Enter your trip details to find out drive time, gas cost, rest stops, playlists needed, and your snack budget.
This calculator estimates the total cost of a road trip based on distance, fuel efficiency, gas price, and additional expenses like tolls, food, and lodging. It breaks the trip into driving segments, estimates the number of fuel stops needed based on your tank size, and projects daily budgets for multi-day trips. The fuel cost calculation uses the same formula as the Fuel Cost Calculator: distance divided by MPG, multiplied by price per gallon.
The Tire Size Calculator compares tire sizes and shows how diameter changes affect your speedometer.
Enter the total trip distance (one way or round trip), your vehicle's MPG, current gas price, and optional budget items for food, lodging, activities, and tolls. The calculator generates a total trip budget broken down by category. For multi-day trips, enter the number of travel days to see daily spending estimates. The per-person cost divider shows how splitting expenses among travelers reduces individual cost.
A comprehensive road trip budget covers five categories: fuel (use distance/MPG x price per gallon), food ($30 to $75 per person per day depending on restaurant vs. grocery), lodging ($80 to $200 per night for hotels, $0 for camping, $30 to $50 for hostels), activities and attractions ($20 to $50 per person per day), and incidentals (tolls, parking, emergency fund of $200 to $500). For a 2,000-mile road trip with a vehicle getting 30 MPG at $3.50/gallon, fuel alone costs approximately $233. A 7-day trip for two people might total $2,000 to $4,000 depending on lodging choices. Planning meals (packing a cooler, choosing restaurants strategically) is the variable with the most savings potential. National park passes ($80 annual) pay for themselves after visiting three parks.