🧳 Trip Cost Calculator

This trip cost calculator estimates the total budget for a vacation or road trip by adding up the four expenses that usually make up the bulk of travel spending: fuel, accommodation, food, and activities or miscellaneous costs. It's built for road-trippers who want a fuel estimate in either miles or kilometers, and for anyone planning a multi-day trip who wants a realistic total and per-person cost before booking.

How It Works

Fuel cost is worked out from your distance, your vehicle's fuel efficiency, and the price of fuel — using miles and mpg in US mode, or kilometers and L/100km in metric mode — with an option to automatically double the distance for a round trip. Accommodation cost is nights × rate per night, and food cost is days × cost per person per day × number of travelers. Adding a flat amount for activities and other spending gives the Total Trip Cost, which is then divided by the number of travelers to show the Cost Per Person.

Why It Matters

Vacation budgets are easy to underestimate when fuel, lodging, food and extras are tracked separately or not at all. Seeing a single breakdown table alongside the total and per-person cost makes it much easier to compare trip options, split costs fairly among travelers, and avoid nasty surprises once you're already on the road.

Tips for Accurate Results

• Use your vehicle's real-world fuel efficiency rather than the manufacturer's rated figure — highway driving, load, and terrain all affect it.
• Remember that the food cost field is per person per day, so it already scales with your traveler count — don't multiply it again in the Misc field.
• Add trip insurance, tolls, parking, and souvenir budgets into Activities / Misc so the total reflects your full spending, not just fuel and lodging.
• If flying instead of driving, leave fuel at zero and put your flight cost into Activities / Misc to still get an accurate combined total.