Three Good Stops

Kansas City to Albuquerque: where to stop

788 miles, about 12 hr 16 min of driving. Here are the real towns worth stopping in between Kansas City, MO and Albuquerque, NM, and why each one earned it.

Your first stop

Emporia, KSStretch your legs in Emporia, KS · mile 136

The other 5 stops on this drive

Named for your own departure time and driving style when you plan the trip — your first full plan is free.

P•••••, KSstretch, meal · mile 265
M•••••, KSfuel · mile 320
G•••••, OKstretch · mile 440
L•••••, NMstretch, overnight, meal · mile 564
T•••••, NMfuel · mile 640

Name every stop — first trip free

No card for the first trip. After that it's 99¢ for three trips, or $2.99 a month.

How the days break up

DayMilesDrivingNight in
15648 hr 53 minLogan, NM
22243 hr 22 min—

How we picked these

Every stop is a real town on your actual route — not a chain billboard. We score towns on what a driver needs at that point in the drive: fuel and food for a stretch break, parks and grass when a pet is along, hotels and restaurants when it's an overnight. Detour distance counts against a town, so nothing here costs you a long side trip.

This page is planned for a 9-hour driving day leaving at 8:00 AM. Change any of that — your hours, your MPG, pets, small children, an EV's charging range — and the stops change with it. Plan Kansas City to Albuquerque your way →

Questions

How far is Kansas City, MO to Albuquerque, NM?
About 788 miles, roughly 12 hr 16 min of driving before stops.

Can you drive Kansas City to Albuquerque in one day?
Not comfortably. At a 9-hour driving day it splits into 2 days, with a night in Logan, NM.

Where is a good place to stop between Kansas City and Albuquerque?
Emporia, KS is the first one on this route.