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I'm trying to plan a trip across America but there are no sites except KOA and Motel 6 which has trip planners. This means I can put in a beginning and ending address and they will give me all the campgrounds or motels alone the way. Does anyone know of a site like this for just campgrounds or how would one plan a trip across America without spending a full day looking at all the campsite which don't have all the info you want like KOA such as price.
Hello and welcome to the RTA forums !
I think that you should perhaps plan your stops around the journey, not the journey around places to stop for the night. In other words I personally wouldn't start by looking where campgrounds are located but by working out your trip and where you want to go based on your interests and time and then look for them, they are plentiful.
I would have a good look around the RTA forums and travel pages with a good map to hand and work on what it is you want to do. When you have done that we can offer some suggestions as to how you might be able to improve it or add recommendations and then you can start thinking of where to stay.
On a personal level I am not keen on KOA and would much rather enjoy a more natural feel that the National and State parks etc offer. If you need any further info just ask, but to answer your first one, No, I am not aware of any trip planners as you mention but neither would I want one. The beauty of the road trip is picking and choosing where you want to go and not be tied into someone elses ideas.
Using a mapping program such as google maps will help you on your way with the planning.
Have fun planning !
Welcome aboard the RoadTrip America Forums!
The AAA TripTik Travel Planner offers that service, But note that while it includes most state and national park campgrounds, I believe that commercial campgrounds (KOA and the like) would need to be AAA approved to be in their database. Also, you'll need to set 'Campgrounds' under the 'Show' Tab, and be zoomed in to nearly the 'City' level of map scale in order for them to show up on the map. Otherwise the mapping application is relatively straightforward.
AZBuck
While it sounds great to have a planner that will give you all of your options, the reality is that there really is too much data to have a program do what you are looking for. Every good sized city has a hundred motels, and almost every small town has at least one place to stay.
On a cross country trip, you'd be coming up with a list of motels that is several million items long, and that's just with motels. There are entire books listing all the camping options in the US, so that adds that much more data to the pile.
Its too much to really put into a program like you're hoping for, and its too much data to really be helpful. That's why the only places you'll find such a planner is where there are limits, like a specific chain.
I agree with Dave, I think you're going to end up with a much more enjoyable trip if you worry about where you want to go and stop, and then find places that are close to what you are looking for. Every place in the country will have some sort of motel and camping options that will work.
We're actually working on a program/tool that will enable one to find a variety of attractions (and campgrounds) on given routes found in our North America area. Alpha rollouts might be as soon as mid-April!
Mark
Hello.
Microsoft Streets & Trips will do it for you.
- Create route
- Calculate km/miles, gas usage in $
And most important: Select a place and set a perimeter, eg. 10 miles and you can choose to see all hotels/motels in that area. Or you can choose to see all hotels/motels/etc between two points in the radius you want.
2 month free trial btw