Even if you only have one day, you can plan a great trip. While you may want to spend a few days away, when you only have one day there are some tricks you can use to make the most of it.
A one day road trip should be about 120-300 miles from your starting point and should take you to a new place. A one day road trip should include multiple stops, restaurants, attractions and a destination that are exciting to explore.
Where can I go in one day?
Plan to drive between 100 and 200 miles each way on a one day road trip. This will get you far enough away from home to find new places. You could plan to drive further if there are multiple destinations on your itinerary or if you are planning a different return route.
There are three steps, I always take when planning a road trip, no matter the length:
Choose a destination:
I recommend that everyone start at withinhours.com, it is a great resource that will help you find a great destination for your one day adventure.
When you go there you will see this:
Within Hours will give you a list organized by the furthest destinations from your starting point. Here I started in Richmond, Virginia.
It shows the destinations on a map as well. This is a great tool for trip planning and I find myself recommending it really often.
Choose a second stop:
Once you have chosen your destination, I recommend you head over to Google Maps and look at the route. See if there are any cities around your route that you would like to visit.
You can choose a second location for a meal.
Stop about an hour from home for breakfast or about an hour from your destination for dinner. This is a great way to throw in another destination on your short trip.
We loved Raisin’ Cane’s on our recent trip in KY. When we were leaving out destination I looked for local fast food. This was one of the highlights of our trip and a great way to sample a regional favorite without losing too much travel time!
FIll in a timeline:
Once you have your locations selected, note all hours of operations for things you will be visiting.
Map the whole route on Google Maps and reverse engineer your departure times for each location.
The best thing about road trips is there are very few hard deadlines. If you want to change up your timeline, feel free.
A Few Examples
I followed my own advice and threw together a few itineraries. There is a blank one here if you want to do the same!
A one day trip from Richmond VA:
| Leg 1 | Leave 6:30a | Coffee at Roastology | Arrive in Chapel Hill, NC 10 am |
| Leg 2 | UNC Basketball Museum | Top of the HIll Restaurant and Brewery 1pm | Arrive in Rocky Mount, NC 3:30p |
| Leg 3 | Tar River Flea Market | Sky View Skateland & Deb’s Funnel Cakes | Arrive Home: 10pm |
A one day trip from St. Louis
| Leg 1 | Leave 7 am | Breakfast at Rooster | Arrive in Marion, IL 9 am |
| Leg 2 | Wildlife Refuge and Historic Library and Museum | Lunch at The Frosty Mug | Arrive in Mt. Vernon, IL: 1 pm |
| Leg 3 | Cedarhurst Center for the Arts | Dinner at Freddy’s or Culver’s | Arrive Home: 6 pm |
These are two examples of how you could organize your one day road trip.
These trips both feature two cities to visit. You can see that you can get plenty done in one day, and choosing two destinations makes the trip more of an adventure.
When planning your trip, I encourage you to use a similar format and include 3 legs!
What time should I leave?
You should leave in time to arrive at your destination by 10am. This is a great time to arrive in a city, almost everything will be open, and you will have time to see things before lunch.
If you would like to spend a leisurely morning in your own city, plan to drive less than 90 minutes from home. This will allow you to arrive at your destination around noon with plenty of time to explore.
Is a one day road trip worth it?
It may seem like a bummer to only have one day for a road trip, but a short trip can have a big effect on stress, sleep and family relationships.
I dug deep on the vacation research and found that you can plan a very stress reducing trip by following the science. Even if children are very young, traveling has a great impact on their brain development. You can read more about the amazing ways travel impacts kid’s brains in this post.
If you need the inside information on how to plan a stress free trip, read this post about how to make the most of your time off.
Tips and Tricks
When you only have one day, you need to use every trick in the book to make the day perfect.
Choose a Sunday
When I looked into the best day to leave for safety and traffic on the road, I found some really interesting information that could save you hours in traffic. The best day to leave on a trip is a Sunday, but you can read here more about why and other tips to save yourself travel time.
Plan for Tolls
When you plug in your route in Google Maps, you will be alerted if there are tolls along your route. There are many many different systems used on toll roads.
If you will encounter tolls, it may be challenging to know if you will need change, a transponder or an app.
There are lots of tips and tricks in this post that will answer any questions you have about toll roads. You should also consider just avoiding them on such a short trip.
Take a minute and look over the chart here where you can see what you should do if you miss a toll in any state. Most have an online system you can pay without penalty shortly after you miss a toll.
Pack a Paper Map
When you are exploring a paper map is a great tool.
If you are taking a spontaneous road trip a paper map is your best tool. It will give you that bird’s eye view to help you make decisions about where the trip can take you.
It will also allow you to be more flexible if there are road closures, traffic jams or a sudden bathroom emergency.
There are lots of benefits of carrying a paper map,and I recommend this one which is really affordable on Amazon. I have a few more tips about using a paper map, here.
Be Sure to Document the Trip
Take pictures, buy souvenirs or use one of my super creative ideas for documenting a trip.
Create something to help you remember your adventure. Trips like this are so good for your soul and your family culture. Display a photo, write in a journal, hang up the magnet or sit and talk about how great your one day road trip was.
Start Planning the Next One
When you are driving home, start talking about what you want to do next time. Get something on the calendar and start budgeting for that next getaway.
Travel is super important for families, I have a free tool for you to plan out a year of vacation budgeting. You can print the tool here.
Start adding frequent trips into your family’s culture. Day trips, three day weekends and week long trips all have their place, but I recommend you plan them early to get maximum benefit.
Science tells us at least a month in advance for optimum stress reduction!
