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Dates, distances and directions

Always wanted to travel across US but were not sure if you have enough time for that? Did you ever try to figure out how long it takes to drive from Yosemite to Yellowstone or from Lisbon to Rome?

Start clicking on the map. Choose your destination and have Furkot calculate how much time you need to get there. Set daily limits on the travel time so none of your sightseeing has to be done under moonlight — unless, of course, that's what you want.

Don't worry about putting stops in order. Furkot attempts to plan a route for your trip in the most efficient way. If you don't want efficient, you can drag your stops around or even reverse your itinerary .

Tell us how long you want to drive every day, and we will show you where to stop for the night Furkot suggests overnight stops along the route based on your schedule and preferences.

Furkot can help you with all your travel plans: a day trip, a weekend getaway, or a continent-crossing road trip. And driving is not the only option . You can also schedule motorcycle rides, biking excursions and walking tours with Furkot.

Read more …

It's not just about driving

It's also about all the things you do on the way. Leave your car parked for a couple of hours and hike one of the trails from the vast Everytrail collection.

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The Best Road Trip Apps That Help You Find Cheap Gas, Avoid Traffic, and More

Download these before you hit the highway.

Elizabeth Rhodes is a special projects editor at Travel + Leisure , covering everything from luxury hotels to theme parks to must-pack travel products. Originally from South Carolina, Elizabeth moved to New York City from London, where she started her career as a travel blogger and writer.

Carmen Martínez Torrón/Getty Images

Technology has revolutionized the way we travel in countless ways. Paper maps and GPS navigation systems have been replaced by Google and Apple Maps, old-school CDs by music streaming services, and guidebooks by apps that can notify road-trippers of roadside attractions in real time. One thing is certain: the smartphone has made road trips infinitely easier and, arguably, cheaper.

Whether you need a digital road trip planner to map out your next journey or something to help you avoid traffic jams, here are 11 of the best road trip apps to download ahead of your next adventure.

Roadtrippers

Roadtrippers is one of the most practical and popular road trip planning apps out there. Maybe you want to see national parks or the quirkiest roadside attractions. Perhaps you want to stop for the night at an iconic or underrated hotel. You can plan your stops right in the app, adding up to three waypoints for free or 150 with a Roadtrippers Premium account. There are also Basic and Pro memberships that allot you 20 and 50 waypoints per trip, respectively. The higher-tier memberships allow you to collaborate with friends and family and use navigation. The app features lodging, sights, outdoorsy destinations, restaurants, activities, shopping, fuel, and more all around the U.S., Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.

The app is free, but you have to upgrade to a membership plan to enjoy all the bells and whistles. The Basic plan costs $40 a year, the Pro plan $50 a year, and the Premium $60 a year. It's available on iOS and Android .

Google Maps

Every road-tripper needs a trusty navigation app in their arsenal, and Google Maps is consistently one of the most — if not the most — downloaded in the U.S. every year. Its dominance can be attributed to how comprehensive its data is, which allows it to generate the very best directions based on distance, road conditions, and traffic patterns.

Google Maps gives you route options and provides accurate estimates of how long it takes to get from A to B. Plus, you can plot several waypoints along your route — be it a mid-morning coffee stop or a hotel for overnighting (you can see reviews right in the app).

Google Maps is free and available on iOS and Android .

Waze is another one of the top navigation apps. With real-time updates that help you avoid traffic jams, construction, and more, it will have you navigating new cities and unfamiliar streets like a seasoned local. It's perhaps a little more proactive than Google Maps in changing up a route when problems arise, and that means Waze users should prepare for their drive to be a little unpredictable.

No one wants to spend hours sitting in traffic instead of exploring, so the fact that Waze collects data from other drivers to streamline the driving experience is a huge help. The app is free and available on iOS and Android .

Paying for fuel can eat up a good chunk of your road trip budget, but GasBuddy can save you a few bucks. The app crowdsources up-to-date fuel prices for more than 150,000 gas stations around the U.S. and Canada. The app also tells you how recent the submission is so you know whether it's outdated.

GasBuddy is not just helpful for finding cheap gas but also for finding gas stations in general (and parking), which can be difficult in foreign territory. The app is free and can be downloaded on iOS and Android . While using it, be a good road-tripper and submit gas prices you see as you travel.

Roadside America

Barry Winiker/Getty Images

The offbeat and kitschy roadside attractions you can find throughout the U.S. are often some of the most delightful parts of a road trip. The Roadside America app helps you find the most unique attractions worth stopping for, like the large sculpture of a cartoon mouse holding a cheese platter in Plain, Wisconsin — where else? — or the decidedly odd larger-than-life-sized three-way electrical plug that rests on a lawn in Philadelphia. The app features museums, murals, tours, quirky restaurants, and photo ops.

Roadside America costs $3 to download, which gets you access to one region in the app. You can purchase more regions for $2 or get access to all of the U.S. and Canada for an extra $7. The app is available only on iOS .

iExit Interstate Exit Guide

Knowing where to stop for road trip snacks, a drive-through latte, or a public restroom can be challenging with all the exit signs whizzing by at 70 mph, but iExit Interstate Exit Guide takes the guesswork out of it. The app will list which exits are coming up on your route, what's there, and what they offer — including food, lodging, fuel, and even hospitals. It pulls fuel prices from OPIS (the Oil Price Information Service) and displays Yelp reviews for businesses.

The app is free to download. Find it on both iOS and Android .

HotelTonight

Even if you've planned out all your stops ahead of time, you might find that you need to pull over for a night unexpectedly. Driving is tiring, and unplanned naps can be life-saving. HotelTonight can help you find accommodations in a pinch. The app offers day-of deals on unsold rooms, and the user-friendly interface means you can book a discounted room in minutes. There are well over 1,000 properties to choose from in cities all over the world, from Mexico City to Jakarta (in case you happen to take your road-tripping global).

It's free to download and available on iOS and Android .

If staying in a tucked-away A-frame cabin, a yurt, or a private guest house in someone's garden is more your travel style than bouncing between hotels, then Airbnb is the ticket. On the Airbnb app, you can search properties (millions in the U.S. alone) on a map and read reviews before you book, which you can do in advance or at the last minute.

The app features not just vacation homes but also activities, so if you're keen to experience a city like a local you can do so via a pottery class or a guided walking tour, for example.

The Airbnb app is free. You can download it on iOS or Android .

