Top Budget Tips for Your Next Road Trip

Expert ideas for spending less on gas, food, hotels and fun

Keep road trip costs in check despite budget concerns with expert tips to save on gas, food, lodging and activities.

Paul Spella

Don Nichols and Berit Thorkelson,

Updated May 12, 2026

AARP

En español

Updated May 12, 2026

Key takeaways

City- and county-run campgrounds, boutique motels and micro hotels offer lower nightly rates.
Small fuel and food strategies, such as using gas-price apps and finding happy hour deals, help stretch trip budgets.
Discount platforms and city attraction passes can lower the cost of shows, tours and experiences on the road.

As gas prices soar, it’s important to know where you can cut costs on a road trip. Also high, despite monetary challenges: the number of adults 50-plus planning to travel by car. Hilton’s 2026 Trends Report found that 71 percent of Americans planned to drive on their next vacation. AARP’s own trends survey revealed that road trips are especially popular among travelers 60 to 69, who were nearly as likely to travel domestically by car as by plane.If you’re one of the many hitting the road in the near future, consider these tactics backed by experts — one frequently-traveling author of this story included — to save on your next big car trip.

Lodging: Budget hotels, campgrounds and freebies

Campgrounds in county and city parks are affordable, often overlooked options, says Rob Taylor, the St. Augustine, Florida–based author of The Road Trip Survival Guide. Taylor and his family camped in their Northland trailer at Kathryn Abbey Hanna Park in Jacksonville, Florida, where sites with a full hookup run $30 a night. The park’s small air-conditioned cabins cost the same, but with a two-night minimum; its tent-only sites are even cheaper — just $18 nightly. Perks go beyond price. “Being a city-run park, it had other municipal services, like a splash pad, beach access and bike trails,” he says.

If you’re camping or lodging in the national parks, don’t forget about the National Park Service’s America the Beautiful Senior Pass. Amy Keng, an avid road-tripper and camper from Dallas, says, “It’s worth its weight in gold. It will get you into campgrounds managed by the government at 50 percent off. In the Grand Canyon, I paid just $9 a night.” The pass costs $20 annually or $80 for a lifetime and gets you into the park too.

To get the best deals, Taylor suggests making lodging reservations, whether for campgrounds or hotels, before leaving home. “Last-minute bookings aren’t cheap the way they used to be.... You can’t just show up and get a last-minute deal, because there’s less availability.”

We’ve found this especially true during high seasons, such as holiday weekends. But if you do find yourself in need of a last-minute lodging deal, try one of these strong online options on our travel writer’s radar that specialize in helping travelers through this very challenge, such as HotelTonight, Hotwire and Priceline’s in-app “Tonight Only” deals.

When booking hotels, Taylor says he always tries to stay at one of his two preferred brands to earn points for free rooms and get loyalty rates that save him $15 to $50 a night. Also note that hotels give out freebies such as snacks, meal credits or upgrades, if you know how to ask.

For additional savings, book hotels that offer free breakfasts and free parking. The latter can be hard to come by in urban hotels, especially downtown ones, but Gen Xer Theresa L. Goodrich, author of Planning Your Perfect Road Trip, uses SpotHero to solve that problem. With the mobile app, she books alternate parking near her hotel in advance at a greatly discounted rate. ParkWhiz and ParkMobile are other options.

Also, don’t discount motels. Today’s boutique versions offer an upgraded experience at a low price. Other inexpensive, out-of-the-box lodging options include micro hotels and so-called poshtels (a.k.a. posh hostels).

And, of course, don’t forget about your AARP Member benefits and discounts.

Gas: Find cheaper fuel and boost mpg

It’s hard to remember the last time it was so important to save on gas, with prices averaging around $4 a gallon nationally. Save on fuel any way you can to keep your road trip budget on track.

Many drivers swear by free apps you can use to compare gas prices at nearby stations when you need to fill up, including Waze, Google Maps (click the “gas” tab at the top) and GasBuddy. Sometimes you’ll save just a few pennies per gallon; other times, considerably more.

GasBuddy also offers the Pay with GasBuddy+ card, which functions much like a debit card, with payments withdrawn automatically from users’ bank accounts. On top of what you save by using the app to find the cheapest gas, card users get a guaranteed discount of 3 to 5 cents per gallon and can activate special deal alerts for increased savings of up to 33 cents per gallon. Grocery stores such as Kroger, Safeway and Stop & Shop offer loyalty savings toward gas, too, and travelers can apply those first to effectively stack savings.

