Use this RV trip cost calculator to estimate what a trip will cost before you book it. Enter your miles, nights, and travelers, and you get your fuel, campsite, and food costs, plus a total and a cost per day. It works for any RV and any length of trip.
How to Use the Calculator
Pick your RV class, then enter your miles, MPG, nights, and travelers. Set the price per gallon and campsite cost with the sliders, and choose a daily spending style for food, activities, and extras. Press Calculate to see your total, cost per day, and cost per person. The MPG field starts with a typical number for your class, so replace it if you know yours.
What Goes Into an RV Trip Budget
Fuel. Your miles divided by your MPG, times the price per gallon. For a closer look at fuel alone, try our RV fuel cost calculator.
Campsites. Your number of nights times the nightly rate. Free nights on public land and longer stays bring your average rate down.
Food. Groceries are cheap, and restaurant meals add up fast. RJourney puts groceries for a family of four at $150 to $250 a week.
Activities. Entry fees, tours, and tickets add up in popular areas. A national park entrance fee runs $20 to $35 per vehicle, according to RJourney.
Small extras. Propane, dump fees, firewood, and tolls are small one by one, but they add up over a long trip. A cushion on top of the total covers them.
How the Calculator Adds It Up
Fuel and campsites are exact: miles over MPG times your price, and nights times your nightly rate. Food, activities, and extras depend on how you travel, so you pick a daily style per person, from frugal at $20 to luxury at $120. The calculator multiplies it by your travelers and nights, then adds all three parts into one total.
A Sample RV Trip
Say a couple takes a Class C 1,000 miles over 7 nights. At 11 MPG and $4.50 a gallon, fuel costs about $409, seven nights at $40 come to $280, and the moderate style adds $700 for food and fun. That totals about $1,390, or roughly $200 a day, which sits inside RJourney’s range of $120 to $250 a day for a family of four who own their RV.
Typical RV Campsite Costs
Campsite price is the biggest swing in most budgets. RJourney lists about $25 to $45 a night at state parks and $40 to $90 at full-hookup private parks and resorts, while boondocking on public land is free, so mix in cheaper nights where you can.
If you plan to visit several national parks, the annual America the Beautiful pass costs $80 for U.S. residents and covers entrance and standard day-use fees at those sites.
Costs People Forget
Propane runs about $20 to $40 per trip, dump stations $10 to $25 per visit, and firewood $6 to $10 a bundle, according to RJourney. Add tolls, pet fees, and laundry if they apply.
Then keep a cushion for the unexpected. RJourney suggests adding about 10 percent to your total, so a small repair or an extra night does not blow up the budget.
How to Lower Your RV Trip Cost
Stay longer in each place. Fewer driving days means less fuel and less rushing, and RJourney notes that staying at one basecamp cuts fuel and moving costs. Our trip planning guide shows how to set a daily distance.
Cook most of your meals, and travel in the shoulder season, when campsites cost less. Fuel is the one cost that responds to how you drive, so our gas mileage guide explains what moves your MPG and how to track it.
Your Next Step
Run the calculator with your best guesses, then change one slider at a time to see what moves the total most. If you are still deciding whether to buy, our ownership costs guide shows what the yearly bills look like.