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Travelers who dream of camping out under the stars should download The Dyrt , a free app that helps you find tent, RV, and cabin sites across the U.S. One of the top camping apps on iOS and Android , it has more than a million registered users who submit reviews, pictures, and tips. On The Dyrt, you get real intel on campsites and a built-in community that makes camping on a road trip especially fun and safe. You can even book some of the campsites right on app.

The app is free, but there's a premium version for $36 a year that allows you to plan trips and search campsites while offline — convenient for remote regions.

What is a road trip without a perfect playlist? Whether you're keen to create a soundtrack of nostalgic singalongs, modern pop songs, or music inspired by your destination, you'll find even the most obscure tunes on Spotify , a catalog of more than 100 million tracks. When you tire of Taylor Swift, you can turn to podcasts or an audiobook to keep you company. Road trips are a great opportunity to delve into a docuseries like "Serial," an all-time favorite.

Spotify is free to download and listen to, but the ad breaks are annoying and streaming can chew through your phone data. A better option is to purchase a premium membership for $11 a month. It's ad-free and you can download music to listen to offline. The Spotify app is available on iOS and Android .

Electric vehicles are increasingly commonplace and great for more environmentally friendly road-tripping. The problem is often finding charging stations, as most EVs can go 100 to 300 miles before they need to be plugged in. PlugShare lists 700,000 charging stations across North America, Europe, and beyond. Users share their reviews of the stations, helping to guide EV drivers to the best, fastest, and most reliable charging spots.

PlugShare is free and available to download on iOS and Android .

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Build the perfect trip itinerary and pin as many locations on the map as you like. You’ll see distances connecting the waypoints and know the driving times between multiple stops. Search points of interest like attractions, trails, or national parks. Choose if you’re traveling by car or RV to optimize your route accordingly.

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The 10 Best Road Trip Planner Apps for 2024

Save time, money, and energy with these apps so you can focus on the fun instead

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We love road trips! Planning them can be fun but, let's be honest, also stressful. The right road trip planner apps can take some of that stress away by helping you plan, organize, and manage travel before and during your trip. We've researched and tested these apps to help give you peace of mind so that you can spend more time enjoying your trip.

The Ultimate Map App for Planning Your Route: Roadtrippers

Access to free and convenient travel guides.

Share-ability so friends can join in on the planning process and suggest places to visit.

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.

Download For:

Automate Your Trip Planning and Organization: Google Travel

Automatic trip organization via Gmail integration. 

Offline access so you can see your trip information even when you don't have an internet connection.

Limitations with customizing some day 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.

Find and Book a Last-Minute Place to Stay: Hotels.com

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.

No option to easily cancel if you change your mind.

Whether your road trip itinerary 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.

Find Local Restaurants, Read Reviews, and Make Reservations: OpenTable

Lots of great filter options and suggestions.

Access to gorgeous, high-quality images of menu items and informative reviews from other users.

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 top  location-based food apps  available, so you know you can trust its information when you're dying for something to eat.

Navigate Like a Local: Waze

Hands-free navigation with voice commands.

Alerts-only mode for road hazards and police.

Share up-to-date ETA with friends.

Spotify and Apple Music widgets get in the way.

Cluttered maps can be confusing.

Higher battery usage than Google Maps.

Waze  is 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 .

Know Exactly When and Where to Make a Pit Stop: iExit Interstate Exit Guide

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.

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 for well-known franchises like Starbucks and Walmart to convenient amenities like free Wi-Fi and truck or trailer parking, this app has you covered.

Find the Cheapest Fuel Nearby: GasBuddy

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.

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.

Download For :

Never Forget an Item: PackPoint Premium Packing List

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.

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.

Find Out Where to Park and How Much It Will Cost: Inrix ParkMe

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.

Rates and hours may 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.

Automate Your Itinerary: TripIt

Automatically creates itineraries from your inbox.

Widget displays trip details on your home screen.

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.

In addition to your phone, laptop, and tablet, other travel tech essentials include chargers, headphones, travel adapters, cameras, luggage trackers, and off-grid communications

Yes. 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 and get directions.

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41 Best Road Trip Planning Tools and Apps in 2024

Is a road trip in your future? These road trip planning tools will help you choose destinations, find a place to stay, get there, and so much more.

Planning a road trip is one of the most exciting parts of the experience. When you first decide to go on this adventure, you’re filled with anticipation and possibilities.

But it can also be overwhelming. Where do you start? How do you find interesting places? How do you keep everything organized?

Don’t fret; I’ve got you covered. I’ve found the best road trip planning tools to help make the process fun and easy.

I’m somewhat obsessed with road trips, and have written a few books about them (including Planning Your Perfect Road Trip ) as well as dozens of articles.

With the help of the right road trip planning tools, you can make the process much simpler, more organized, and fun!

Below are some of the best road trip planner apps, websites, and real world tools to help you plan your next road trip. They’ll help you find great places to explore, figure out how to get there, and keep track of it all.

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Before you go, check out this road trip packing list .

15 Useful Websites for Road Trippers

There are approximately 1.3 gazillion travel websites, give or take a few bazillion. There’s no way to keep up with all of them. I’m not even going to try. Instead, I’ve curated some useful favorites.

This selection of trip planning websites is by no means comprehensive (because that would be impossible), but these should provide a plethora of ideas.

America’s Byways

fhwaapps.fhwa.dot.gov/bywaysp/

If you’re looking to drive a scenic route that’s been designated as such by the Federal Highway Administration, visit here first.

National Scenic Byways & All-American Roads lists a collection of 184 “distinct and diverse roads.”

To be officially designated, a National Scenic Byway must be considered regionally significant, and an All-American Road needs to be a “destination until itself.”

For example, the Santa Fe Trail follows one of the country’s early trade routes and is a National Scenic Byway.

Beartooth Highway , which provides access to the northeast entrance of Yellowstone National Park , is an All-American Road.

America’s State Parks

stateparks.org

Our National Park System gets lots of love, and rightfully so, but you know who else deserves your outdoor affection?

State parks.

The America’s State Parks website, hosted and developed by the National Association of State Park Directors, is exactly what it sounds like. It’s a resource to help you find every state park in the country.

Their Locate a Park function links to each state’s official parks system website.

Atlas Obscura

Welcome to the atlas of the obscure . If you’re looking for interesting places, this is the site for you.

A cool function is to search nearby. Let the site use your location and it’ll pull up attractions close to you.

For example, near me there’s a funeral home with a mini-golf course inside and a house without corners – because the owner wanted spirits to feel more comfortable.

Back Road Ramblers

Back Road Ramblers focuses on family-themed travel in the US, emphasizing slower-paced journeys and off-the-beaten-path adventures.

