The Best Road Trip Atlas for Weird & Unusual Places & Attractions

Tired of the same old travel plans? Looking for unusual places to visit? Here are the best road trip atlas options for weird and unusual attractions…

When you've been RVing as long as we have, you start to tire of the same old mainstream destinations. And when you've been RVing as long as we have, you realize how many weird, unusual, and interesting places there are to see across the country.

There's a lot! So much so that there are entire road trip atlases, guidebooks, and travel guides on unique places to visit.

So, we decided to round up the best of the best. They just might inspire your next RV road trip!

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What's the Best Road Trip Atlas?

Well, that depends on your interests! So, we've compiled several great options for you.

The following atlases and guidebooks will open your travel plans to interesting places and unusual attractions you likely would have never known about otherwise!

1. A Haunted Road Atlas

Are you a True Crime fan? Have you heard of the hit podcast And That's Why We Drink? Well, the creators, Christine Schiefer and Em Schulz, put together this Haunted Road Atlas with “Sinister Stops, Dangerous Destinations, and True Crime Tales.”

If you're looking for a bit of creepy excitement, this is the road atlas for you. They also include their personal recommendations for the best local bars, ice cream parlors, oddity museums, curiosity shops, and more. It's sure to be a weird trip!

2. Unique America

Unique America is a collection of quirky roadside history and cool Americana. It delivers on its promise of taking you “A Trip Through America” that is “Strange, Unusual, and Just Plain Fun.”

It covers a wide range of unusual roadside attractions and natural wonders, from the world's largest globe that you can walk through to historic castles to giant prospectors. There's really something for everyone to look at, chuckle at, and say, “That's oddly interesting.”

3. National Geographic Kids Ultimate U.S. Road Trip Atlas

How about letting the kids or grandkids direct your next road trip? This National Geographic Kids U.S. Road Trip Atlas gets kids really excited and involved in your travel plans.

And, regardless of your age, it lists cool and fun things to do in different states. Things that will appeal to your inner child, like Secret Caverns in New York or the El Dorado Gold Mine in Alaska.

4. Roadfood: An Eater's Guide

Do you plan your road trips around food? You're certainly not alone, and we have a guide just for you! Roadfood is an “Eater's Guide to More Than 1,000 of the Best Local Hot Spots and Hidden Gems Across America.”

This eater's guide was first published in 1977 and is currently on it's 10th edition. It's considered a “treasure house of information” for travelers tired of food chains.

5. Atlas Obscura

We must immediately point out that this is a world atlas of hidden wonders, so the U.S. portion is limited. However, we must include it on this list because it's just so cool (and the USA section is excellent, even if limited).

Any travel lover would love to flip through this book, and we should really add it to our lists of the 10 Coffee Table Books for Your RV Picnic Table and the 10 Best Books to Read While Camping.

If you're a world traveler as well as an RVer, this is a must-have atlas. You may also want to get their Gastro Obscura, a food adventurer's guide to what people around the world eat and drink.

How to Find Interesting Stops on a Road Trip

Are you already on the road and need to find things to do along the way? Are you not interested in a specific guidebook? Well, have no fear because Roadtrippers is here to save the day.

Roadtrippers is a website and mobile app that helps travelers find interesting places along your route. So if you already have a main destination in mind, you can use Roadtrippers to fill in your itinerary during the road trip.

Using Roadtrippers is just one of our suggestions on How to Find Hidden Gems (RVers Share Their Secrets)…

21 Best Travel Guides for RVers

As interesting as the above books and atlases are, you may want to use them as supplements to the best travel guides. And, lucky for you, we've made a list of those, too!

As RVers, Jennifer and I are always looking for resources to improve our travels, and books have been a big part of our travel kit. 

So, we’ve put together a list of must-have travel books for RVers. This list includes incredibly helpful atlases and guides for any RVer or road traveler.

They mainly focus on more mainstream destinations, but they also include some unique places and interesting things to do in the area. Click here to check out the list…

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This bundle contains our ever-popular Michigan Upper Peninsula 7-Stop Adventure Guide PLUS the NEW LOWER Michigan Adventure Guide PLUS the US Side Tour of the Great Lakes! This ULTIMATE Bundle will help you keep enjoying Michigan and the Great Lakes for years!

Last update on 2025-04-29 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API