Phil and I are diving into the RV trip planning this week to prepare for our adventures in 2023 and when you’re planning a road trip, there are so many details that need to be covered.
We need to figure out the best route to take, where we will be able to stay once we leave home, where we can stop for supplies along the way, and so much more. Planning an RV trip can be a challenge, especially if you do not have experience doing it before and don’t know the best apps and resources to use. There are just so many things that need to be organized in order for your trip to go smoothly.
Thats why we set out to right this list of best RV trip planner apps to use as a resource each time we or anyone else gets started planning their next camping trip!
There are many different apps that can help you with this important process and this article will list some of the best RV trip planning apps that you can use.
Let’s get started!
Considerations for RV Trip Planning Apps
Apps for planning RV trips vary greatly in quality. These are some of the most important aspects to us when choosing which one to use for your trip.
Campground Information
It’s crucial to have a RV trip planning process that allows for precise lodging arrangements. You might not be able to find a place to park your RV if you procrastinate. We recommend making reservations at RV parks well in advance of your vacation, and a dependable travel planner can help you figure out where you want to stay ahead of time.
However, if you prefer to wing it and decide where to camp at the last minute, a trip planning app could be more useful in this scenario, as it will give you a wealth of information about where you can camp.
Routing Suggestions
Having a road trip planner for your RV travels is a great resource. For instance, knowing where to find gas stations that are accessible by big rigs is helpful, especially for those who value having some more space to move around. Also, we think it’s important that RV travelers have the opportunity to pick a route that takes into account factors like overpass levels, bridge weight restrictions, and propane limits.
Scenic Opportunities
Also, try to discover a RV trip planner that includes recommendations for interesting places to visit along the road. Many breathtaking views can be seen while traveling great distances by RV. You might pass up something very remarkable using a conventional GPS system since you typically have no idea these stops even existed.
Our Favorite RV Trip Planner Tools
RV Trip Wizard
The RV Trip Wizard has existed for a long time and has consistently been a great tool. It’s a web-based trip planner with a plethora of options to make preparing for your next RV trip as simple and pleasant as possible. Its map-based interface makes it simple to navigate around a destination, identifying RV parks, overnight parking alternatives, fuel stops, rest stops, dump stations, and more. The RV Trip Wizard is fantastic at recommending fun and fascinating activities to visit and do along your trip.
RV Trip Wizard will provide you with everything you require to guarantee that your trip is within your budget and does not leave you fatigued from traveling too far.
RV Trip Wizard can assist you in customizing it to display just the most critical elements. It’s incredibly useful to be able to find disposal stations, rest spots, and overnight parking. The app’s sightseeing feature is a fantastic addition to all of this. Many other trip planners concentrate just on the big picture, but RV Journey Wizard attends to the minor things that make your travel more pleasurable and less stressful. Furthermore, the RV Life Pro suite means that a single membership grants you access to other features such as RV Trip Wizard, , RV Safe GPS, Maintain My RV and Campground Reviews.
Campendium
Although Campendium is not a traditional RV trip planner tool, we felt it was important to include it here. Campendium’s strength is not just in its extensive database of public and private campgrounds, but also in the unparalleled wealth of information it has accumulated regarding boondocking sites.
Campendium is an excellent resource if you’re in the planning stages of a trip and want to incorporate some fantastic boondocking places. Campendium can help you save money even if you just plan to boondock on rare occasions. You can save a lot of money by staying at a free campground for even a short period of time. You have nothing to lose since using Campendium doesn’t cost anything (but you can remove advertisements by becoming a Community Supporter).
Campendium is indeed the go-to source for finding secluded boondocking locations. They feature hundreds of users, which ensures a constant flow of current, useful reviews and photographs. Both the site and the app are sleek and simple to use, making it simple to discover precisely what you’re looking for.
Allstays
If you haven’t already, consider checking out Allstays Camp & RV as a second recommendation for a top-notch RV trip planner. Once more, this is not a genuine trip planner where you may arrange your travel schedule. RV parks, truck stops, rest areas, dump stations, RV supplies, RV repairs, and even low overpasses may all be found with the help of Allstays.
It’s an app that can help you locate places not mentioned in other applications for just $9.99, and then you have access to it for life. The app’s ability to function without an internet connection has come in handy several times when we wanted to look up campsites quickly but didn’t have any cell phone service.
Allstays Pro is a good option if you like to plan your trips on a desktop or laptop computer. Claimed costs money (now a yearly subscription of $34.95; rumor has it this will increase shortly), but it has benefits over the free version of the website and app.
More than half a million different search options are available through Allstays Pro, which the company claims is faster than the app and website, has no ads, provides better privacy, allows full-screen maps, can be used offline with Google Earth, provides more filters for traffic, biking, transit, and more.
The Dyrt PRO
The Dyrt provides free access to their massive database of campgrounds and RV parks via their website or mobile app both for iOS and Android users. You can view all of the extensive information available about each location, as well as any user-submitted images and reviews, making it easier to choose a place to stay.