If you want to visit someplace new and know how far you’re willing to drive, CalcMaps will show you what’s within that distance.

Draw a circle and it’ll show the radius in miles, or enter an address and the miles you’re planning on driving. A circle overlay will display on the map, which you can resize with the drag of a mouse.

You can then browse within that circle and start researching potential cities, towns, parks, and attractions. It’s important to note that mileage is based on straight lines and not the routes you’ll take.

For example, from my home to Des Moines, Iowa, is less than 280 miles as the crow flies. To drive it would be around 320 miles. However, you can at least get a rough idea.

Find Your Park

Find Your Park is a collaboration between the National Park Service and the National Park Foundation to help plan visits to NPS sites.

You can choose from a range of activities, including geocaching, off-roading, and whitewater rafting.

Historical Marker Database

If you’re the type of person who pulls over at every historical marker, Historical Marker Database is going to be your new best friend.

You can browse thousands of listings or you can plug in an address. If you give it permission to see your location, it’ll show markers near you.

Individual listings display an image of the marker, a transcription of the inscription, and usually an audio recording. They include the latitude and longitude so you can plot the exact location.

Topics are also listed, which comes in handy when planning a road trip themed around Native Americans or the Civil War, for example.

National Park Service

If you plan to visit any of the 423 units of the National Park System , start at the source. NPS.gov includes all their sites, including National Battlefields, National Monuments, National Historic Sites, National Scenic Trails, National Seashores, etc.

They also help you plan your trip with lists of ideas. There are trip ideas by park, activity, topic, duration, and more.

You can also purchase your America the Beautiful Interagency Pass, which provides admission to every fee-based NPS unit.

National Register of Historic Places

History geeks rejoice! Part of the National Park Service, the National Register of Historic Places offers tools and resources for researching historical sites deemed worthy of preservation.

RoadTrip America

Online since 1996, RoadTrip America is one of the original sites for online travel planning. In addition to tons of road tripping advice, there’s also a route planner.

It’s free, and if you want to save, print, or modify your route, you’ll need to register. That’s also free and provides access to their Great American RoadTrip Forum where you can connect with other road trippers.

Roadside America

Roadside America ‘s also been around since the 1990s, and in all that time it’s amassed a giant collection of curiosities. Or, as they say, “little pushpins of peculiarity.”

Browse by state or search by keywords or city to find your road trip inspiration, like a giant ball of twine or a 30-foot-tall old-fashioned bicyclist.

See something intriguing? Save it to “My Sights.” When you’ve accumulated the ones you want, you can create a route that includes them all.

There’s a Roadside America app, but sadly for us Android users, it’s only available for Apple devices. 

The Local Tourist

I’d be remiss if I didn’t include my own website. It has been around since 2002, after all.

The Local Tourist is a good resource for outdoors, culture, history, kitschy attractions, and road trips (duh).

As of 2024, destinations are primarily in the Midwest and Western United States. But, I’m working on covering the whoooole country, and eventually, the world! Muah ha ha.

TV Food Maps

Want to eat at a place you’ve seen on the telly? TV Food Maps not only has a searchable database, but they’ll also show you results based on your road trip route.

Shows include the obligatory Diners, Drive-ins and Dives and Man vs Food . There’s Cheap Eats when you’re on a budget. Chopped fans can find the winners’ restaurants.

It’s a veritable smorgasbord of places to eat.

Related: check out all my tips on eating on the road .

Visit the USA

visittheusa.com

Visit the USA is the official travel site of the United States. There’s a ton of information for people traveling internationally, but it’s also good for US residents.

Browse iconic landmarks, trip ideas, and experiences. You can search geographically. There’s also a cool “this or that” quiz that provides recommended trips based on your answers.

In addition to the site, there’s a trip planner, too. Put in your starting point and your final destination and the dates you’ll be traveling and you’ll get a suggested itinerary.

Not every place is listed, however. My hometown is missing, so I entered the closest bigger city.

Want more road trip tips? Download Planning Your Perfect Road Trip, a Step-by-Step Guide to Hittin’ the Road

World Waterfall Database

If you love waterfalls (and who doesn’t?), you’ll love World Waterfall Database . It’s a comprehensive resource that ranks waterfalls and allows users to browse by state and country.

6 Online Trip Planners

Trip planners are fantastic tools for, you guessed it, planning your trip.

Road trip planners are especially useful when you have an idea of where you want to go. You plug in your start and end destinations and fill in “waypoints,” or stops.

With their interactive maps, you can experiment with alternative routes. Each tool has a different interface and offers different features.

I recommend experimenting with each to see which works best for you.

Furkot is an online road trip planner that offers a range of features to help you plan and organize your trips effectively.

To begin, you enter your starting and ending destinations, what dates you’ll be traveling, how long you want to travel each day, and more.

You can also enter what type of accommodations you like and whether you prefer to drive highways or toll roads. Traveling with pets? You can include that, too.

If you’re not sure where you want to go, you can click on “Inspire me” for suggestions.

Google Maps

Did you know you can use Google Maps as a trip planner? When you find a place that looks interesting or you know you want to include on your itinerary, you can save it.

For example, search for Rocky Mountain National Park. Then tap the “Save” icon. From there, you can add it to Favorites, Want to go, Travel plans, or Starred places.

You can also create your own lists, which will make it easier to plan an entire trip.

Once you add a place to a list, you can add a note.

Maybe Aunt Sue recommended the peach pie at a diner. Write it down in the notes. Then when you’re planning your itinerary, you’ll know why you added that diner to your list.

You can keep your list Private or you can choose to share it. This comes in handy when there are multiple people planning the trip.

Google My Maps

Google My Maps is a powerful tool that can be extremely useful for planning a road trip. It allows you to create custom maps with your own locations, routes, and markers.

One of the most useful features of Google My Maps is the ability to create custom routes. You can add as many locations as you want to your map, and then easily connect them to create a custom route.

This can be helpful when planning a road trip with multiple destinations, as you can see the entire route and estimate the time and distance between each stop.

You can add markers to your map, which can be used to indicate points of interest, hotels, gas stations, rest areas, or other places you want to visit or stop at during your road trip.

You can add notes, photos, and videos to the markers, which can be helpful for remembering more details about a place.

Google My Maps also allows you to share your maps with others, which can be especially useful when planning a road trip with a group of friends or family.

You can share a link to your map, and others can view and edit it, making it easy to collaborate and plan your trip together.

