Route 66 Trip Planner
Type where you start and where you finish. You get a day-by-day plan with the best stops along Route 66 — ready in a second, easy to change.
How does this Route 66 trip planner work?
Route 66 is one road, so a trip on it has only two real decisions: where you start and where you finish. Type a town or an attraction in each box and pick it from the list. Not starting on the road? Pick your real city anyway: if it is more than 15 miles from Route 66, the plan names the town where you join the road and gives you a Google Maps link for that first leg.
The miles between your two ends become days at your pace (about 175 miles a day at the normal pace, 125 if you take it easy, 245 if you hurry), and every day ends in a real Route 66 town with motels. For each day the planner picks about five stops from our 823 places: the well-known ones first, close to the road, in a varied mix. The chips under "What do you want to see?" keep only the kinds you care about, such as museums, ghost towns or motels. The "All stops" tab shows every place on your stretch as a list and on the map, with the same filters.
Not keen on a stop? Open its menu (the three dots), or swipe it left on a phone, to skip it, and the planner suggests another. Tap the heart on any place, in the plan's lists, on the map or on its own page, and it joins your plan and your My trip list. Pace, number of days and style of trip are under Adjust.
When the plan looks right, open each day in Google Maps with one link, share it, print it, save it as a PDF or download a file for a GPS device. On a phone that makes it a free Route 66 navigation app: the plan tells you where to stop, and your usual maps app does the turn-by-turn. The plan lives in the link, so there is no account and nothing is stored on our side. Short on ideas? Start from the best attractions or the ready-made 14-day itinerary. The road outline comes from OpenStreetMap; the stops come from Wikidata and Wikimedia Commons, with a credit on every photo.
Route 66 trip planning questions
Is this Route 66 trip planner free?
Yes. It is free, needs no account and nothing to install. Your trip lives in the link, so you can bookmark it, reopen it on another device or send it to the people you are driving with.
How many days do you need for Route 66?
Plan on about 175 miles a day: 14 days for the whole road, 10 if you hurry, 20 to see everything. The planner suggests a day count from your mileage and pace; change the pace or the number of days under Adjust and the stops are picked again.
How many miles is Route 66?
Route 66 runs about 2,448 miles from Chicago, Illinois to Santa Monica, California, across 8 states: Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California.
Can I use the plan in Google Maps, like a Route 66 navigation app?
Yes. Each day of the plan opens in Google Maps with its stops as waypoints, and long days are split into parts because Google Maps takes only a limited number of stops, so your phone's own navigation does the turn-by-turn. You can also download a GPX file for a GPS or navigation app, or save the plan as a PDF.
When is the best time to drive Route 66?
April to June and September to October: mild weather in the desert states, long daylight and most seasonal attractions open. High summer is hot in Arizona and California, and winter can close mountain and desert stretches.
How much does a Route 66 road trip cost?
It depends on your car, your pace and where you sleep. The big costs are fuel for about 2,448 miles plus the drive to the start (roughly 100 gallons in a car that gets 25 mpg), about 13 nights of lodging and meals. Many sights are free, from Cadillac Ranch to the roadside giants, and small museums usually charge a few dollars.
How far apart are gas stations on Route 66?
In most states you pass a station every few miles in towns and rarely go more than 30 miles without one. The big gaps are in the Mojave between Needles and Barstow and on parts of the New Mexico and Texas stretch, where stations can be more than 50 miles apart, so fill up whenever the tank is half empty.
Which direction should I drive Route 66?
Most people drive east to west, from Chicago to Santa Monica, the way most guidebooks describe it, and finish at the Pacific. West to east works just as well: swap start and finish in the planner and every day, stop and link follows the new direction.
Browse every stop on the interactive Route 66 map, or read about the best attractions state by state.