16 Interesting Road Trip Activities with Friends 

Road trip activities with friends are usually the best part of road trips when traveling with a group of friends. They make the trip interesting, less long, and worth the while. To avoid the long awkward silence that makes road trips boring, this list of fun things to do on a road trip with friends will help enhance your relationship especially if you don’t see each other often and want to make the most of the journey. If you are looking forward to connecting with your friends on a road trip then this article is for you. 

Having friends when you travel can make the experience that much more enjoyable. Not only will they be a great source of amusement and companionship, but they will also help to relieve some of the stress associated with traveling. Plus, having someone to share your experiences with afterward can be really rewarding. If you’re worried about how your friends will react to your trip, don’t worry—most people are quite accepting once they know about it!

When planning your trip, remember to factor in time for socializing as well as exploring new areas. This way, everyone involved will have an amazing time and come away feeling enriched both mentally and physically. There are several fun things to do on a road trip with friends. Some of these activities are educational while others are entertaining and help to keep the energy level high throughout your trip with your friends. 

Here are some entertaining and exciting fun things to do on a road trip with friends. Save this list for your next road trip:

See a Movie

One interesting thing to do on a road trip with your friends is to see a good fantasy or comedy film. It transports you to a different world entirely and makes your trip less long. Here are some interesting movies and series you can see on a road trip: 

• Girls trip
• The Witcher
• The afterlife of the party
• The tourist
• Vacation
• Mysterious island 
• Fantasy island
• Me time 
• The Sandman
• Never have I ever
• Day shift
• End of the road
• A Madea homecoming
• Bad trip

These are entertaining movies you can watch with your friends on a road trip to kill boredom and enjoy the time spent together. You can find them on Netflix and Netnaija. This activity can be done by everyone except the driver because he or she needs to concentrate on the road.

Carpool Karaoke

Carpool Karaoke is a fun road trip activity for everyone including the driver. All you have to do is play the beat of a song everyone is familiar with and let everyone sing along. You can make this more interesting by penalizing people who have forgotten the lyrics. You can go further by asking your friends to make a list of the songs they love, download it and ask them to sing their favorite songs one after the other. It’s fun to watch your friends sing even if they are not so good at it. It is interesting and makes everyone happy. If you’re looking for fun things to do on a trip with friends, karaoke should be among your top consideration.

Play the Complete the Lyric Game

This is another fun and interesting road trip activity. put one of your friends in the spotlight, play a song, pause it and ask them to complete the lyrics. The rule is simple, continue singing the song as if it wasn’t paused. Make sure to punish losers and reward winners. This game will fill your stomach with laughter and make you cry with laughter. 

Sing Along While Listening to Music

Singing along to your favorite songs makes you happy and singing with your friends to songs you’ve known for a long time is divine and can help you all connect, the feeling is a blend of happiness and nostalgia – making you enjoy the present moment and reminding you of the good old days. This is a perfect road trip activity for you and your friends, especially if y’all are trying to catch up and get closer again after a long busy break.

Traveling with kids soon? Check out these fun things to do on a road trip with kids.

Do Something Spontaneous 

A road trip is a time to let loose, go all out and have fun. Doing something you wouldn’t do on a normal day is adventurous and can make your travel experience better. Stop by a local attraction that you didn’t plan to, a restaurant, hike a mountain, swim in the local river, or visit a popular spot in the city. If you are driving, ditch the map and just drive through nature, enjoying every bit of it.

Have a Deep Conversation

This is the point where you all begin to share stories about your life and how adulthood has been so far. This is catch-up and bonding time. It can get boring, especially if no one wants to go first but you can start by asking simple questions about work and personal goals – these questions will spark the conversation and make your friends relax and open to talking about what’s going on with them. This is one way to get closer to your friends and understand them.

Traveling with your spouse? These 14 Romantic Road Trip Activities for Couples will make your trip a memorable one

Stop by a Local Attraction

One fun thing to do on your trip is to stop the trip and enjoy the history of the town you are passing through. This doesn’t just expose you to new knowledge, it is enjoyable especially if you are doing this with the people you love. You can stop by a popular tourist attraction like a restaurant and enjoy a local delicacy, hike a famous mountain, go shopping in a famous shopping street or enjoy the serenity of a natural forest or garden. All these activities make sure you enjoy your road trip with your friend because it’s the journey that matters not the destination.

Turn up the Radio 

If you are driving or traveling in your car then turn up the radio. There are some exciting programs on the radio and sometimes we ignore it entirely to focus on other things – which is not wholly out of place but sometimes, give the radio a chance, and turn it up! You will be amazed at the kind of exciting programs you’ve been missing out on. Don’t get discouraged if you turn it up and it’s not giving the vibe you want, you’ll have to search for a program that best suits your mood. 

