Road Trip Planner and Gas Cost Spreadsheet

About this template

This road trip planner is for anyone mapping out a long drive who wants to know the cost and the hours before setting off. Enter each leg from your map, and the file works out gas, adds up the time at the wheel and prices every day of the trip.

Please read: This is a tracker tool only, not financial, tax, legal, medical or any other professional advice or advisory service. It records and calculates what you enter; you are solely responsible for checking all figures, rates, dates and results and for every decision you make. By purchasing, downloading or using it, you accept these terms (your statutory consumer rights are not affected).

The dashboard

Choose the whole trip or one day, and the cards, costs and stops follow. Nothing on it is typed.

• Five live cards: miles, hours at the wheel, gas, what it cost and long days, each with a mini chart
• Every day's driving, with the part over your own limit in red and the limit as a dashed line
• The route day by day: where from, where to, miles, drive time and cost, with totals
• Miles covered so far, day by day
• How many days run over your limit, and how many are rest days
• What it cost: rooms, food, gas, tolls and the rest, with each share as a percentage
• What each day cost, stacked, and your eight most expensive rooms

The route, leg by leg

The Route tab is your trip itinerary: one row per leg with the day, where from, where to, the miles and the drive time from your map, plus where you stop and where you sleep. The dates follow from the first day, so the whole route planner stays in order.

Gas, worked out

The built-in gas calculator uses the miles, your car's miles a gallon and the gas price, and you can set a local price on any leg.

Every day of the drive

Drive Days adds up miles and hours at the wheel for each day and marks any day over the drive time you are happy with. Trip Costs adds rooms, tolls, parking, food and tickets, so the road trip budget shows the cost of the whole trip, a mile, a day and per person.

Six connected tabs

Start Here, Setup, Route, Drive Days, Trip Costs and Dashboard.

Works with

• Microsoft Excel 2016, 2019, 2021 and Microsoft 365, on Windows and Mac, and LibreOffice
• Google Sheets with a free Google account. The Google Sheets version is a real workbook you take a copy of, not a PDF with a link in it.
• No dynamic arrays, no macros, no add-ins and no subscription

What you download

• The Excel workbook, filled with a worked example: a 14-day drive down the Pacific coast in 26 legs
• The same workbook, blank and ready for yours
• The instruction guide, which has one-click links to the Google Sheets versions (filled and blank)
• The terms of use as a PDF

Your files are ready to download as soon as payment clears. They are for personal and business use on your own devices, so please do not share or resell them. Questions before or after you buy? Use our contact page and we will help.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need Excel, or can I use Google Sheets?

Either. The download includes Excel workbooks for Excel 2016 or later on Windows or Mac, and the instruction guide has one-click links to copy the Google Sheets versions with a free Google account.

How does it work out gas?

From the miles on each leg, your car's miles a gallon and the gas price. You can set a local gas price on any leg.

Can I set a limit on how long I drive each day?

Yes. Set the longest you want to drive in a day, and any day over it is marked, with the extra hours shown in red.

Can it split the cost between travelers?

Yes. It works out the cost of the trip per person, as well as per mile and per day.

Is there an example to follow?

Yes. The filled copy is a 14-day drive down the Pacific coast in 26 legs, and a blank copy is included.