Another useful feature of Google My Maps is the ability to export your map to a GPS device, which can be helpful when you are on the road.

This allows you to use your custom map offline, without an internet connection and navigate with turn-by-turn directions even in areas with limited cell service.

Overall, Google My Maps is a powerful and versatile tool for planning a road trip. With its custom route and marker features, collaboration options, and offline capabilities, it can help you plan and navigate your road trip more efficiently and enjoyably.

Roadtrippers.com

Roadtrippers.com allows you to plug points into a map, but it’s so much more than that.

Once you’ve added your starting point and your destination, Roadtrippers displays attractions along your route. The more you zoom in, the more attractions you’ll see.

You can add the type of vehicle you’re driving and its estimated fuel efficiency and Roadtrippers will calculate your approximate expenses.

Besides plotting the route itself, there’s a ton of user-generated content offering recommendations for attractions, restaurants, places to stay, and great photo ops.

Previously you could specify whether you wanted to drive interstates or not per segment of your trip. That’s no longer the case, and to choose any routing options you’ll need to upgrade.

However, upgrading enables you to collaborate with other users and increases the number of waypoints from three in the free version to up to 150.

There are three levels of membership, with Premium getting you the most benefits with downloadable maps, live traffic, and special discounts.

At time of publication, Roadtrippers membership ranges from $35.99 to $59.99 per year, and there’s a seven day free trial. If you upgrade, you can save $5 off your first year with code BTR5QTP. Click here to start your free trial .

TripTik by AAA

triptik.aaa.com

AAA’s TripTiks have come a long way since the spiral-bound guides of my youth. Today you can plan your trip online or on your phone.

Plug in your starting and ending points and add up to 25 stops. Specify how often you’d like to stop and it’ll build breaks into your turn-by-turn directions.

You can choose to display gas stations, attractions, campgrounds, hotels, restaurants, AAA savings, and rest areas.

My Scenic Drives

myscenicdrives.com

My Scenic Drives is a completely free trip planner that lets you add as many stops, or waypoints, as you like. After you create an account, you can plan away.

Plan road trips either by adding your own locations or by choosing one of their existing scenic drives. Those are somewhat limited.

At time of publication, only Great River Road and Stagecoach Trail are listed for Illinois, skipping Route 66 , the Ohio River Scenic Byway, the National Road, and Lincoln Highway.

Depending on how many miles your trip will be, My Scenic Drives may split it up into days. You’ll also see an estimated fuel cost, although I’m not sure how accurate that is.

If you’re planning on visiting any National Park Service sites, you can buy an annual pass through My Scenic Drives.

The interface is a little awkward and they don’t have an app, although their site is mobile friendly.

16 Best Apps for Road Trips

From before you go to when you’re on the road, there are tons of tools to help get the most out of your road trip. Because of the fluidity of online tools, I’m only recommending a few that I know are likely to continue.

You can learn more about these apps in our Best Road Trip Apps guide.

Search the Apple or Google Play stores to download them to your device.

Like to hike? Bike? Go for a walk? AllTrails is a great app to help you discover hiking and biking trails based on where you’re located.

You can read reviews, store trails you’d like to explore, and record the hikes you do take. You can choose to make your hikes public, or keep them private.

There’s also a premium version, which allows you to download offline maps.

With Expedia , you can easily search for and compare prices on rental cars, hotels, and activities along your route. Rates are often discounted, and you have the opportunity to earn rewards.

When you sign up for an Expedia Rewards account, which is free, you also get access to member prices.

The app is easy to use and keeps an itinerary with your confirmation numbers.

Until electric cars have battery life that will take you through the country’s most remote stretches, gas is a necessary evil of the road trip.

GasBuddy uses crowd-sourced data to provide real-time information on gas prices at different stations.

With GasBuddy, you can easily find the cheapest gas prices near you, as well as see which gas stations have the best deals on certain days of the week or at certain times of the day.

In addition to displaying fuel prices, you can save more when you sign up for Pay with GasBuddy.

Pay with GasBuddy also gives you access to Deal Alerts, which knock the price down even more.

Check out our complete guide to saving money on gas with GasBuddy .

I almost feel like this goes without saying—but I’ll say it anyway (obviously): if you have just one road trip app, make it Google maps.

Not only can you get directions and the best routes, but because it’s Google you can find anything around you, too.

One of the route options you can choose is which is most fuel-efficient, and you can even select the type of fuel: Gas, Diesel, Electric, and Hybrid.

Another great feature of Google Maps is the ability to download maps for offline use.

This is helpful if you’re planning a road trip to a rural area or somewhere with limited cell service.

By downloading the maps in advance, you can still access them and navigate even if you don’t have an internet connection.

Google Maps can also be used as a trip planning tool, and there’s more on that in the Online Trip Planners section.

HotelTonight

If you’re looking for a last minute hotel room, HotelTonight wants to help. Primarily in larger towns and cities, the website and app can help you find same-day and next-day hotel stays at discounted rates.

The app will find accommodations near you, and you can also search for hotels by location. You can filter your search by price, star rating, and neighborhood.

Taking the interstates? iExit shows you what’s available at each exit, including dining, shopping, restrooms, and attractions. It also pulls up gas stations and gas prices.

The app uses real-time data to provide information on the services and amenities available at upcoming exits on the highway, making it an ideal tool for planning rest stops, gas fill-ups and meals.

You’ll see a list of services such as restaurants, hotels, gas stations, and rest areas along with their distance from the exit. You can filter your search results by categories such as fast food, lodging, and gas stations.

NPS (National Park Service) App

Not only does the official mobile app of the National Park Service show you where to find National Parks, it helps you discover every site in their system. It’s free to use and you can explore by topic, by activity, by state, or near your location.

The app provides information on park hours, fees, and regulations, as well as maps, trail guides, and other resources to help you make the most of your visit.

The commercials ain’t lyin’— Priceline Express Deals are amazing. What’s the catch? You have no idea where you’ll end up. You can see a general area and a star level, but that’s it.

While they no longer give you the option to Name Your Own Price, in addition to Express Deals, they also have pricebreakers. They pick from one of three different hotels.

While you won’t know which one you’re getting until you pay for it, you’ll be able to see in advance what your options are.

Like Expedia, you can search for hotels by location, price, and amenities. You can also search by brand and star level, making it easy to find a hotel that fits your budget and preferences.

Priceline VIP is a rewards program that provides discounts, add-on deals, and Express Deal coupons after your trip is complete.

The app will show you deals on hotels near your location. You can also book rental cars, flights, and cruises.

