25 Best Road Trip books for Young Adults

Looking for YA Books For Summer? What’s better than a good road trip book? I’ve compiled the 25 Best Road Trip Books For Young Adults, from the 2000s to the 2020s. There’s room in the car for you, so hop in and let’s go! Updated for Summer 2026!

24 Best Road Trip Books for Young Adults

If you are looking for some great YA Books for Summer Reading, both classic Y2K YA and 2020s titles, you are in the right place! Here are some of the Best YA Road Trip books for Teens and Young Adults!

Romantic YA road trip books for summer reading

Y2K Road Trip fiction for teens was all about The Quest, which was a very popular trope in young adult books in the 2000s. The quest was often a romantic one. The hate-to-love road trip was also a popular trope.

Paper Towns (2008) by John Green has an epic road trip scene as a boy and his friends travel in search of an unattainable girl. In The Disenchantments (2012) by Nina LaCour, Colby’s girlfriend ditches out on their planned band tour trip, so he does the road trip without her.

---

Hate to Love road trip books for teens

Hate to Love romance road trip? Uh, yes please! Right of Way (2013) by Lauren Barnholdt is a great example. Open Road Summer (2014) by Emery Lord  also features a guarded, sarcastic young woman who accompanies her BFF, an up-and-coming musician, on tour.

Hate to Love never goes out of style and it’s a trope that is thriving in the 2020s.

Places We’ve Never Been (2022) by Kasie West features a teen who takes a family road trip with a former guy friend who now seems to hate her. Exactly Where You Need to Be (2022) by Amelia Diane Coombs is also about a girl who reluctantly takes a road trip to see her favorite podcast live.

America’s Not So Sweetheart (2025) features a teen reality TV villain who invites his showman dude to go on a road trip with him, after betraying him to win the show.

Steps Along the Way by Anna Sortino (2025) is about a girl with serious health concerns who runs into a board game club rival while on the East Coast to pick up her college student sister for summer break. He’s there to pick up his brother, so the four of them caravan back to Nebraska. But maybe love is the most dangerous game of all!

---

Best YA road trip books about mental health

In the 2010s, many road trip books focused on mental health. The 2020s added new plot lines, such as identity quests, college tours, and even heritage trips.

In Amy and Roger’s Epic Detour by Morgan Matson, a girl who has a phobia of driving finds someone to take her cross-country. All the Bright Places (2015) by Jennifer Niven featured a trip that was part Y2K Quest and part healing journey.

Grief books were popular in the 2010s. Saving June by Hannah Harrington (2012) is a touching story is about a road trip with the remains of a loved one. In Honor (2012) by Jessi Kirby This grief book includes a road trip as a girl seeks to honor her brother killed in combat.

The 2020s brought a new focus on reproductive rights. Plan A (2023) by Deb Calletti featured a teen forced to take a road trip to terminate a pregnancy.

---

Post-breakup road trip books for teens

The classic post-breakup road trip book in 2000s YA is The Disenchantments by Nina Lacour. Colby and his girlfriend Bev were planning on a trip to Europe. When she decides to break up with him and head to college, he and Bev still have to do their band tour across the Pacific Northwest.

Post break-up road trips have been popular in the 2020s. In This One’s For You (2023) by Kate Sweeney, two former best friends reluctantly team up for a road trip homage to a band. Melt With You (2022) by Jennifer Dugan features two exes who have to join forces and take a food truck on a road trip to a series of food festivals. Heartbreak Boys (2022) by Simon James Green features two recently dumped guys who take a road trip as a way to show their exes that they are over them!

---

---

College Tour road trip books for teens

In Y2K YA, the SAT and homework were just afterthoughts as YA characters tried to save their dystopian world. But in the 2020s, YA books started incorporating college admissions plots and subplots.

In Rules for Rule Breaking (2024) by Talia Tucker, two Korean-American rival students join forces for a college road trip.

Road trip rivals remain popular in 2020s fiction for teens. Everyone Hates Kelsie Miller (2022) by Meredith Ireland, a character agrees to do a college tour road trip AND find out why her former best friend ghosted her.

In Lulu and Milagro’s Search for Clarity (2022) by Angela Velez, two very different sisters take a college tour road trip to Stanford.

All the Way Around the Sun (2025) by Xixi Tian combines grief themes with a college trip as a girl grieving her brother’s death gets sent on a college tour of California with an old friend.

NEW: Heritage Road Trips

Characters taking heritage trips are also more common in 2020s YA. In The Karma Map (2023) by Nisha Sharma, a teen youth group takes a temple trip through North India.

Better Catch Up, Krishna Kumar (2026) is about a girl finishing up a summer in India. When she realizes that college is looming and she’s never been kissed, she and two girls set off to crash a wedding and kiss her (male) crush. But maybe the person she wants to kiss is right there in the car!

---

Friend Group Road Trip Books for Teens

Get Real, Chloe Torres by Crystal Maldonado (2025) is about a trio of girlfriends who do an epic roadtrip to see their fave band.

Amelia If Only by Becky Albertalli (2025) is about a girl who convinces her friends to road trip to a meet and greet held by her fave bisexual YouTuber, whom she also invited to prom.

---

What do you think are the Best Road Trip Books for Young Adults? Tell me about them in comments!

Want to watch the classic Y2K road trip movie filled with friendship, music, and romance? Check out my post on Crossroads, starring Britney Spears!