and everything that might be of interest: sights, restaurants, viewpoints, potential scenic routes.

Once the map fills up, the itinerary pretty much writes itself. If there are pins that cluster naturally around certain areas, it means that you should take your time and potentially plan an overnight stop. Empty stretches are where you can comfortably drive through.

Once the days start to take shape with what I want to see and do, that’s when I start to look at daily driving distances. For me, the sweet spot is no more than three hours behind the wheel every day; that leaves plenty of time to see the sights and take a detour or two, and also accounts for all those little stops that end up happening for fuel, snacks, and photos. For longer trips, I also like to schedule in a bit more of a relaxed day every 3–4 days to break up my time in the car and spend a bit longer somewhere.

The route you choose is often the whole point of the road trip. If you’re doing it from scratch, looking at a map should be your first step. From here, look for roads that run close to or through national parks and nature reserves, those that meander along the coast, or any winding mountain roads.

Many countries also designate their scenic routes officially, such as the National Scenic Byways in the US, and searching for these gives you a ready-made shortlist of roads chosen for the views rather than the speed.

And—when using your GPS—always select “avoid highways” and “avoid tolls.” Both options will always lead you somewhere more interesting.

A basic road trip budget and cost breakdown covers five things: the vehicle (rental or your own, plus insurance), fuel, accommodation, food, and activities. My approach is to lock in my essentials first, which is the vehicle and accommodation, and then work out how much of my total is left over for everything else. My total minus those two costs tells me whether I can be eating out at restaurants frequently or if I'll be subsisting on crackers.

From there, I'll add in activities or tours that I want to take. In Iceland, it'll be things such as a glacier hike or a stop at one of the country's hot springs. Once I've got my dates and general timing locked down from the previous steps, I can safely book these activities in, and it's worth doing sooner rather than later, as popular attractions and national parks increasingly require timed entry, permits, or advance reservations. Having these things (and your accommodation) sorted and paid before you leave also means less on-the-road math about what you can safely spend.

That's usually as far as I go for budgeting, as I'm not one to track every dollar spent, and from this point on I’ll just improvise and avoid looking at my bank account. But if you're someone who likes to keep track of things a bit more, I generally find that a daily spending cap works better than a detailed spreadsheet.

Where to stay on a road trip can vary by destination (for example, hotels and motels in the US versus campsites in Iceland). But the principle of actually choosing your accommodation holds for road trips no matter where you are. As a rule of thumb, you’ll rarely want your accommodation for the night to be more than an hour past your last stop. Driving long after you've finished sightseeing, in the dark, while tired, isn't recommended.

Beyond that, it'll be completely up to your budget and preferences. In Iceland I like to mix things up, making use of the affordable campsites while splashing out on a hotel every now and then. On road trips in Spain, I’ll usually look for an inexpensive hotel in a smaller city or town, because I know that Spain is lively no matter where you are. Rural countryside hotels are also a great way to experience a bit more of a slow travel style.

Landscapes are great, yes, but a road trip isn't just about the drive, it's also about experiencing the place you’re in. Doing a few tours and activities on your route is an easy way to add more color to the whole trip. In fact, some of the best experiences I’ve had on a road trip are an impromptu tapas tour in Granada, a whale-watching excursion from Husavik, and a day tour to the Great Barrier Reef.

The beauty of a guided tour is also that it puts someone else in the driver's seat for once; you don't have to worry about logistics, you just get to sit back and enjoy. And a good guide is invaluable, giving you the story of the landscape you've been driving through, from history and geology to the local context that turns the scenery into more than just something passing you by.

Everything's booked and your trip is coming up, so it's time to get ready. For me, that starts with a playlist. I love tying music and travel together, and listening back to the songs that were on heavy rotation is the easiest way I know to bring a trip back, even years later. Daft Punk's Random Access Memories will forever be tied to the time I was on a bus from Spain to France, on the way to a countryside hotel to work for the summer before moving to Iceland.

But playlists aside, you need to prep for practicalities. The best road trip apps for navigation are still Google Maps and Waze, but download your offline maps of preference before you leave, as there's a direct correlation between the most interesting roads and little to no coverage.

Using a fuel price app, such as GasBuddy, will save you money in unfamiliar territory, while Roadtrippers is handy for surfacing stops along your route that you'd otherwise drive straight past. Add destination-specific apps too: When I spent five weeks driving around Iceland for a guidebook, that meant road and weather apps that got opened more than anything else.

A packing list for long road trips should include the things you'll want within arm's reach: water, snacks, layers, sunglasses, a phone mount, chargers. Trash bags and wet wipes are handy to have in the car to keep things tidy, too.

And finally, road trip safety and car checks are of the utmost importance. Check the tread on your tires, including the spare, to ensure they’re all at least 3 millimeters (0.1 inches) deep. Oil, coolant, wipers, and lights should all be checked before departure as well. And if you’ve rented, make sure to do a walk around the vehicle taking photos or a video, documenting any existing damage before you depart.

I find that most of my road trips will have at least one big day of driving involved. If I’m by myself or the only driver, I’ll make sure to stop every two hours or so to rest. Even a 10-minute leg stretch at a roadside stop is worth it for me, and more often than not beats having another coffee.

I’m also a big advocate of the power nap, and still remember the sight of my dad sleeping on a bench for 10 minutes before waking up and continuing the journey. I now do the same. However, if you’re in the passenger seat, you’re in control of the music and podcasts, and there to talk with the driver if they need conversation. And if you can, the best tip is to make sure you leave early enough to arrive at your destination before dark, when you’re more likely to be tired.

Most of all, leave slack in your schedule for the unexpected stops. The roadside fruit stand, the wild swimming spot a gas station attendant mentions, the detour down a road that isn't on your map. On every road trip I've taken, it's the unplanned moments that always factor in among the best memories. Basically, a good plan should leave room for the bits you can't plan.