Are you looking for some awesome road trip activities for adults?
Perhaps you’re thinking about going on your very first road trip, or maybe you’ve been planning a road trip with your friends and it’s getting closer and closer.
Either way, the excitement will be about to reach a fever pitch. The perfect mix of preparation and spontaneity is key to an awesome adventure.
You may also be wondering about fun things to do in the car for adults to keep boredom at bay.
This article is here to help, so read on to find out more!
Continue reading to discover 17 different road trip activities for adults that will make your road trip more epic.
Road Trip Activities For Adults
After 1000’s miles of road trips, I’ve spent my fair share of time coming up with fun things to do.
Here I’ve compiled 17 awesome road trip activities for adults that you can do along the way.
They’ll cure any long car-journey boredom, help you bond, and make your trip so much better. Read on to find the best fun things to do in the car for adults. Check out our other article explaining how to find attractions on your road trip route.
1. Eat At A Local Spot
You are going to be exploring a lot of exciting places as part of your road trip, so it’s a good idea to eat local.
There are a number of benefits associated with this.
First and foremost, eating local will often save you money. This is because the cost of food is much more expensive in popular tourist spots.
Furthermore, you will probably find that you will get to enjoy much better food if you eat local and you are going to get a real sense of what the place is all about.
After all, isn’t this why you are going on a road trip in the first place?
2. Watch The Sunrise Or Sunset (Or Both)
It is likely that you are going to see the sunrise and the sunset a number of times during your trip.
However, watching it from your vehicle is not the same as getting out of the car, stopping, and really enjoying it.
Grab a few beers and watch the sunset before you check in for the night.
It won’t cost you anything and is a great way to spend a couple of hours.
3. Read Reviews
Today, it’s easier to find information than it ever has been before.
This is because there are lots of great review websites and apps that are designed to assist with this.
With that being said, you have hundreds, if not thousands, of useful reviews that have been left by people who have already taken a similar road trip or have visited a place you are going to.
Make the most of their advice and suggestions. You’ll find out lots of really cool places to visit.
Local knowledge can really help because these people know their home areas like the back of their hands!
4. Stop And Play Sports
When you make a stop along the way, why not schedule a sporting activity?
This doesn’t mean you need to have a fully kitted-out competitive game of soccer!
There are lots of different fun-filled road trip activities for adults that can get your blood pumping and use up some energy.
For example, if you are going to be stopping near a beach, why not have a quick game of beach volleyball?
If you have a bit of money to spare from your budget, you may want to try something fun and different like indoor skydiving (or the outdoor version if you are feeling daring!)
5. Listen To A Podcast
Kill some time while you’re on the road by listening to a podcast.
This is not only fun but an effective way of staying stimulated as well.
There are some really great podcasts to listen to on a road trip out there, and of course, it’s all going to depend on what you are interested in.
Love football?
You’ll find plenty of podcasts discussing the recent games and tactics.
Varied tastes in the group?
Look for something a bit more general, like the How I Built This podcast.
This podcast takes people through some of the most interesting and famous businesses, explaining how they were born and the different twists and turns along the way.
6. Go Off-Road For Some Fun
Lots of great places are off the beaten track. Hiring a four-wheel drive (or taking your own if you’re lucky enough to own one) is a great way to spend some of your time. You can have some off-road fun AND access some cool hidden places.
Going off-road lets you explore some of the world’s best landscapes, and means you can get closer to nature than ever before. You can really get away from everything by getting into the wild.
This is one of my favorite things to do on a road trip and one of the best ideas for long car trips for adults! Don’t forget to use these off-road captions to perfectly describe the moments you capture on camera!
7. Document Your Trip In A Creative Way
This is going to involve a bit of work during your trip.
However, that’s not necessarily a bad thing if you have a long road trip ahead; it will give you a task to focus on and it will all be worth it at the end when you can look back over the fun times you had!
There are lots of different ways to document your trip.
Yes, taking photos of what you ate for breakfast, lunch, and dinner may be appealing, but that’s not the only way to go about it.
You could write down all of the places you loved the most in a classic diary-style journal.
Another option is to buy a small souvenir from every cool place you visit. You don’t have to spend a lot here, but something like a postcard or shot glass from each place could make a cool collection.
You could also consider taking a panning video at every stop, and then you can edit these together, creating a cool overview of your trip.
Other options to consider include writing a blog post and taking photos by every place name sign.
The options are endless but the key here is to be creative.
Ideas For Documenting Your Trip
- Keep a classic journal
- Buy a small souvenir from each place
- Take a panning video at each place and edit them all together
- Write a blog
- Take photos of/with place name signs
8. Go Camping
Another way to make your road trip more exciting is to go camping.
It’s likely that you are going to need to stop a few times along the way. However, rather than staying in a hotel at every stop, why not try something a little bit different and go camping instead?
This will be a fun experience that you and your travel companions will remember for years and years to come.