Knowing what’s happening weather-wise is kind of important when you’re on a road trip. My favorite way to see whether I’ll stay dry or will need to break out the slicker is Rainy Days.

This free radar app has helped my anxiety level on several occasions, especially while driving in North Central Nebraska. It was good to know we were driving the opposite direction of an intense storm.

Recreation.gov

Recreation.gov is the official website and app for making reservations for recreational activities and facilities managed by the U.S. federal government.

You can find campgrounds and lodging, tours and activities, sign up for lotteries for the most popular things to do, and find information on what permits are required near you.

Once you do make reservations, they’re stored in the app.

This is the site and app to use when you plan to visit parks that require vehicle registration, like Glacier National Park, or want a permit to hike Angels Landing in Zion National Park .

You can reserve campsites on the website and app. We did, while sitting at the entrance to a campground in Mississippi. We didn’t realize the park was a NPS site when we drove up, and the kindly gent in the booth directed us to make our reservations through the app.

There’s also a trip planner. Plug in your dates, number of people, your starting location, and your potential destinations.

You can then see all the available options on a map, add them to your road trip itinerary, and then make any necessary reservations.

ReserveAmerica

If you’re planning to camp on your road trip, you’ll want this app. ReserveAmerica enables you to make reservations for campsites all over the country.

Some state park systems use the site, and you can find KOA campgrounds.

Apex Club is ReserveAmerica’s membership. Members get a rebate for a free night of camping (up to $25) at eligible state and regional parks. There are also discounts on gear, accessories, apparel, and activities.

Restaurant.com

Eating where the locals eat is a great way to get a real “taste” for a town. If you want to save some dough on your dining, sign up for restaurant.com .

This app provides discounted certificates, and I’ve found participating restaurants in towns with fewer than 10,000 residents.

You’ll have to spend a minimum amount to use your certificate, and it’s usually double the face value. For example, if you get a $10 certificate for $4, you’ll have to spend at least $20 and you’ll save $6.

You can search for restaurants by your current location and by zip code. You can also choose larger cities, including Chicago, Seattle, and Austin.

Once you’ve narrowed down the location, look at the menu and the ratings. I’ve found several real gems using this app, and they’ve been places I never would have known about or tried without it.

If you’re going to be in any urban areas on your road trip, you’ll definitely want this app.

SpotHero has probably saved me thousands over the years. I’ve been using it since it launched over a decade ago (and the founder used to write articles on Chicago parking for me!).

I found a spot three blocks from the Los Angeles Convention Center on the day of the Grammys and paid $10 for seven hours. The day of the Grammys, y’all!

Driving highways or in urban areas? TollGuru provides detailed information, including pricing, methods of payment, and which transponders (E-ZPass, SunPass, FasTrak, TxTag, etc.) are accepted at tolls.

It will also give you an estimated fuel cost if you include the type of vehicle you drive and the average gas prices.

While Google Maps now provides toll price information, TollGuru gives you more detail.

Upside is a free app that gives you cash back on gas, groceries, and restaurants. Brands include most of the big fuel chains (Shell, Marathon, Valero, BP, etc.).

Upside works similarly to Pay with GasBuddy in that you get cents off per gallon, but you get it in the form of cash back.

For example, at the Casey’s near me I can get eight cents per gallon cash back. To get the discount, I claim the offer, pay with a credit card, and then check in or take a photo of my receipt to upload it.

Once the cash back processes, which is usually within a couple days, I can transfer it to my bank account or use it to buy gift cards for places like Domino’s, H&M, and Starbucks.

Upside also offers cash back at restaurants and grocery stores. The offers vary, and when you first sign up there’s an increased discount.

The app saves you a few cents here and there, but they add up, especially when you’re on long road trips.

Download Waze for an alternative to Google Maps. Beyond turn-by-turn navigation, one of the key features of Waze is its crowd-sourced traffic information, which allows users to report accidents, road closures, and other incidents in real-time.

This helps you stay updated on the latest traffic conditions and avoid any delays on your route.

You can set your type of vehicle for preferred routes, including Motorcycle, Electric, and Taxi. You can also add your Toll and HOV passes, and you can tell it to skip unpaved roads.

I can think of a few trips I’ve taken where that option would have come in handy.

In addition to its routing and traffic features, Waze also offers a number of other useful tools for road trips.

For example, the app allows you to find the cheapest gas prices along your route, restaurants, and parking at your destination. If you connect your calendar, the app will tell you when it’s time to leave.

4 Real World Trip Planning Tools

While online discovery tools are wonderful, don’t forget to check out these real-world tools, too.

Travel Shows

Travel Shows are a fun and interactive way to find new destinations. While many people attend hoping to connect with someplace exotic (a.k.a. a place requiring several hours in a plane), travel shows are a wonderful way to find someplace a little closer to home.

I’ve exhibited and spoken at the Travel & Adventure Show for years. At each show, I’ve found new road trip destinations.

Places I’ve visited as a direct result of these shows include Cottonwood, Arizona; Ridgeland, Mississippi; Bishop, California, and Traverse City, Michigan.

The people working the booths at travel shows are, generally speaking, from that destination. They know more than anyone about their home and it’s their job to entice you to visit.

Libraries & Bookstores

Libraries and bookstores are fantastic resources for helping you plan your destinations. It’s fun to browse the stacks to see all the possibilities.

When it’s time to narrow down your choice to specific destinations, you might be able to find a guidebook.

If a book you want isn’t available at your local library, it could be available through a reciprocal lending program, and booksellers are usually happy to special order books they don’t stock.

It’s also fun to read travelogs and travel memoirs for ideas and inspiration.

As an author , one of my biggest thrills is when someone tells me my books provided inspiration for their trips, especially when they go somewhere they never would have considered or had never heard of before.

One of my road trip rules is to always visit AAA before heading out when I’m planning on visiting a new state.

Why? One word: Maps.

Even though GPS is great, sometimes, like in the canyons of Utah or the middle of the Mojave Desert, it doesn’t work. That’s why we always have paper maps.

AAA’s app is also a good resource on the road, if you do have a connection, for finding attractions and restaurants. PLUS, don’t forget their roadside assistance.

If you’re of a certain age (cough cough) you probably remember those spiral-bound TripTiks. When I was growing up, mom and dad would pick up their custom‐made travel guides from our local AAA.

Guess what: the association still offers these route‐planners, only now they’re online.

One of the coolest features is the ability to specify how many hours you want to drive before taking a break and it will suggest locations to stop.

