The Best Audiobooks for Your Next Roadtrip

Best Audiobooks for Couples Road Trips: ‘The Road Trip’ By Beth O’Leary

The Road Trip By Beth O’Leary tells the story of Dylan and Addie, two exes who fell wildly in love with each other during their time in France almost four years ago. Fast-forward to the present, the two have been exes for almost two years but crash into each other on their way to a mutual friend’s wedding. “Cramped into the same space, Dylan and Addie are forced to confront the choices they made that tore them apart—and ask themselves whether that final decision was the right one after all,” the description reads. 

Best Audiobooks for Couples Road Trips: ‘The Summer of Broken Rules’ by K. L. Walther

After going through tremendous loss, Meredith Fox travels to Martha’s Vineyard for a summer wedding to try to distract herself in The Summer of Broken Rules by K. L. Walther. One game, however, changes her entire trip. “When Meredith forms an assassin alliance with a cute groomsman, she finds herself getting distracted,” the description reads. “Meredith tries to focus on the game and win it for her sister, but she can’t help falling for him.”

Best Audiobooks for Couples Road Trips: ‘People We Meet on Vacation’ by Emily Henry

Emily Henry’s People We Meet on Vacation follows two former best friends Alex and Poppy who have nothing in common except for the years of friendship behind them. One day, knowing how much she misses him, Poppy asks for one more vacation together to make everything right again. “Miraculously, he agrees,” the description reads.

Best Audiobooks for Family Road Trips: ‘The Lightning Thief: Percy Jackson and the Olympians’ By Rick Riordan

In a now-classic book series by Rick Riordan, The Lightning Thief: Percy Jackson and the Olympians tells the story of Percy Jackson, a twelve-year-old boy whose world flips upside down when he finds out he’s a demigod (aka the son of a Greek god). Not only does he have to come to terms with his new identity, but Percy also becomes the main suspect in stealing Zeus’ lightning bolt, something he now has to return before a war breaks out between Gods. 

“To succeed in his quest, Percy will have to do more than catch the true thief: he must come to terms with the father who abandoned him; solve the riddle of the Oracle, which warns him of failure and betrayal by a friend; and unravel a treachery more powerful than the gods themselves,” the synopsis reads.

Best Audiobooks for Family Road Trips: ‘The Girl Who Could Fly’ By Victoria Forester

The Girl Who Could Fly by Victoria Forester tells the story of Piper McCloud, a young girl who has one remarkable ability: she can fly! And while that might be exciting for any kid, Piper is taken attend a top-secret, maximum-security school for kids with exceptional abilities.

Best Audiobooks for Family Road Trips: ‘From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler’ by E. L. Konigsburg

From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E. L. Konigsburg tells the story of two siblings, Claudia and Jamie, as they escape their family’s home and start living in an all-too-familiar place: the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. “Once settled into the museum, Claudia and Jamie find themselves caught up in the mystery of an angel statue that the museum purchased at an auction for a bargain price of $250,” the description reads. “The statue is possibly an early work of the Renaissance master Michelangelo, and therefore worth millions. Or is it? Claudia is determined to find out.”

Best Non-Fiction Audiobooks for Road Trips: ‘Call You When I Land’ by Nikki Vargas

The touching memoir Call You When I Land by Nikki Vargas tells the story of a 26-year-old advertising agent who, after getting a freelance writing assignment abroad, begins to question everything about her seemingly perfect life. “Taking her from the street food stalls of Vietnam to the cascading waterfalls of Argentina, Nikki uncovers shocking truths about her family, comes face to face with a new love interest—or two—and ultimately turns a no-name blog into the internationally celebrated venture of Unearth Women, the first major female-focused travel publication,” the description reads. 

Best Non-Fiction Audiobooks for Road Trips: ‘Leave Only Footprints: My Acadia-to-Zion Journey Through Every National Park’ by Conor Knighton

With a broken engagement and a broken heart, Conor Knighton sets off on a mission to visit all the national parks in the United States in a single year in Leave Only Footprints: My Acadia-to-Zion Journey Through Every National Park. And while he was hesitant at first, the adventure quickly begins the best experience of his lifetime. 

