We’re in the thick of summer, and if you don’t already have airline tickets booked for a getaway, you’re probably thinking a road trip is the best idea for keeping vacation prices down. With your music blasting and the A/C turned up, a road trip is a fun and flexible way to travel: You can stop anytime you're tired or if you see an intriguing road sign and, as long as the gas-station snacks are free-flowing, you could drive all the way across the country.
Hopefully you’re already in a state that supports a good long road trip with quirky surprises and interesting stretches of road rather than monotonously straight highway. And an easy way to find out if that's the case is with WalletHub's new report on the the best and worst states for summer road trips this year. The list takes into account important details like the average price of gas in each state, the cost of pit stops to dine and stay, and even the number of roadway accidents.
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The best state for a road trip this summer? It’s beautiful Minnesota: the state is huge on parks and recreation for your greenspace rest stop, and there are a ton of fairs and festivals to drop in on, like Winstock, the Twin Cities Jazz Festival and Lakes Jam. Safety-minded folks will be glad to hear Minnesota has the country’s third-fewest car fatalities per million miles traveled and the fourth-best bridge quality. (It always ruins a good vacation when the bridge collapses, doesn’t it?). Things are relatively affordable here, too, with low-cost camping, hotel stays and car repairs.
In second place is New York with all its fun roadside attractions and nightlife throughout the state. There are plenty of hotels and restaurants to break up the ride and, something that history buffs will appreciate, it has the second most National Historic Landmarks per capita in the U.S. That includes everything from the Empire State Building to the Susan B. Anthony Museum & House, the latter of which is currently undergoing a $25 million campaign to expand. (We’re thrilled!) There are some good safety measures in place for New York drivers (although there’s this), such as protective driving laws and being the fourth-lowest state for people using their phone while behind the wheel.
The third best state for road tripping is Ohio with its array of zoos, botanical gardens and amusement parks. Like Minnesota, it also boasts a lot of summer fairs and festivals, the second highest in the nation, and it offers plenty of hotels and restaurants per capita.
The other side of the coin? Delaware is said to be the worst state for road trippers, followed by Connecticut and then Rhode Island. But we cry foul because Vermont is ranked fourth-worst and we know for a fact that those roads winding through the Green Mountain state, past fields of cows and barns, are gorgeous and well worth traveling!
The 10 best U.S. states for a road trip this summer:
1. Minnesota
2. New York
3. Ohio
4. Utah
5. Louisiana
6. Florida
7. Idaho
8. Texas
9. North Carolina
10. Pennsylvania
The 10 worst U.S. states for a road trip this summer:
1. Delaware
2. Connecticut
3. Rhode Island
4. Vermont
5. Montana
6. Hawaii
7. California
8. New Mexico
9. Arkansas
10. Maryland