It also shows places that offer discounts to AAA members, including hotels and restaurants. It’s a handy overall tool for any road trip planning.

Local Visitors Bureaus

My favorite part of travel is the people. On our road trip to the Oregon coast and back, not a whole lot was planned. We relied on the kindness of locals to point us in the right direction, and we were richly rewarded.

People who live where you’re going are always your greatest resource.

While you could drive by the seat of your pants, like we did, there’s an easier way:

Visitors Bureaus .

These gems are my (not so) secret weapon.

When you’re planning your trip, make sure you contact these founts of regional knowledge.

In the “biz” we know them as CVBs—Convention and Visitors Bureaus—and DMOs—Destination Management Organizations. These are the Mother Lode of local info.

Once you’re at your destination, ask the people you meet—the gas station attendant, the cashier at the grocery store, the concierge at your hotel, the host of your B&B—where they go to lunch.

Where do they take friends and family when they come to visit? I’ve never been steered in the wrong direction, and have found some real gems just by asking the locals.

I hope you’ve found these road trip planning tools useful. If you want the ultimate guide to how to plan a road trip, get Planning Your Perfect Road Trip, a Step-by-Step Guide to Hittin’ the Road .

The road trip planner for multi-day adventures

Plan better road trips in minutes. Build an itinerary for the perfect adventure. 5000+ trips created!

Plan anywhere in the world

• Global directions, works in every country
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• Calculate in miles or kilometres
• Update plans wherever you are
• Never run out of time again on a trip

Wish all your road trips were in one place? Now they can be.

• Copy famous road trips to your account
• Add any Google Maps location to your trip
• Click to create new map locations
• Add up to 200 stops per trip
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2. Optimise

Never run out of time and never miss a stop.

• Organise your stops into days
• Calculate driving distances
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Best trip ever? Share your experience!

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Rated 4.9 /5 based on 41 reviews

Mark Roberts

Fantastic website to both preplan and update your trip as you go. Easy to add stops, change the order, add brief notes of what you've seen and even a photo. Also great to share with others so that they can see your progress as you go, even if they don't have an account. If you ever have any issues...

Cathie Jasper

I have found Wilder Trips invaluable in planning 2 road trips with our motorhome, one to Belguim/ Holland and one to Northern Spain. I like the interface and ease of use, planning a trip and seeing distances etc is so easy and the visual map is such a boon. The pin drop is also helpful for indicatin...

David Griffith

I use to plan all my Motorhome and Motorcycle trips, producing an itinerary for both. It's great that Wilder Trips will do it for me, the support has been there when I have reached out. I am looking forward to using the software as it develops.

Robyn Townsend (She Her)

I used Wilder Trips Road Trip Planner to organise our dream campervan holiday in New Zealand, and it was an absolute game-changer. The interface is user-friendly and highly intuitive, allowing us to customise our route, choose stop offs, and plan our daily activities effortlessly. I really love the...

John vanDieken

This is different. The ability to thoroughly plan and add notes into a trip make it extremely handy for any travel. User friendly, quick and easy to start and edit any trip plan. This has huge potential for commercial and business use as well as simple holiday planning. I’m loving it and looking for...

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Hit the Road with Ease: 10 Helpful Road Trip Planning Apps

Posted: August 6, 2023 | Last updated: August 6, 2023

Road trips are “in” this year. Whether you need a travel packing list, the cheapest gas price, or a toilet finder, there’s “an app for that!” Using a road trip planner app is a convenient way to store all your essential travel plans all in one place. Below we’ll explore ten useful apps that can help you stay organized, budget, and find your way around.

1. Roadtrippers (Route Planning)

Roadtrippers is a robust road trip planner app with many useful features. Not only can you plan out your entire trip, but you can also use the app to navigate. The app allows you to mark your planned stops easily and suggests things for you to do along the way. You can estimate how much you’ll spend on gas, book hotels and tours, and get traffic updates. Roadtrippers Plus has even more features, allowing you to create itineraries and download pre-made trip guides.

2. PackPoint (Packing List)

A road trip packing list can help you keep track of your belongings before, during, and after travel. It’s the best way to ensure you haven’t forgotten anything essential. But rather than keep track of a paper checklist, why not use an app? PackPoint is a travel packing list app that allows you to create custom packing lists for free. You can categorize your list and even see what the weather is like at your destination. The premium version also allows you to link to your TripIt itinerary! 

3. TripIt (Itineraries)

TripIt is a mobile itinerary app that allows you to compile your road trip or travel plans all in one place. You can send your travel confirmation emails to the app, add things like photos and PDFs, email your itinerary to someone else, and even sync your trip to your calendar. TripIt Pro has additional features such as trip reminders, a rewards program tracker, “go now” reminders, and a host of flight-related tools. If you love itineraries, you’ll love this road trip planner app!

4. Waze (Traffic & Directions)

Waze is a GPS navigation and live traffic app that helps you get where you need to go. Not only does it help you get to your destination, but it allows users to input information such as road hazards, construction sites, and police sightings.

Another popular feature of the app is its rerouting tool. When the app notices traffic back up ahead, it will notify you of the situation and offer alternative routes. Waze has also added features such as a speedometer, a gas finder, a parking garage/lot finder, and it will even sync with your music and podcast apps.

5. Google Maps (Destination Finder)

Suppose you’re directionally changed, like me. Using Google Maps to get around a new city is a game changer. The app isn’t just for driving navigation and can be used when getting around on foot or by bike. And if your location history has been enabled, the app will even give you destination recommendations based on places you’ve previously visited. In addition, Google Maps will let you share your location and download maps offline if you know you’ll have spotty service.

6. GasBuddy (Best Gas Prices)

GasBuddy is a fuel savings app that uses your location to help you locate cheap gas. You can also sign up for a free Pay with GasBuddy card to save even more at the pump. Here’s how it works.

Once you receive the card in the mail, you will connect it to your bank account. Next, you’ll use the app to unlock deals. Then, when you are ready to fill up, you use your GasBuddy card instead of your debit card. When you do this, you’ll receive up to 25 cents off per gallon, and if you upgrade to their premium account, you can get up to 40 cents off per gallon. The GasBuddy card works at 95% of gas stations in the U.S.

Additionally, if you want to save even more on gas, you can participate in their Shop Your Way program. Use the app to shop for their retailers, and they will apply more gas discounts to your card.

7. Flush (Toilet Finder)

The Flush restroom finder app is genius! All you have to do is open the app, and it will display public restroom options near you. The app also tells you if the bathroom is handicap accessible, if there is a fee, and even lets you know if a key is required. And this app isn’t just for those in the U.S.; it helps you find toilets worldwide!

