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How to route a tour
Updated October 7, 2026 · 3 min read
Routing is the order of cities on a tour. Good routing keeps drives manageable, costs down and the band rested. Bad routing means zig-zagging across a region, burning fuel and sleep. Most routing is done with your booking agent, but the tour manager should understand and check it.
Free templates for this guide
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Tour itinerary template
One row per day: day type, city, venue, key times, hotel, drive distance and time, and notes.
Tour budget spreadsheet
A full tour budget with show income, expense categories, commissions, a contingency line and budget-vs-actual columns. Totals and net are formulas.
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Start with anchor dates
Most tours start from a few fixed points: a festival, a big city date or a support slot. Route the rest of the tour around those anchors, filling in cities along sensible paths.
Keep drives reasonable
Set a comfortable maximum drive time per day for your tour, including load-out and load-in. Long drives after a late show are tiring and risky. Use realistic times with stops, traffic and weather, not best-case map estimates.
Avoid backtracking
Draw the route on a map. If you pass the same city twice or double back, look for a better order. A clean loop or line saves fuel and time.
Plan days off
Days off keep a tour healthy. Place them after long drives or in cities where laundry and rest are easy. An off day in an expensive city costs more than one in a smaller town.
Watch radius clauses
Many contracts restrict playing near a booked city for a period before and after. Check radius clauses before adding a nearby date.
Consider the market
Weekend nights usually sell better. Big markets on Fridays and Saturdays, secondary markets mid-week, is a common pattern. Avoid clashing with big local events unless they help.
Hold dates and confirm
Agents put venues "on hold" before confirming. Track holds and confirmations carefully so you don’t double-book.
Cost it
Each routing option changes fuel, hotels and days. Run the numbers in your tour budget before committing.
A quick routing check
Before you confirm a routing, ask:
- Is any single drive longer than your agreed maximum?
- Do you pass any city twice?
- Is there at least one day off a week?
- Do weekend dates land in the strongest markets?
- Do any radius clauses conflict?
- Where are the border crossings and time zone changes?
- What does each extra day cost in hotels and per diems?
Example (EXAMPLE)
Route A goes Chicago → Detroit → Minneapolis → Milwaukee (zig-zag). Route B goes Detroit → Chicago → Milwaukee → Minneapolis (a line). Route B covers the same cities with less backtracking, which usually means less fuel and shorter days. Use a map to compare actual distances before deciding.
How TRMNGR helps
TRMNGR doesn’t plan routes or calculate drive times. Once dates are confirmed, put them on the TRMNGR Calendar as show, travel and off days so the route is visible to everyone, and add drive times or departure calls to each day’s Day Sheet or Notes. Addresses open in the maps app each person chooses (Google Maps, Apple Maps, Waze, Hammer or the system default).