Document Your Trip

Documenting your trip is fun to do while traveling because it helps you enjoy the moment. Take turns in filming each other and taking unaware pictures of each other. It is also a way of keeping memories. You can save these videos and pictures on your SD cards, laptop, or even on social media like Instagram, Youtube, or Facebook so that you can get a yearly reminder of your trip.

Read also: 15 fun things to do on a long car ride

Listening to audiobooks/podcasts

This is one activity that everyone in the car can enjoy including the driver. Listening to true crime podcasts or motivational audiobooks can take your trip with your friends to a whole new level. It is a fun way to learn something new on your trip. To make this more interesting, for every podcast episode/audiobook chapter have a mini chat, and share your thoughts on the just concluded episode/chapter before moving into the next. This will ensure that everyone is participating and will open everyone to a new perspective.

Learn Something New

Here is your free time to learn something new, because you get too busy with life again, learn something new on your trip. It could be stopping by a popular spot to learn a few things about the culture of the people. There are a ton of things you could learn on your trip, one of which is learning a new language. You could also perfect your design skill, try to sketch nature, and learn how to write a good CV or a sales copy – you never know when these skills will come in handy.

Play the truth and dare game

This game is quite simple and interesting, it is a game that can help you discover your friend. It is also a bonding game. Here are the rules, you ask your friend “truth or dare” when someone picks truth, they have to tell the truth and when someone picks dare, they have to do a dare. You can penalize defaulters who would refuse to be dared or tell the truth.

Here are some truth-or-dare questions:

• Tell me the truth about the most embarrassing thing you’ve done on a date.
• I dare you to name someone you pretended to like but couldn’t stand.
• I dare you to tell me the most embarrassing thing you’ve done in your life.
• I dare you to tell me something you love to do with your friends that you never want your partner to know about.
• Tell me the truth, how many times a week do you wear the same pants? 
• Tell me the truth, have you ever considered cheating on your partner?

These are some fun questions you can ask your friends while playing the game, here is a time to bond with your friends as you can ask questions from any aspect of their lives and be sure to get the truth because of the rules of the game. 

Enjoy Nature

Travelling can get so overwhelming that we forget the real reason for traveling. Whether you are traveling for fun or work, it won’t hurt to have a relaxing and energy-filled road trip. Letting yourself enjoy nature can be so soothing and relaxing. Take the time to meditate, rest your brain and just bask in the fullness of nature’s glory. If you are traveling with your friends or spouse we suggest having a picnic, snacking, and having deep conversations on the roadside – if it’s too sunny find a natural shade.

Play the 2 truth and a lie game

This game is fun as it leaves you guessing which is the truth or the lie. The rule is to tell two truths and a lie and allow your friends to choose which is the truth and which is the lie. To keep the game going, the person who guesses correctly should go next until everyone in the group has played. If nobody’s got it correctly, give them punishment and let the game go on. The truth and a lie game are also amazing fun things to do on a road trip for adults.

We also created these moving hacks to help you when relocating to a new city. 

Take on a Mini Project

To stay productive on your trip, take on a mini-project. It could be something small like clearing your phone cache, checking up on your friend, creating a playlist, replying to that business email, and completing a task you started. It could also be learning a new language. It is one activity that leaves you fulfilled and refreshed.

Snack On

The best part about road trips is the delicious snack and meals you can carry to munch on your way and yes, it is an exciting way to bond as snacking makes movies, conversations, and games a lot more interesting. You can make a list of road trip snacks like:

• Avocado toast
• Granola bars
• Pizza
• Biscuits
• Chocolates 
• Popcorn
• Peanut
• Groundnut
• Cashew nut
• Cakes 

They are enjoyable especially while playing games and doing other road trip activities. They also give you energy and make you agile to do all your road trip activities with your friends.

Here are carefully curated lunch ideas for road trips.

Also read road trip activities for adults in 2022 to make your trip a fun-filled one

Final thoughts 

Having a conversation with your friends on a road trip can move your trip from 0-100 and give you a deeper connection with your friends while on a road trip. Playing free road trip games like truth or dare, complete the lyrics, and 2 truths and a dare can fill your heart with laughter and leave you crying with excitement. 

If one of you is driving, it will be fun to take turns in driving, and pack a lot of snacks – you can all go shopping before you begin the trip, or pack snacks individually while packing your travel bags. To enjoy the trip everyone has to be intentional, bring along everything that will make the trip more fun like a DVD and even a music box, and everyone must participate in the all activities. Save these fun ideas for long road trips for all your road trips fun activities.

Check out this printable holiday packing list for your next vacation.