8. Trabee Pocket (Budget Tracker)

The Trabee Pocket app was designed specifically for tracking your spending while traveling. The app allows you to enter pre-trip costs, add on-the-go costs, categorize your purchases, and show you how much you’ve spent via a pie graph. And if you don’t want to hold on to your paper receipt, you can take photos and upload them to the app.

When your road trip is over, you can export your expense detail to a PDF or even a CSV file that you can open in Microsoft Excel. This simple-to-use expense tracker is great for budget-conscious road-trippers looking to watch their spending!

9. HotelTonight (Last-Minute Stays)

If you’re looking for last-minute hotel deals, HotelTonight is your app. Perfect for road trips, this app is ideal for those who decide, unplanned, that they want to stay the night in town before moving on to their next destination. So how does it work?

HotelTonight partners with hotels to help them fill up their unreserved rooms. In return, they can offer deep discounts to get those rooms filled. And although the app advertises last-minute accommodations, you can also book stays up to 100 days in advance. Be careful, though! Because these are great deals, you likely won’t get a refund for a cancellation or the ability to request a different type of room.

10. Guide Along (Audio Tours)

Guide Along , formerly known as GyPsy Guide, is a GPS-narrated audio tour app that will give you information about your current location. While driving or walking, the app will suggest local tips and tell you about all the things there are to do and see around you. It’s a personal tour guide at your fingertips! The app lets you download and play tours offline if you know you’ll have bad cell service in an area.

Final Thoughts

There are tons of road trip planner apps, so be sure to research and find the apps that best fit your needs. It’s always a good idea to test out your apps before your trip so you’re not fumbling around while driving. Enjoy your vacation, and be safe out there!

This article originally appeared on Wander With Alex . Photo Credit: [@scanrail/DepositPhotos]

More Articles From Wander With Alex

• How to Spot Vacation Rental Scams and How to Avoid Them
• Vacation Vibes: 13 Travel Tips for a Relaxing and Stress-Free Trip

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A retired Microsoft exec and his wife fell in love with RVing during the pandemic. Now he's using AI to help you plan your next road trip.

• Scott Lengel, a former Microsoft CTO, launched an AI-powered RV road trip planner, AdventureGenie.
• He said when he got into RVing during the pandemic, he couldn't find a great planning tool.
•  AdventureGenie recommends custom routes, campsites, and activities based on user preferences.

Scott Lengel and his wife, Lisa, were Marriott people.

After spending 23 years as a CTO at Microsoft , Lengel retired in 2017, at which point he and his wife knew they wanted to travel the world. They visited places like Cambodia, Vietnam, and India, typically traveling by plane and staying in hotels — often Marriotts.

Then the pandemic hit.

Suddenly, they were stuck at home in South Carolina. That's when the couple realized, "We really haven't seen the good old US of A."

Up until that point, they'd never even been camping .

"We figured if ever there was a time to go RVing, to go camping, this would be it," Lengel told Business Insider.

So they rented an RV and set off for Nashville with a couple of good friends. "We just had a blast," Lengel said. "Hanging around the campsite and the campfire and eating and beverages, and just the camaraderie. We just fell in love with the lifestyle of camping in one week."

Within six months, they purchased an RV of their own and started taking it all over. But when the couple tried to plan a six-week, multi-stop road trip to the national parks of the Southwest, they realized it was actually pretty challenging and that the existing resources were not great.

"There has to be a better way," they thought.

A couple of years later, in May 2023, Lengel launched AdventureGenie — an AI-powered RV trip planner. Lengel, who serves as chairman and CEO, said that in less than a year, AdventureGenie has attracted more than 10,000 users, and not just RVers, but also people traveling in cars on all kinds of road trips.

AI can customize trip planning

AdventureGenie is one of many AI-powered trip-planning tools that have popped up over the past couple of years. It's been featured on lists of the best RV- and road-trip planning AI tools.

Related stories

AdventureGenie is set up to help people plan their trips in three phases, which Lengel said was based on talking to thousands of people about how they plan their trips.

First, you can shape your trip. You can tell AdventureGenie things like where you want to start, where you want to end, how many miles you want to drive in a day, and any places you know you want to stop along the way. AdventureGenie will create a custom route based on your preferences and what the program knows about you, either from what you've told it or from past trips you've planned.

Second, you can select your campsites. AdventureGenie uses AI to compile information about campsites and make recommendations based on your preferences. In addition to generating an overall score on a campsite, AdventureGenie also generates a score that is unique to you, indicating how likely a specific campground is to meet your personal needs.

Third, is finding things to do. For instance, if it knows you like eating at local restaurants, hiking, and biking, as Lengel and his wife do, it can point out those attractions.

The biggest thing AI brings to AdventureGenie's trip planning is the customization, Lengel said. Instead of looking up a generic road trip planner that is the first hit served to everyone on Google, AdventureGenie can create itineraries that are unique to you.

"It feels as if you have a copilot or a travel planner sitting by your side and knows what you're looking for and customizes it for you," Lengel said.

He said that when RVers first use AdventureGenie the "jaw-dropping" moment for them is when it fills in the blanks on a trip with stops along the way.

In the past, if you wanted to road trip from South Carolina to Yellowstone, you'd have to look at a map and try to plot out stops based on how many miles a day you want to drive. But you'd also have to manually figure out whether those stops have campsites that suit your needs, or if they have any other attractions that make them worth passing through, or how far off the highway they are.

Lengel said new AdventureGenie users often say it saves them so much time planning their trip just by filling in their route.

"That's pretty darn rewarding for us," he said.

From Microsoft to tech startup

Lengel, who came out of retirement to launch AdventureGenie, said working on this startup has been a major change of pace from his days at Microsoft, which he also loved.

"We're a startup at our core, and it's a lot different than when I was working for an organization that had 150,000 employees and an incredible budget," he said. "We all wear lots of hats, which has been exciting, thrilling, and even challenging from time to time."

These days, he and his wife are on the road three out of four weeks a month, though now it's usually for work, visiting trade shows and meeting with RV user groups.

However, they do still make a point to do some fun things, too.

When Lengel spoke to BI, he was sitting in his RV in the Florida Keys, with a view of the ocean right out his window .