If you increase your subscription to The Dyrt (pro version), you will also have access to their Travel Planner. You begin by selecting your beginning and ending places, and then you may arrange your route from scratch, including as many stops and waypoints as you wish. You may also ask The Dyrt to propose a vacation for you. It also includes map overlays for BLM, US Forest Service, and National Park Service borders.
It’s simple to let The Dyrt (pro version) organize your trip. It’s a terrific substitute for spending endless hours surfing the web in search of the ideal camping spots. The Dyrt will automatically locate the best RV campgrounds along your journey. You’ll be able to get to the park faster and, more importantly, with the confidence that you’re going to the park that best suits your needs.
KOA Camping App
The KOA App works with mapping systems to provide easy instructions to your campsite. As campsites become more difficult to reserve, you can typically locate a place in a KOA alongside your route. The app features a map feature that allows you to discover forthcoming KOAs along your path. By clicking on the KOA symbol, you may get information on the individual campsite location, facilities, recreation, upcoming events, photographs, area attractions, and more. It also indicates how far you are from your present location. The app is intended to be used to book straight through the app.
KOAs differ because they are managed by individual camp owners. They are now classified by kind of camping; those labeled “Journey” are mostly for vacationers and may only be suitable for one or two nights. The ones labeled “Holidays” are destination campsites, generally near tourist attractions. People may remain longer if they have additional facilities. In reality, holiday KOAs include large, hard-surfaced patios with something like a grill, tables, chairs, and a fire pit, as well as a glider. Although expensive, the increased room and facilities are sometimes well worth it.
RV Life’s Campground Reviews
RV Life’s Campground Reviews are an excellent resource for finding campgrounds around America. The website is simple to navigate. Simply select a state to examine the campgrounds, which are displayed on a map. They are also presented alphabetically, and counties and cities may be searched to refine the results.The site also allows you to narrow down your search by park type, features, hookups, activities, ratings, pricing, and distance. In reality, it also enables you to read genuine camper reviews and browse images of various campgrounds.
RV Life’s Campground Reviews are accessible free via the internet or through a membership to the RV Vacation Wizard website, which may make your trip much more fun and less stressful.
Gas Buddy
GasBuddy can help you discover cheap gas throughout your trip. You may enter your vehicle’s make and model, as well as your starting and finishing points, into their trip cost calculator. GasBuddy will then figure out how many fuel stops you’ll go through and will recommend the best gasoline locations for each fill, and provide an anticipated cost.
Because you can arrange your journey around inexpensive gas station stops, this is among the favorite RV travel planning tools of many. You’ll enjoy how this app shows you current gas prices at future petrol stations on your trip day.
You can also navigate to their website and enter your starting and ending points, as well as the make and model of your car, and it will calculate how much gas it will charge you if you stop at petrol stations along the route. It is also accessible through the Google Play store.
One more thing is that the feature “Pay with Gasbuddy” is incredibly amazing because it is accepted in most stations where you can do it manually.
RV Parky
RV Parky is another RV trip planner that works great if you only need to visit an RV park and don’t care about cell phone coverage. This software is not for you if you’re seeking “free” camping or wish to know about prior cell signals.
RV Parky allows you to find and add campsites, parking lots, and other facilities. All you have to do is select the “Find a place to stay” button next to the city you’re interested in. The option to filter what you’re searching for is wonderful since you can filter for utilities such as whether or not you require power, water, WiFi, and so on.
When you click on a location, you’ll see all of the information RV Parky has about the site. This software is available for download both on iOS and Google Play. You may also search by filter on their internet platform.
Good Sam Camping
This Good Sam campground app is compatible with over 14,500 campsites and RV parts from the Good Sam RV Travel Guide and also the Campground Directory. It provides camping reviews. There was formerly a Good Sam Trip Planner, but it is no longer accessible.
The best feature of the Good Sam Camping app is indeed the ability to find exactly what you’re searching for. Look for spots that provide a pool, WiFi, pet allowance, primitive camping and pull-through space, RV hookup, slide-out room, and much more.
Harvest Hosts
With a low-cost subscription to Harvest Hosts, you may park your RV, van, or trailer for free every night at tens of thousands of breathtaking places around the United States and abroad. You might look for a distillery, vineyard or farm that lets you spend the night dry camping on its grounds. In reality, using its website and membership will let you stay “for free” in some very amazing locations around the USA.
The Harvest Hosts certainly hope that if you come during business hours, you’ll buy a product from the winery, farm, or brewery. You can locate thousands of Harvest Hosts with your membership, and many RVers will utilize this as a nice pit stop en route to a far-off location.
Boondockers Welcome
Perhaps now is the right moment for you to obtain a Boondockers Welcome membership since many RVers have already utilized one. You’d be amazed at how simple it is to conduct a search online to find out the max RV length that could fit, the duration of stay, if pets are permitted, and customer reviews!
Boondockers Welcome is a sensible, economical approach to RV camping. On a website such as Harvest Hosts or Airbnb, you may discover hosts eager to just let you park your RV vehicle on their land for free overnight.
Once you’ve stayed, it’s common courtesy to give your host a review; in return, they’ll do the same for you.
