When you are hoping to drive to see a big attraction or an amazing friend or family it is tempting to just push through the driving and get there fast, but how long is too long.
When planning your road trip, plan to spend no more than 6 hours driving in a day, this is about 500 miles. If you are hoping to cover more miles, consider breaking it up over 2 days, or split the driving between multiple drivers. As soon as you get tired, pull over and sleep.
The danger in attempting to drive for more than 6 hours a day is that you will get tired. Drowsy driving is responsible for hundreds of deaths each year.
I read a really interesting report by the CDC that showed that most of these crashes happened between the hours of midnight and 6am, on back roads and involved single drivers with no evidence of breaking.
I share that because no one wants to find themselves in that situation.
If you are tired, pull over.
With multiple drivers or multiple days, you may want to limit your road trip to 8 days.
Lots of research has shown that 8 days is the golden number for vacation length. We have also found this to be true for us. After 8 days we are ready to be home.
The key to enjoying longer periods of travel is to take it slow.
The 222 rule, has long been used by RVers to plan a restful trip.
Drive 200 miles a day
Stop every 2 hours
Stay at least 2 nights in each location.
When planning an epic, multi stop road trip, I highly recommend that you use the 222 rule. It sets a very restful pace and keeps you feeling chill, not stressed and jet lagged.
How long is too long to drive?
I recommend that you plan your trip using Google Maps. I have details on how to post with printables in this post. It will walk you through my whole trip planning process.
When you are breaking up the trip, do not try to drive more than 8 hours in a day, no matter how you break it up. It is not worth
It is not just boring, it is dangerous.
Unless you are a professional driver, it is just very unlikely that you will be able to stay alert when driving for that long. If you are doing lots of boring highway miles you are susceptible to highway hypnosis.
Highway hypnosis is when you drive almost unconsciously. If you have ever driven and suddenly realized that you cannot remember the last few miles, then you have experienced highway hypnosis.
While highway hypnosis is very scary, the more dangerous thing here is drowsy driving.
If you begin feeling tired, you need to stop.
I like this very interesting video by the Try Guys who try drowsy driving. It really illustrates how important it is to stop if you are tired.
How long should my road trip be?
As a general rule, road trips should last 8 days and cover between 600 and 1200 miles. Trips lasting 8 days with 2-4 driving days will likely result in the least stressful, and
Most restful vacation. RVers should plan to cover fewer miles.
I came up with these numbers by considering two things. The research on vacation length and my interviews with hundreds of experienced road trippers.
First, the length of the vacation.
Vacation experts point to the eight day rule. This is considered by many to be the ideal length of vacation.
This comes from a study that showed that many people had a peak in happiness on day 8 of their vacation.
Several studies have since come to the same conclusion, they say that most travelers have a decline in happiness and enjoyment after the 8th day.
When planning your trip, be sure to schedule plenty of time to just rest and sleep. These activities tend to extend the benefit of your trip further into your everyday life than faster paced vacations.
Now the number of miles comes from interviews I have conducted with hundreds of experienced road trippers on social media.
RVers use the 222 rule, travel no more than 200 miles a day, stop every 2 hours and stay for 2 nights.
This is kinda an insider rule, but it is well known in the RV community.
If you are traveling in a normal passenger vehicle you can stretch the daily miles to 300 miles a day.
On a trip, you don’t want to spend everyday driving. Over the course of 8 days, I would plan to have no more than 4 driving days. That is a max of 1200 miles.
Can you drive 1000 miles in a day?
As a general rule, the most miles you should plan for a day is 500. When your trip requires you to cover more miles, you need more drivers or more days. Two drivers can cover 1000 miles in one day or one driver can cover 500 miles in two days. 500 miles will take roughly 6 hours to cover.
Plan to stop about every 2-3 hours to stretch your legs, have a snack and see the country.
If you are used to pushing through and not stopping, this might be a hard change for you to make. It is worth it to take the time to plan the stops.
Use apps like Roadtrippers and Google Maps to find interesting places to stop along your route. I have a step by step tutorial for planning your road trip stops in this post. I prefer Google Maps and paper record keeping when I plan my trips. There is a good printable worksheet here for the other paper planner lovers.
Use my Roadtrippers link to get $5 off when you sign up and use the code: BTR5QTP
How many hours a day should you drive?
When dividing up a long road trip, you should plan to stop at least every 3 hours. This is best practice by all the seasoned roadtrippers that I have interviewed.
As a general rule, plan to cover no more than 300 miles in a day. This will usually take about 6 hours. This takes stops into account, plan to stop every 3 hours to stretch your legs, have a meal or explore a local attraction. If you hope to cover more miles, consider splitting up the driving responsibilities with another driver.
The biggest limitation when planning how many miles to cover in a day is the driver’s fatigue. As soon as your driver gets tired you need to pull over. Drowsy driving is too dangerous.
I love using Google Maps to find really cool ways to explore a new area. I have a few Google Maps features that you might not know about in this post, lots of screenshots that will inspire you to make lots of stops!
When we were growing up we drove to Maine twice a year every year. It was a 600 mile drive and we did it in one day and we never stopped.
Well, we stopped once, at a gas station. That is it!
I have driven by NYC dozens and dozens of times and I have never been there.
Plan to take stops when you are passing a point of interest. The detour will make the memory.
If you are reading this post, you are likely planning a vacation road trip, but if you have to do a long drive for work, or to visit family, consider planning some adventure stops!