Watch: Marriott International's Tina Edmundson tells Insider that the travel mindset has changed since the pandemic

• Main content

Copy My Trip: a culture and food tour of Jaipur

Apr 30, 2024 • 6 min read

Explore the history, cultures and flavors of Jaipur and landmarks like Amber Fort (pictured) with this guide © Akanksha Singh

Lonely Planet editor Akanksha Singh traveled to Jaipur to experience its history and culture. Here, she shares some tips and insights for anyone planning a similar trip.

Road trips to Jaipur were a key part of my childhood in India . Before we left India, my parents would drive my sister and I over from Delhi on long weekends. We’d spent our time visiting local sights, stopping at streetside kathputli (puppet) shows, eating local food, and listening to ek tara , single-stringed instruments, played with a bow. 

Some 20 years later, the familiar sight of the red-, pink- and honey-hued forts never fails to amaze me. People say India’s Golden Triangle – Jaipur-Delhi-Agra – is a sensory overload. And it definitely is for people who haven’t traveled through pockets of Asia. Dubbed the “Pink City” after its pink paint-slicked walls that are lined with shops, this trip to Jaipur took me deeper into the historic town's chaotic bylanes and beyond the city’s outskirts.

Agra vs Jaipur: which Indian city is best?

Where did you stay? What was the vibe?

I stayed at Teela the Glamping Resort in Achrol, a village an hour outside Jaipur. I’ve never “glamped” before (I studied geology at university; camping’s more my thing) but I enjoyed the novelty of the experience. It’s really no different from staying in a swish five-star hotel but in a “Moon Dome” – a geodesic tent – with stellar views of the desert, complete with raw dunes, tiny bulbuls and larks twittering away outside your door. 

There’s a single restaurant, Rait, on the premises (food was good; I’d recommend the Indian menu over the continental spread) and Teela does offer hotplates and a mini kitchenette setup for long-term guests. However, I did make the mistake of thinking breakfast would be most enjoyable al fresco (it was – for all of two minutes) until I realized that gritty stuff caught in my teeth was indeed sand in my aloo paratha (potato-filled flatbread).     

What was the most touristy thing you did? 

I did so much touristy sightseeing on this trip and, since it’d been a while since I’d seen the highlights, I regret none of it! I toured Amber Fort , with its extravagant chambers and geometrically charged gardens, took photos of the iconic red-and-pink-latticed Hawa Mahal and visited the City Palace , which is still home to Jaipur’s royal family.

Built in the 18th century, the City Palace’s four gates – in an inner courtyard named Pritam Niwas Chowk (“beloved’s courtyard”) – are an artistic obsession of mine. Each “gate” is an extravagantly designed door, themed against a season and dedicated to a Hindu deity. If I’m being honest here, the most touristy thing I did was take an Instagram-esque video of a journal with the Lehariya Gate or Green Gate (which represents spring) on its cover with the gate in the background. The gate is spectacular: glossy forest green tiles frame an ornate, heavy golden door in a cinquefoil arch. 

For those less obsessed with gloriously designed doors, the City Palace has much more to offer, including a museum and a splendid blue room (Chhavi Niwas), and parts of the royal wing are open to the public too. Plus, it’s right by Jantar Mantar  – an 18th century observatory that’s a UNESCO site built by Jai Singh II, a king fascinated by astronomy. (Bonus tip: buy a composite ticket to skip queues and hit up all of Jaipur’s attractions.)

Looking for souvenirs from your trip? Explore our guide to  Jaipur in 5 Shops

What was the best thing you ate?

Jaipur has an impossibly good selection of food, and I’m one of those people who plans their days around meals, especially when I’m traveling. If I had to choose, my favorite meal would be the Rajasthani thali (plate meal) at Kuchali Mud House , a quaint, family-run establishment in Chak Charanwas, a village roughly an hour outside Jaipur city.

Most Rajasthani thali meals boast a combination of dhal, baati , churma – baati is a crusted unleavened bread that’s softened with melted ghee (ideal for the once nomadic desert folk) and churma is crushed, sweetened baati , dressed with nuts and dry fruit. However, the fragrant gulab (rose) churma  – cerise and topped with slivered almonds – was new to me and delicious. 

There’s a common belief in these parts that food cooked on a chulha (wood-burning stove), with freshly milled flours and freshly milked dairy is superior to their contemporary counterparts, and I have to agree. I have a reasonable spice tolerance, but those who aren’t as keen on heat are requested to call ahead to communicate this along with any other dietary restrictions. For a good Rajasthani laal maas (literally “red meat”), a decadent goat meat curry (with adjustable spice levels), try rait . 

What was the most under-the-radar activity you enjoyed?

I rode ATVs and went paintballing at Motosport Park (both are a combined ₹1700), but visiting a pottery community in Chak Charanwas (organized by the Kuchali Mud House) was the highlight of my trip. Jaipur is famous for its pottery with a cobalt blue glaze, which is Turko-Persian in origin. However, I got to throw tiny forms on a potter’s wheel with locally-sourced clay. I’m a hobby ceramist, so learning from experienced potters was an absolute boon. 

Pottery is still largely a caste-based profession in India (which means it’s not usually a profession people get to choose, but are born and forced into). So, it was refreshing to see a thriving enterprise run by people who now also supply their terracotta pottery to big hotel groups in addition to selling it to visitors. They make everything from vases and diyas (lamps) to screw-top water bottles and sculptures. 

What was the handiest thing you packed?

Layers and linens. I traveled in early March, when days are sweltering but evenings – particularly if you’re set up outside the city in the desert like I was – can get a little nippy. One thing I noticed about the rooms at Teela were that they had both ACs and radiators to bridge the change in seasons. Overall, light layers to wear over linen clothes and sun protection are essential. 

It’s also hugely important to stay hydrated in the sun; I packed a reusable water bottle to cut down on my plastic waste. Most resorts and restaurants will refill your water bottle with filtered water on request (add chlorine pills if you need to be extra careful). 

Also, the midday sun often results in phones overheating, so it’s probably worthwhile investing in a phone cooler, particularly if you plan on taking a ton of photos and videos. 

Best tip for someone who wants to plan the same trip?

Many tourist spots in Jaipur frequently close for filming and there’s no way of finding out whether a certain attraction is closed for a shoot until you’re on the premises (calling ahead doesn’t always work). Leave plenty of time for sightseeing with the aim of revisiting popular sights if they’re closed.

Also, while there are a few cafes dotted around the city, chai is the caffeinated beverage of choice in these parts. So, if you’re anything like me, you’ll want to pack a cafetiere.

Akanksha traveled to Jaipur with the support of Teela . Lonely Planet staff do not accept freebies in exchange for positive coverage.

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