Three Good Stops

Portland to St. Louis: where to stop

1290 miles, about 19 hr 5 min of driving. Here are the real towns worth stopping in between Portland, ME and St. Louis, MO, and why each one earned it.

Your first stop

Worcester, MAStretch your legs in Worcester, MA · mile 132

The other 9 stops on this drive

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

R•••••, NYstretch, meal · mile 265
H•••••, NYfuel · mile 320
F•••••, NYstretch · mile 457
E•••••, NYstretch, overnight, fuel, meal · mile 594
M•••••, OHstretch · mile 730
D•••••, OHstretch, fuel, meal · mile 870

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
15948 hr 48 minEvans, NY
25898 hr 40 minEffingham, IL
31071 hr 37 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 Portland to St. Louis your way →

Questions

How far is Portland, ME to St. Louis, MO?
About 1290 miles, roughly 19 hr 5 min of driving before stops.

Can you drive Portland to St. Louis in one day?
Not comfortably. At a 9-hour driving day it splits into 3 days, with a night in Evans, NY.

Where is a good place to stop between Portland and St. Louis?
Worcester, MA is the first one on this route.