My Topic : Cost road trip from seattle to sanfrancisco
 

Looking for those who have taken this trip... anyone want to share the approximate cost of road trip from Seattle to San Francisco or similar.. will be renting car and taking 10-12 days.. would really appreciate as I finalize the plans for September...

That's just about impossible to answer without knowing what kind of car you will be renting, your budget for lodgings (how many rooms?) and meals, and anything you might want to visit along the way.

You can easily do your own estimates.

Step 1 - Go to any of the Car Rental websites (Hertz, Avis, National, Budget, etc.) and put in your planned dates of travel and size of car you desire. You'll get a quote for the cost.

Step 2 - Go to Google Maps or Mapquest to plot out your intended route to get an idea of the miles you'll be driving on that trip. Divide that number by 20 to get an idea of the number of gallons of gas you'll need. Multiply that number by the average cost of a gallon of gas in your hometown. Add 15% to the number for contingency. The total will come close to your fuel costs.

Step 3 - Check out the range of daily room prices on hotel/motel websites that fit your specific needs .

Step 4 - For meals estimate how much you'd spend if you ate the same number of meals at the same type of places where you now live. Add 20% to that number for contingencies. The result will give you a workable food budget.

Step 5 - Set aside an amount for admissions and activities while you are on your trip. Since everyone's interests are different only YOU will now how much your party will need for this.

Is this in your own car?
Or you are renting a car?
If renting, are you picking it up in SF and returning it in Seattle?

What kind of places do you like to stay? Will this be in inexpensive roadside motels or high-end lodges or something in between?

What kind of meals are you planning on? Picnics from the grocery store with an ice chest in your car? Or eating out in nice restaurants?

It really doesn't matter what other people have spent on a similar trip unless their travel style is the same as yours :-) suze

Tell us a bit more and we can maybe help.

You can spend very little driving your own car, camping and cooking your own meals. Gas would be expensive and camping isn't free but doing -- that would average maybe $50 a day.

Or you can spend a LOT renting an SUV, paying enormous drop off fees, gas, nice to very nice hotels, some inexpensive meals and some great meals -- that would average maybe $300 or $400 per day.

And anywhere in between (or above).

. . . which you can figure out on your own

car rental , coming from west coast fl, starting in Seattle and driving to San Francisco... i guess the car rental will be my biggest expense Thank you for the suggestion of calling the rental companies.. we plan on doing some cabins and yurts in state parks to attempt to keep cost down.. one of those trips... we never be able to do again. I was hoping that someone would share what they spent.. Thanks.. all information is valuable toward the final plan

http://oregonstateparks.org/index.cf...sp_cabinsyurts
Is a website for cabins and yurts in Oregon. When you choose one and click it takes you to a page where you see rates.
Most rustic cabins and yurts seem to be in the $45-50/night range.

http://www.travelmath.com/cost-of-dr...+Francisco,+CA
Is a calculator for gas prices estimates about $100 one-way


https://www.kayak.com/cars/San-Franc...-02/2017-09-09
Is a link using Kayak to look at the different rental car agency options and prices.
Looks like about $500-700 for a one week rental from SF pick up and Seattle drop off

I would start with something like this below, then fill in the actual figures as I get more facts about the car rental, make lodging reservations, and so forth.

*ball park estimate*

$75 x 10 lodging in state parks = $750
$250 x 1 night hotel in SF and 1 night Seattle = $500
12 days rental car = $900
Gas = $100
Food @ $50/day x 12 = $600

$2,175 basic expenses estimate for 12 day trip