The main costs on a road trip are: Food, Lodging, Gas and Entertainment. While each family will prioritize these differently, I have found that the average spend shakes down pretty simply.
The average family road trip costs $107 per person per day, so the average 7 day road trip for a family of 4 will cost $2,996. These costs vary widely depending on gas costs, family size and destination, and it is possible to plan a lower budget trip by focusing on one spending area at a time.
I surveyed about 200 families and I asked them how many people went on their trip, how long the trip was and how much it cost. I took those numbers and I found that the average cost was $107 per person per day.
The average food cost was $21.04 per person per day. You can see that your family may spend more or less. Start by considering your normal weekly grocery spending, how much does that break down to per day. Expect to spend at least the same amount as you would at home.
You can find more road trip food budget inspiration in the linked post that also contains some sample meal plans for your road trip.
The thriftiest travelers that I surveyed spent around $5 per person per day.
As a general rule, expect to spend between $2,996 and $336 for a 7 day vacation for a family of 4. This includes gas, lodging, food and entertainment. Use tools to plan ahead for your gas costs and make sure to plan for some great entertainment that fits your budget.
We take road trips every year, and I was surprised to see that we spent nearly $4,000 on our last 9 day road trip. We stayed in a mix of hotels and campgrounds and we packed food and we ate out. I feel like it was a very middle of the road vacation.
Plan your budget into categories so you can squeeze maximum fun out of each dollar.
How do you budget for a road trip?
Budget for the essentials first, but leave room for entertainment.
Gas
Use a trip calculator to determine the cost of gas for your trip. This is a fixed cost that is the first thing to put in your budget.
Use this calculator from AAA to figure out the approximate cost of gas for your trip. AAA shows a daily average of gas cost and allows you to figure out a good budget for gas for your trip.
If you have not chosen your destination I HIGHLY recommend using WithinHours to select a destination. The site allows you to explore around you within a number of miles or hours of driving. It is a great way to find cities you may have never visited.
There were some studies that showed that the most relaxing vacations take place outside of your normal circle of travel. So even if you can only go 15 minutes past the supermarket, you can still have a stress reducing vacation.
The best way to keep the cost of a road trip low is to keep closer to home. This also allows you to spend more time at your destination.
Lodging
The next budget item is lodging.
Budget for the lodging that will make the trip most enjoyable for you and your family, and consider choosing interesting lodging.
I like using HipCamp to find really interesting accommodations. They have treehouses, wall tents, boondocking spots and luxury cabins. They have such a great range of options, but you need to be a bit flexible as these may be off the beaten path, and you get $10 off if you use my link.
I also really recommend you plan to spend some time with friends on any long road trip. If you have friends or family who are willing to put you up for a night or two you will save some money and have some quality time with people you love.
Traveling with an RV makes lodging easier and harder, you can park overnight at Cracker Barrel, but you may have trouble booking spots in peak seasons. If you are RVing, plan ahead as much as possible.
Hotels are the obvious choice for many families, so be sure to check out the loyalty programs and see if you can work in a few free nights.
There are plenty of reasons to avoid hotels, find my 11 alternatives to hotels in the linked post.
Food
It has been said that vacation is just eating in a new place, so be sure to budget for food.
There is a lot of passion behind the food numbers, I did a survey of
Start with your normal grocery budget, you will spend at least that much when you are eating away from home.
I recommend that everyone have a way to cook away from home and the Hot Logic is what we use. It is a portable food warmer that can cook food from raw and plugs right into your car.
We love this thing, we use it almost every day that we are away from home. I have a big list of lunch ideas and a meal plan that you can use with it.
You can find the Hot Logic on Amazon, this is an affiliate link and if you use my link I will earn a small commission with no cost to you.
Even if you plan to save money by packing most of your food, try to experience some local eats if it is possible. I like to try to find some Diners, Drive-ins and Dives featured restaurants because those tend to be local favorites.
Entertainment
Plan to spend a few dollars on things like seeing a show or museum, visit an arcade or do some vacation shopping.
Determining how much money you need in the previous categories will give you an idea of how much you have to spend here. If you are not on a tight budget, you can just give yourself a guiding number.
Be sure to plan some entertainment options for the car, and you can see some screen free options here.
Road Trip Budget Template
I made a nice printable road trip budget planning sheet for you!
Use this sheet to plan your family’s epic road trip.
The anticipation of a vacation can reduce stress just as much as the vacation! So, don’t stop with one trip, I like to take some time to plan out a year of vacations! For more ways to make your vacation stress free, check this checklist.
Check out my post on creating a family bucket list to help you all generate some ideas. When you get the list done, post it and then grab my printable for budgeting for a year of vacation fun.
Is it expensive to go on a road trip?
So, no matter where you go on vacation and no matter how you get there you will be eating, sleeping and entertaining yourselves. The costs are similar between many kinds of vacations.
As a general rule, road trips cost about $107 per person per day. The cost can vary depending on your lodging and food choices. Road trips can be very low budget vacations when you plan ahead to eat most meals in the car and you plan to camp or even boondock overnight. Road trips are great vacations for all budgets.
The larger your group the more sense it makes to road trip instead of flying. We are a pretty large family of 6 and the cost of flights for a group that large is significant.
The thing that makes road trips so great is that you are completely in control. If you get on the road and find that you run out of money you can head home whenever you want. You can choose to extend or end your road trip at any time without consulting anyone but your travel party.