“Whether he’s waking up early for a naked scrub in a historic bathhouse in Arkansas or staying up late to stargaze along our loneliest highway in Nevada, Knighton weaves together the type of stories you’re not likely to find in any guidebook,” the description reads. 

Best Non-Fiction Audiobooks for Road Trips: ‘World Travel: An Irreverent Guide’ by Anthony Bourdain

Written by the late food critic and TV personality Anthony Bourdain, World Travel: An Irreverent Guide lets readers into why Bourdain loved exploring the world through food, from the most cosmopolitan cities in Asia to hidden treasures in his hometown of New York City. “In World Travel, a life of experience is collected into an entertaining, practical, fun and frank travel guide that gives listeners an introduction to some of his favorite places – in his own words,” the description reads. 

Best Funny Audiobooks for Road Trips: ‘Where’d You Go, Bernadette’ By Maria Semple

While this may not be a straightforward comedy, Where’d You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple has the perfect blend of funny, mysterious and utterly fascinating. The story follows Bernadette Fox, a former architect and mom (to daughter Bee) whose frustration with her daily life leads her to disappear one day without a trace. “To find her mother, Bee compiles email messages, official documents, secret correspondence – creating a compulsively readable and touching novel about misplaced genius and a mother and daughter’s role in an absurd world,” the description reads. 

Best Funny Audiobooks for Road Trips: ‘Born a Crime’ by Trevor Noah

While we all know Trever Noah from his years as a talk show host, his book Born a Crime tells the funny yet inspiring story of Noah’s birth as a mixed-race kid during South Africa’s brutal apartheid. “Whether subsisting on caterpillars for dinner during hard times, being thrown from a moving car during an attempted kidnapping, or just trying to survive the life-and-death pitfalls of dating in high school, Trevor illuminates his curious world with an incisive wit and unflinching honesty,” the description reads.

Best Funny Audiobooks for Road Trips: ‘The Mostly True Story of Tanner & Louise’ By Colleen Oakley

The Mostly True Story of Tanner & Louise by Colleen Oakley tells the story of an unlikely duo that come up with a mutual agreement: twenty-one-year-old Tanner Quimby will serve as a caretaker while 84-year-old Louise obeys her daughter’s order. That is, however, until Tanner begins to see signs that Louise is hiding a big secret. “Thus begins the story of a not-to-be-underestimated elderly woman and an aimless young woman who—if they can outrun the mistakes of their past—might just have the greatest adventure of their lives,” the description reads.

Best Mystery Audiobooks for Road Trips: ‘The Man in the Brown Suit’ by Agatha Christie

Agatha Christie’s The Man in the Brown Suit, first published in 1924, tells the page-turning stories of Anne Beddingfeld as she goes on a quest all the way to South Africa to find answers after a series of unexpected and unexplained murders. 

Best Mystery Audiobooks for Road Trips: ‘First Lie Wins’ by Ashley Elston.

Also in the mystery category is Reese Witherspoon’s newest book club pick, First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston. The novel follows Evie Porter, a woman who appears to have the perfect life but is actually living a double life. “She uses an alias and her job is to infiltrate people’s lives and execute takedowns whenever her boss, the mysterious Mr. Smith, says to,” Witherspoon explained in her announcement. “She has to stay one step ahead of her past to make sure she will have a future in front of her.”

Best Mystery Audiobooks for Road Trips: ‘All the Sinners Bleed’ by S.A. Cosby

Announced as one of Amazon’s Best Books of the Year, All the Sinners Bleed by S.A. Cosby tells the fictional story of Titus Crown, the first Black sheriff in the history of Charon County, Virginia. A year into the role, the town suffers two homicides that change everything. “As Titus investigates the shootings, he unearths terrible crimes and a serial killer who has been hiding in plain sight, haunting the dirt lanes and woodland clearings of Charon,” the description reads.