Best Road Trip Planning Websites

The thought of being on the road for a few days to see new places is exciting! But to make this road trip as fun and enjoyable as possible, it’s important to plan ahead. So whether you're thinking of a European road trip or even a California road trip, you'll need to get your planning right! From your route to the restaurants and hotels, you need to carefully sort out these details while also making sure that your car is in its best shape for the long drive. To help you prepare, we’ve gathered the best road trip planning sites you can use! 

Waze

One of the best road trip apps that can make travelling a lot easier is Waze. You may already be using the app, but it also has a web-based travel planner that relies on community-based traffic data.

You can be sure that the information you get is accurate since it depends on live data. If you use the Waze website, you don’t have to worry about accessing the information on your smartphone because there are intuitive buttons that allow you to transfer your travel plan to your smartphone.

You can also schedule your journey so that you’ll get to your destination at the time you plan to arrive. Waze will tell you when you should start your journey based on the latest information on the traffic situation of your route. 

Google Maps

Google Maps is one of the most reliable route finders for many travellers. It is simple, easy, and fast. Surely, you’ve tried using Google Maps at least a few times. As a road trip planner, you can check live traffic as well as predicted traffic. As you may already know, you can switch between a traditional map and a satellite image of the places, too.

If you need a more specific and up-close look at your route, you can also switch to Street View. And since Google Maps is backed by information available in Google, it’s going to be so easy to find not just your route but also restaurants, hotels, landmarks, fuel stations, and other locations that you might want to visit during your trip. 

Bing Maps

Microsoft also has its own map that you can use to plan a road trip. Like Google Maps, it’s one of the best road trip maps available because of its intuitive search and navigation designs. You can even add your own rest stops for your trip. Whenever you want to check traffic, it's easy to follow since it’s colour-coded.

You may print the route you’ve selected if you want. Sad to say, if you plan road trip online using Bing Maps, you might find it frustrating that you can’t share the plan with an app. But Bing Maps does have something that others do not, and that’s live traffic camera feeds from Highways England. So, you can check the traffic situation of your route, especially in areas where there’s heavy traffic. 

TomTom MyDrive

If you want to try another road trip planning website, you can check TomTom MyDrive, especially if you own a TomTom sat-nav. You can easily share your progress to your device directly or with a smartphone that you can use as a sat-nav. But don’t worry because you can still use the website even if you don’t have a TomTom.

One of the best features of this route planner is its Thrill option. Depending on your preferences, like how winding or hilly you want your route to be, it will suggest the best scenic route. In case you’re looking for ways how to plan a road trip by motorcycle, TomTom MyDrive has an option for routes that are more motorcycle-friendly. 

HERE WeGo

One of the best road trip planners is HERE WeGo. You can definitely rely on this company because it’s the one providing software for the sat-navs of car manufacturers. When using their road trip planning website, you’ll be impressed with the WeGo route planner because it simply looks more advanced and much better compared to what Google and Bing have to offer.

Its intuitive is a downside, however. Even so, it’s still worth a try because the essential core functionality you need for a route planner is there. Printing the directions is easy, or you may simply transfer the route you’ve planned to the HERE app on your smartphone.  

Other Road Trip Planning Sites

In case you want to explore other options for road trip planning sites, there’s Via Michelin, AA Route Planner, and RAC Route Planner. These websites are also good, and they have their own strengths and features. For example, with Via Michelin, you can get an estimate of a journey’s fuel cost and also generate an expense receipt. This is so convenient when you’re budgeting for your road trip. Mssy advertisements placed on the webpages, cluttered filters, and having no option to share your route plan with an app on your smartphone are definitely weakness. 

Takeaway

So, now that you have the best road trip planning sites, or apps,you should go ahead and start planning your adventure! There’s no reason not to have the best travel experience these days because you have all the technology and resources you need to make the right preparations.

Be sure to check your car before you drive! Since it’s going to be a long journey, do check everything — from the headlights, signal lights, and tyre pressure to the fluids and wipers! Have a safe and fun road trip! 👍😎