The best RV trip planners are a special breed of apps designed to facilitate road trips by camper. Travel trailers, fifth-wheels, and motorhomes have special considerations that normal trip-planning apps just aren’t cut out for.
As an RVer, you need RV-safe routes that won’t leave you rolling like this rig:
Apart from RV-safe routes, things like campgrounds, dump stations, overnight parking, and RV-sized gas stations should also be on any RVing itinerary.
The best RV trip planners have features that’ll keep you rolling in safety and style. Let’s take a deep dive into the things you should look for.
About Roadtrippers RV Trip Planner
We’ve been in the game of RV trip planning for over a decade now. We built Campendium from the ground up and then rolled this one-of-a-kind campground and routing data into our #1 road trip planning app.
Because Campendium is one of the largest communities of RVers, it’s also the best source of info for all the things RVing folk look for along the way.
We say this not to toot our own horn, but to show that we live and breathe this stuff.
We even have a new tool called Autopilot
that’ll take the heavy lifting out of RV trip planning. Simply answer a few questions about your rig, places you want to go, and your trip budget. Autpilot then uses info from over 38 million real trips to build your itinerary for you.
Now that you know where we’re coming from, let’s dive into the features that every RV trip planner should have.
Feature #1: RV Friendly Trip Planning
Safe RV trip planning involves avoiding low bridges, narrow roads, and restricted areas. The right RV trip planner will consider your vehicle’s specific height, weight, and length, steering you clear of non-RV-friendly routes.
Campers face known hazards, such as low clearances and steep grades. The best RV trip planners will account for your rig’s specific features when mapping a trip for you.
With Roadtrippers Autopilot, you simply input the type of rig you have, and we’ll do the rest. We use superhuman skill and data from real-life trips to build an RV-safe itinerary for you.
Feature #2: Campground and RV Park Details
RVers depend on campgrounds to hang their hats, so it stands to reason that the best RV trip planners should have the goods on this. Beyond showing campground locations on a map, it’s important you have access to reviews, cell coverage maps, and photos for any campgrounds along your route.
That way, you can pick the places that match your needs. The Roadtrippers app now incorporates all the RV park and campground data from Campendium. Campendium has long been one of the most popular resources for RVers because it’s built by people actively camping.
That means when you look at a campground within Roadtrippers, the information on cell coverage, the reviews, and the photos come from people who really stayed there.
You can see all this and book many RV campgrounds within the Roadtrippers app.
Feature #3: Fun RV-Specific Recommendations
Regular trip planners recommend fun things to do on your road trip but might not emphasize RV-friendly points of interest. That’s why you should find a trip planner that adjusts your route based on whether you travel by car or by camper.
The Roadtrippers RV trip planner factors this to make tailor-made stop suggestions for the RVing lifestyle. Scenic stops, sizeable gas stations, and bookable campgrounds are a few examples of the points of interest that’ll be customized for your trip.
6 steps to planning a successful RV road trip
Feature #4: Downloadable Maps
RVing is at its best when you can roll into remote locations like national parks and national forests.
Beautiful as these places are, they often lack cell coverage. That means your RV trip planner app may also go down due to lack of network.
But if your RV trip planner offers an offline map feature, you can simply download your itinerary ahead of time to navigate to the finish line.
That’s why this is a must-have feature in an RV trip planner, and why we’ve long offered it in the Roadtrippers RV trip planning app.
Feature #5: RV-Friendly Gas Stations
The American roadside is packed with cute filling stations that are fun for cars but can be a nightmare for RVs.
Skip the hassle with RV trip planners that only route to gas stations where you’ll fit comfortably. That’s why one of the first questions Roadtrippers Autopilot will ask you is about your rig size — that way, you’ll rest easy knowing you won’t break your camper at the pump.
Feature #6: Trip Budgeting and Management
Nothing stinks more than planning an RV trip only to burn through your budget halfway through it. The best RV trip planners will show you the average costs of everything along your route.
When you plan an RV trip with Roadtrippers Autopilot you can customize the budget range for the pieces of your trip. From food to campgrounds to attractions, simply pick the range you want to stay in, and Autopilot does the rest. Our RV trip planning app will also calculate your trip’s average fuel cost based on your specific rig type.
Add that all up and you have an app that’ll help you plan your budget before you go.
Feature #7: Easy (And Fun) to Use
You’d think RV trip-planning apps would all be easy, but not all are created equal. The best RV planning apps are intuitive, allowing you to easily add stops to customize your route.
The map and directions should be straightforward and easy to read. We also think that your RV trip planner should be fun. That’s why we feature cool content about many of our recommended stops.
For example, this story about the Longaberger basket-shaped building in Ohio is one of the thousands of fun and quirky takes on the points of interest in our app.
Feature #8: RVing Safety
Getting stranded on the road due to a breakdown is never fun. That’s why you want an RV trip-planning app that has your back when bumps bump up along the way.
Roadtrippers Roadside is an add-on within our app that gives you peace of mind with 24/7 roadside support for battery service, towing, lock-out assistance, and more.
It’ll even cover you for hotel and food spoilage if a breakdown shuts down your home on wheels.
RV tripping doesn’t always go as planned. That’s why the best planning apps offer this extra peace of mind.
Feature #9: User-Generated Recommendations
One of the best parts of the RVing lifestyle is the community. Camping folks are some of the coolest people on the planet, and they’re masters at digging into the details of the journey.
The best RV trip planners capture this energy in a way that users can benefit from and build upon.
The Roadtrippers RV app is one of the best in the business at this. We’ve always featured user stories about every stop, and our recent roll-in of Campendium has taken this even further by showcasing rich reviews about the camping features that matter to RVers.
Feature #10: Places to Park It
When you’re rolling on a long RV road trip, overnight parking is a must to prevent fatigue. That’s why places like Walmart, Cabela’s, Cracker Barrel, and more are part of RVing life.
Your RV trip planner should show you the best places to overnight before continuing your journey. Roadtrippers shines here because we recently rolled Overnight RV Parking into our app. As a result, you can now choose from over 16,000 free places to park your RV on your way to your destination.
RV trip planners are a vital tool in the belts of every road warrior out there, but they aren’t all created equal. Leave home without the needed features, and you may miss out on a must-see stop or, worse yet, find yourself on a route that ain’t RV-friendly.
Avoid all that hassle by picking a planning app with the features you need for RVing. We happen to think Roadtrippers is the best one out there. Try it free today.