“We’ve saved $6 to $10 on a fill-up with GasBuddy,” Taylor says. “On a trip to the Florida Keys, we saved nearly 40 cents a gallon [in total] near West Palm Beach by getting off the freeway and driving about five minutes.”

Another option is the free app Upside, a cash-back program in which participating gas stations offer special deals that can save you up to 25 cents per gallon, according to the company. To start, add whatever credit or debit card you typically use for gas purchases to the app’s wallet, then search the app for gas station deals near you. Then, use your connected card as usual to pay for your gas. Confirm the purchase in the app, and your cash-back request is in progress. Once the funds appear in your account, which typically takes three to four days, you can transfer them to your bank or PayPal account, or buy e-gift cards. Note that Upside is not just a gas-savings app — it also offers an average of 8 percent cashback at grocery stores and restaurants.

And while warehouse retailers such as Costco, Sam’s Club and BJ’s are known for netting members reduced fuel prices, keep in mind that their branded credit cards boost fuel savings even further.

Want to improve your gas mileage? Always use cruise control on the highway to stay near the speed limit, not just to avoid speeding tickets but also to save on gas. The faster you go, the more fuel you burn. While gas mileage and optimal fuel economy speed varies by car, it typically decreases rapidly at speeds above 50 mph, according to the U.S. Department of Energy’s fuel economy guide. It notes, “You can assume that each 5 mph you drive over 50 mph is like paying an additional $0.28 per gallon of gas.” (This is based on the price of gas at $3.99 per gallon). Speeding, rapid acceleration and braking also waste gas, lowering fuel efficiency between 15 and 30 percent at highway speeds and 10 to 40 percent in stop-and-go traffic, according to the DOE.

Food: Eat well for less on the road

An easy first step toward food savings on the road: Commit to packing your own water and healthy treats to avoid having to shell out for overpriced bottled water or junk food for between-meal snacks.

A natural step two: Book rooms with kitchenettes, or at least a fridge. You can then either whip up simple, cost-effective meals or store leftovers to stretch into a snack or meal the next day.

Goodrich says she dines in as often as possible on driving trips, and she increases her grocery savings by enrolling in loyalty programs offered by local grocery store chains. Even if you aren’t a longtime customer, you still benefit from members-only deals and coupons.

When Goodrich does eat out, she looks for discounts on restaurant.com. In Bend, Oregon, for example, she bought a $25 certificate to a local restaurant for $10 (she had to place a minimum order of $30, however). “They’re typically not chain restaurants, so you can eat in a local place you might not have found otherwise,” she says.

Dining during happy hour is also easy on the budget — a tactic travel experts, including Rick Steves, endorse. Even if food specials aren’t specifically dinner entrées, we’ve found you can cobble together a tapas-style spread. Other than happy hour deals, sodas and alcohol are often marked up significantly. Limit in-restaurant beverages in favor of those purchased at grocery or liquor stores and enjoyed back at the campsite or hotel room.

AARP members save up to 15 percent at local restaurants and national chains.

Activities: Discount tickets and passes

For lower-priced tickets to shows, concerts, events and activities, try online platforms such as Groupon and Clipp, as well as TodayTix, which specializes in discounted tickets to performances. For example, Taylor has scored two-for-one airboat rides in Florida with Groupon.

Many big U.S. cities offer passes that bundle entrance fees to groups of attractions into one discounted ticket. They include Go City, available in 13 U.S. cities, and CityPASS, which is in 16 North American cities, plus Southern California.

Also look for special offers on city and state tourism websites. Taylor notes that on Chicago’s site, he found a deal that saved him 15 percent on an architectural tour. “The deals are never super enormous, but they really add up,” he says.

And these days, travelers can agree that every bit counts.

Editor’s note: This article was originally published on May 12, 2022. It has been updated to reflect new information.

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The key takeaways were created with the assistance of generative AI. An AARP editor reviewed and refined the content for accuracy and clarity.

Don Nichols, former editor-in-chief of Private Clubs magazine, is a Dallas-based freelance writer and editor.

Berit Thorkelson is a travel writer and editor for aarp.org. She has also written for publications such as National Geographic Traveler, Better Homes & Garden and the Minnesota Star Tribune’s travel section.

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