It’s up to you how rural you go. You may want to go out in the wild and camp for real or you may want to embrace glamping. Either way, it’s going to add an extra element of fun to your trip and will create a lot of memories for you all to cherish.
How To Find A Campsite
I use Ioverlander.
It’s an awesome site/app that will show you campsites (in map format) along your route.
One of its main advantages is the reviews from a large community of other users. There are often photos and descriptions of camping areas.
9. Play Games
One of the best road trip activities for adults and best ways to kill some time?
Road trip games of course!
No road trip would be complete without them.
There are lots of great games out there, so make sure you take the time to search through all of the different options that are available.
You may want games that challenge your mind, such as word games and quizzes, or you may just want some fun.
A deck of cards is always a solid choice for evenings or rest stops.
Cards Against Humanity is also a hilarious game that will bring up some random laughs along the way, so we definitely recommend that.
10. See Who Can Get The Most Photo Likes On Instagram
Set yourselves a challenge to take one AMAZING photo from the entire trip that you will post on Instagram, and see who can get the most likes and potentially go viral!
You will need to be creative with this. However, there will be lots of exciting photo ops, so it should not be too difficult.
Pro Tip: Post an inspirational quote with your picture. It’s a recipe for likes.
11. Play Fortunately/Unfortunately
This is a fun game to play, which involves using creativity and your imagination.
The first player starts with a statement, such as something that has happened.
Example: I broke up with my boyfriend.
The next person would say something about it, beginning with the word “fortunately”.
Example: Fortunately, he took it really well.
The next player then continues the story with something that starts with… You guessed it: “Unfortunately”.
Example: Unfortunately, he also took the dog.
Then you’re back to “fortunately”. Keep going like so until either you get bored, or the story is so bizarre you just have to finish!
12. Download Some Fun Apps
There are a lot of apps available today that are going to make your travel experience a lot more fun and enjoyable.
Of course, the obvious choice here would be to download game apps to keep you busy.
There are so many different game apps available today, from creating your own kingdoms to traditional games like Solitaire.
For inspiration, check out the article below.
It’s worth looking for games that can be played offline so you do not use up all of your data.
There are a lot of other fun apps that you can download and use as well. For example, travel apps will tell you the best places to visit and provide some fun tips along the way.
If you are taking a road trip to another country, you may want to download a language app such as Duolingo and practice your skills along the way.
13. Make Future Travel Plans
There is nothing quite as fun as creating future travel plans while on your current trip. This is a great way to spend some time and get the conversation going.
Think about the different places you want to visit next and craft your perfect trip.
There are fun ways to do this as well, for example, you can use a scratch world map and scratch off the different places to visit. There are also app versions of this if you do not want to add more things to your luggage.
Looking for more conversation starters?
14. Play Battle of The Bands
This is a really fun game to play in the car and one of the best road trip activities for adults, especially if you’re bored of listening to the same music!
With this, you have to think of a scenario, and then you all need to think of a song that matches the situation perfectly.
You then play everyone’s suggested songs and vote on the winner.
The winner gets to choose the next situation.
Example: the situation is getting locked in a lift. Everyone must think of a song that is associated with this or that would relate to how they would be feeling.
How To Play
- [Player One] Come up with a scenario
- [Everyone] Think of a song that is fitting with the scenario
- [Player One] Play all the songs
- [Everyone] Vote on the best – funniest/most clever/most fitting
- [Winner] Choose a new scenario
15. Tell A Story
Have you got someone with a good imagination in your car?
Get them to tell you a story! This is a great way to have a bit of fun. Or, see if someone can come up with a riddle.
Stories you could tell:
- A true story that your car companions might not know
- A hilarious story about something that happened to someone you know
- Your most embarrassing story
- Your saddest story
- A completely made-up story about wizards and elves
16. Put Together A Great Playlist For Your Road Trip
Music and the open road go hand in hand.
So, before you hit the road, make sure that you or one of your buddies spends some time putting together the perfect road trip playlist.
You’ll want to make sure that the playlist is varied.
Also, do not forget to check out some new radio stations along the way. It is always fun to see what sort of channels the locals listen to. You may even get a bit of a culture shock.
Of course, it’s important to make sure that you select music that everyone enjoys. You could also go for an audiobook if you want to enjoy something a bit different.
17. Take Photographs
Last but not least on our list of road trip activities for adults, it’s definitely a good idea to take photographs while on your trip.
You were probably planning to do this anyway.
However, you should consider how you are going to take photos and where they are going to be used in the end. For example, are you going to share them on social media or perhaps you’re thinking about creating your own scrapbook?
Thinking about this in advance will enable you to ensure you maximize any photo opportunities.
How To Share Your Photos
Create a shared album on your phone.
That way, you can all easily add your snaps to it.
This is by far the easiest way to ensure everyone has all the photos from the trip.
Road Trip Activities for Adults – Your Turn
Which was your favorite activity?
Or do you have more suggestions for road trip activities for adults that you like?
Either way, leave a comment below and let us know!
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