Roadtrippers
The final app of this comprehensive RV trip planning list that we need to include is Roadtrippers. If your initial journey has no more than five destinations, signing up and using the tool is completely free of charge. Which of course is excellent news if you’re operating on a budget! As a result, you can use the Roadtrippers app for a while, take some time, and see if it is the ideal app for you.
Roadtrippers’ trip-planning options are intuitive and simple to use. Simply enter your starting and ending places, change the slider to determine how far from your route you’re prepared to go for areas of interest, and start exploring. You may scroll in and out as you go to see what there is to explore and do.
Overlays for camping spots, tourist hotspots, landmarks, restaurants, and more are also available. Find nearby businesses like gas stations, campgrounds, and more that cater to your car or RV.
Roadtrippers is an incredibly effective RV trip planner, in addition to being surprisingly simple to use. Especially the idea that you may join up and utilize the tool for free for the first five days
Frequently Asked Questions About RV Trip Planning
What Is An RV Trip Planner?
Using a smartphone navigation program like Google Maps to bring you to your final destination is convenient, but taking the shortest route possible could mean missing some amazing views on the way there. Which is a total rookie move.
Thats where RV Trip Planners come in. You can organize your entire trip with the help of these programs and websites. Campgrounds, including their rates, amenities, and more, may all be found with the help of a trip planner.
You may get a lot more out of your road trip if you use an app to help you organize your stops for sightseeing.
Routing your trip in an RV is much easier with the help of a trip planner; with some you can even include the dimensions of your RV. No need to worry about narrow roads and low bridges that can’t handle your rig since they’ll figure out the best and most efficient route for you automatically.
A significant benefit of RV trip planning apps is the ability to locate RV-specific services. The ability to find gas stations, refill stations, service centers, dump stations, and more for your RV is a common feature among trip planning apps.
What is the best way to plan an RV trip?
There are a few things you must do to plan a fluid, versatile, and fun RV trip! To make it easy to understand and take action on your RV trip planning, I broke it up into this list.
1. Pick the right RV for the road trip you’re planning.
A 35-foot Class A motorhome doesn’t leave much room for spontaneity on the road or in the campground. However, a 15-foot Class B van may not provide enough storage space to stock up on goods and create your own gourmet meals. The first priority in arranging a great RV road trip is to ensure that your vehicle is suitable for your intended journey.
2. Come up with a plan that works with your budget.
Costs for fuel, campsites, and food add up quickly on an RV road trip. Depending on the nature of your road trip, you may encounter vast differences in all three.
You can save money on gas and tolls by carefully plotting your route with your RV’s or tow vehicle’s MPG in mind. You should note that a cross-country road trip isn’t necessary for a thrilling experience.
If you plan ahead and set aside money for camping, you can stay in a more luxurious RV park at one stop and save money by boondocking or camping in a state park somewhere else. To save spending money on expensive private campgrounds, some people choose to spend the night in the parking lots of stores such as Walmart, Cracker Barrel, and Cabela’s.
In any case, it’s best to phone ahead and find out what the rules are in each area.
3. If you can, book your campsites far in advance.
Many new RVers find it difficult to accept that available camping spots are hard to come by nowadays. Traveling freely, going wherever the road takes you, is a desire shared by many others (like us!). Sadly, that means the best campsites in state and national parks tend to fill up months in advance, so booking ahead of time is usually your best chance.
You can make sure the campground is right for you by reading reviews online too or asking a RV facebook community for their opinions. Be sure the campground provides the vibe you are going for, whether is be a pool, hot tub, or even just immaculate restrooms.
Be sure to take note of the reservation details, jot down any cancellation conditions and add them to the calendar. That way you can adapt quickly to any changes in your itinerary that may com up on the road; and trust us, things come up on the road.
4. Map out a path that is suitable for a RVs.
When getting from one RV destination to another, many seasoned RV travelers prefer to take the beautiful byways and lesser-traveled back roads. When traveling by RV, you’ll need to adjust your strategy for trip planning accordingly.
Find out whether there are any limits on propane or having a low enough clearance on any bridges or tunnels. The next time you need gas, plan a pit stop that won’t force you to find a spot in a crowded and cramped parking lot too. A steep incline or a series of switchbacks can be dangerous for an RV.
5. Look into RV parking ahead of time.
When you have all the time in the world on your trip then you start to enjoy stopping for no particular reason and discovering hidden gems along the road. When taking an RV, this becomes a little more complicated. Because we love to do this, we now have a standard practice for me to call ahead to attractions on our route and check about RV parking. We’ve had no trouble finding parking at popular tourist destinations from this method.
And what about the unexpectedly enjoyable detours that spring up on the way? See if you can go there and back out using the satellite map on your phone.
6. Time your arrival later than you think.
One of the many frequently made mistakes first-time RVer make is the assumption that they can maintain the same speed as when they are driving a car. Expecting it to happen is unrealistic, so keep that in mind as you plot out your schedule.
In general, it’s a good idea to aim for a speed near 50 miles/hour as your average for the entire trip. Because of this, travel times at gas stations will be more frequent than usual too.
To avoid exhaustion and potential sleepy accidents, try the “3/300 rule,” which states that you shouldn’t travel more than 300 miles in a day and plan to get to your destination before 3 in the afternoon.
