Plan a round trip route that starts and ends in the same place
Most work days end where they started: the shop, the warehouse, home. Here's how to plan the loop so the drive back is short.
- Free for up to 50 addresses
- No credit card
- No app to install
The short answer
Updated
A round trip route starts and ends at the same place. In Lite Route Planner, set a route's end to Round trip and press Optimize: the stops are ordered as a loop, so the last one is near where you started. With a saved base (one on Personal, up to 100 on Business), every route can start and finish at your shop or home; on the free plan, a round trip comes back to the route's first stop.
How to plan a round trip route
- 1
Save where you start
Add your shop, warehouse or home as a base in Settings, then Bases. Personal includes one base; Business up to 100.
- 2
Make the route
Lasso the stops on the map, or click pins to add them one at a time.
- 3
Set the start and the end
Choose your base as the start. For the end, choose Round trip to come back to it, or pick a different base.
- 4
Press Optimize
The stops reorder as a loop, out one way and back the other, instead of a line that ends at the far edge of town.
- 5
Save and check the drive home
Saving gets road directions for every leg, including the last one back to the start, and adds it to the day's total.
Why a round trip changes the order
An optimizer planning a one-way route is happy to leave you at the farthest stop, because the drive home isn't part of what it's adding up. Tell it you're coming back and it plans differently: it works out along one side and back along the other, so the last stop is close to the start.
Picture eight stops north and east of your shop. One-way, the best order sweeps outward and finishes at the far northeast corner, a long drive from home. As a round trip, the order heads north first, swings east, and finishes on the stops nearest the shop. Planning the loop as a whole usually beats a one-way order with the drive home tacked on.
If you finish somewhere else, the warehouse in the morning and home at night for example, set different start and end bases, and the order is planned for that start and finish.
Round trips in Lite and free map apps
Each of these can bring you back to the start. Only some will reorder the stops for it.
| Feature | Lite | Google Maps | Apple Maps | MapQuest |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stops in one trip | Up to 500 | 10 places, with home counted twice | Up to 15 | Up to 26 |
| Reorders stops for the loop | Yes | No | No | Yes, first and last stop fixed |
| Saves the route to use again | Unlimited routes | No | No | With an account |
| Price | Free for up to 50 addresses | Free | Free | Free, with ads |
Checked October 19, 2026. On the free plan, Lite's Round trip returns to the route's first stop; saved bases come with Personal and Business. For more on map apps, see Google Maps with multiple stops.
Round trips by trade
The same setting, used a few different ways.
Lawn and landscape crews
Out from the yard with the trailer and back at the end of the day. If you stop at the supply yard every morning, add it as a stop and let Optimize place it.
Mobile groomers
Back home to empty the tank and restock. Time at each stop varies a lot, 45 minutes for a small dog and two hours for a doodle, so set each stop's time and check the total.
Couriers and local delivery
Back to the shop for the afternoon load. Plan the morning and afternoon as two round trips from the same base.
Sales reps
Leave from home and end at home. Save home as a base and set each day's route to Round trip.
Home health
Pick up supplies at the office and finish at home. That's not a round trip: set the office as the start base and home as the end base.
Snow removal
Plow routes start and end at the yard where the salt is. One base, every route set to Round trip.