If you're planning a trip using our desktop website, this article will help you get started! If you're planning a trip in our mobile app on iOS or Android, check out this article instead.
Some Roadtrippers features are available only to Roadtrippers members. Roadtrippers offers 3 types of membership and you can choose your plan based on your specific trip planning needs.
- Getting Started
- Starting a New Trip
- Changing Your Starting Point
- Adding Waypoints to Your Trip
- Measure Your Drive Time
- Editing Your Waypoints
- Customizing Your Route
- Adding Dates to Your Trip
- Trip Management
- Adjusting Trip Settings
Getting Started
The Roadtrippers.com homepage is the perfect place to start planning a trip or to just start exploring some places on our map!
Use the fields that are front and center to enter your starting point and destination to start planning a new trip, or click "Explore the map ->" beneath the trip launcher to just browse an area on the map.
If you enter your start and end points to start a trip you'll be presented with 2 planning options:
- If you want to use our Roadtrippers Autopilot™ AI-powered trip planning tool, select Plan with Autopilot. This feature is only available to Premium members, and you can start a free trial if you want to give it a try. Learn more about Autopilot here.
- If you aren't interested in a Premium membership or if you'd prefer to plan the trip yourself with suggestions from the map, choose Plan it on your own.
Starting a New Trip
If you use Autopilot or the Plan it on your own option, you'll be asked if there are any other places you know you want to visit, and can add them before we show you your trip on the map.
If you're using Autopilot, you'll now have the option to add recommended places to your trip.
Once you hit 'Launch Trip', you'll see a trip on the map.
If you already started a trip but don't have it up on the map anymore, click My Trips in the menu on the left side of the page or click your profile icon in the top right, then select My Trips.
Changing Your Starting Point
We recommend saving your home address to your profile so that all new trips will automatically start from there. You can learn more about that here!
You can easily correct or change your trip's starting location by following the steps below:
- Click 'Add to Trip' button in the left dock and search for your actual starting location.
- Select your starting location from the dropdown list to add it to your trip.
- Click the waypoint card for the original starting location, click the "Remove Waypoint" link and confirm the removal.
- If your correct starting point wasn’t automatically set as the first stop, simply click the waypoint card and drag it to the top.
Adding Waypoints to Your Trip
Whether you use Autopilot or the Quick Start option, now it's time for the fun part - perfecting your trip by finding and adding stops along the way!
Add a Place You Know, or Ask Us for an Autopilot Suggestion
Click the blue "Add to Trip" button in the left dock or the (+) button next to dates (if your trip has dates). You can search for and add cities, addresses, or points of interest to your trip.
Using the blue "Add to Trip" button will also give you the option of using Autopilot to suggest a stop for your trip (or a full day of stops!). If you're a Premium member, select 'Use Autopilot' and answer a few questions to get some recommendations!
Explore the Map for Places to Add
Click the Search and Explore bar to apply a category to the map and find places to add to your trip!
If you’re exploring using our categories, you can adjust how far off your route you’re willing to travel to see recommendations.
The route shade is the shaded area around your trip route that expands or contracts based on that distance. It shows how far off your route you’re willing to go and limits which places appear while you’re browsing categories.
You can find the route shade controls in the Explore tab when you have a category applied to the map.
As you adjust the distance setting, the shaded area will change accordingly. For example, if the distance is set to 30 miles, any places that appear within the shaded area are 30 miles or less from your route.
Measure Drive Time to Your Next Stop
If you know how far you're willing or able to travel until you need to stop for an overnight or take a break at a rest area or restaurant, then Roadtrippers can help you find a place to stop! You tell us how far you want to drive from a waypoint in your trip, and we'll show you where to look for a stop along your route. Learn more about this feature here.
Learn more!
Learn more about how to add places to your trip and explore our categories in the articles below:
Editing Your Stops
Your trip can be customized in tons of ways - including rearranging stops, removing stops, changing the name of a waypoint, and adding details to waypoints. Open the guides below to learn more!
- Remove a waypoint by quick clicking the waypoint then clicking Remove Waypoint.
- Rearrange waypoints by clicking the waypoint, then dragging and dropping it in the list of waypoints.
- You can edit a waypoint by adding notes, a budget, or reservation numbers, or by changing the waypoint’s name. To do this, simply click the stop’s name on the waypoint card.
Customizing Your Route
By default, Roadtrippers plots your trip using the most efficient route available. You can customize this by using route avoidances, RV-safe travel features, or Via waypoints.
We have a detailed guide on customizing your route here: Quickly Customize a Trip's Route
Adding or Modifying Dates for Your Trip
If you like to plan your trips day by day, you can add dates to your itinerary. Dates are based on when you plan to arrive at each place, and currently don’t account for how long you plan to stay.
You can modify dates in several ways, including:
Changing the start date and shifting your entire trip
Adding a day in the middle of your trip
Extending your trip
You can move a waypoint to a different date by dragging and dropping it in the itinerary or by changing the date in the waypoint details.
We have a detailed guide on all the ways to manage trip dates here: Adding and Editing Dates on Your Trip
Trip Management
At the top of the trip itinerary, you will see the Close Trip option, which removes the trip from the map view. We autosave any changes you make to a trip, and to open the trip again later, simply go to the My Trips tab on the left side of the screen.
To the right, you’ll find the + Invite button. This is where you can add trip collaborators. Collaboration is a Pro and Premium feature, and you can learn more about it here.
Below the trip name, you’ll see icons for sharing your trip, printing your trip, and viewing your trip stats or opening your trip guide. Click any icon to see what it can do!
You can collapse your trip itinerary and details to have a larger view of the map - just click the arrow at the upper right of the itinerary. To reopen your itinerary, click that arrow again.
Customizing Trip Settings
Click Trip settings on your itinerary's banner to modify trip details and access.
In Trip settings, you can adjust the following:
Basics: Edit your trip’s name, description, privacy setting, and banner photo.
Trip Vehicle: Update the vehicle you’ll be driving to enable RV routing or get more accurate fuel cost estimates.
Privacy: Set your trip to public so friends can see it, or private so only you have access.
Travel Crew: Keep track of who you’re traveling with.
Delete Trip: You can delete your trip from this screen if needed.