I put together a list of trivia for car rides that’s sure to liven things up.
These car trivia questions cover all sorts of topics.
Get ready to test your knowledge and see who’s the ultimate trivia champion of your road trip.
Buckle up and let’s get started!
General Knowledge & History Trivia Questions
- Which ancient wonder was located in the city of Babylon?
Answer: The Hanging Gardens - Who was the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean?
Answer: Amelia Earhart - What famous document begins with the words “We the People”?
Answer: The U.S. Constitution - What ancient civilization built Machu Picchu?
Answer: The Inca Empire - In which country was the game of chess invented?
Answer: India - Who was the British Prime Minister during most of World War II?
Answer: Winston Churchill - What year did the Berlin Wall fall?
Answer: 1989 - What currency was used in Germany before the Euro?
Answer: The Deutsche Mark - Which famous shipwreck was discovered in 1985?
Answer: The Titanic - Who invented the light bulb?
Answer: Thomas Edison
Travel & Geography Trivia Questions And Answers
What is the capital city of Australia, known for its planned city design?
Answer: Canberra
Which European capital city is built on a series of islands and is known for its beautiful waterways?
Answer: Stockholm, Sweden
Name the only U.S. state that is completely surrounded by water.
Answer: Hawaii
What is the longest river in the world?
Answer: The Nile River
Which desert is the largest in the world, covering much of Northern Africa?
Answer: The Sahara Desert
What is the name of the sea bordered by Jordan, Israel, and Palestine, known for its buoyant waters?
Answer: The Dead Sea
Which U.S. state has the most active volcanoes?
Answer: Alaska
What country has the most time zones, when including its overseas territories?
Answer: France
Which city is known as the “Venice of the North” because of its many canals?
Answer: Amsterdam, Netherlands
What city is known as the “City of Lights”?
Answer: Paris, France
What is the smallest country in the world, both in size and population?
Answer: Vatican City
In which city would you find the historic landmark, the Colosseum?
Answer: Rome, Italy
What famous square is known for its New Year’s Eve ball drop?
Answer: Times Square in New York City
Which Asian city is famous for its Forbidden City and nearby Great Wall?
Answer: Beijing, China
What is the name of the famous opera house located in Sydney, Australia?
Answer: The Sydney Opera House
Which South American city is known for its carnival that features elaborate floats and samba dancers?
Answer: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
In which country can you visit the ancient Inca city of Machu Picchu?
Answer: Peru
What is the name of the world’s oldest and largest tech incubator, located in California, that has helped launch companies like Google and Logitech?
Answer: Silicon Valley
Which iconic San Francisco structure was once called “the bridge that couldn’t be built” and now stands as one of the most recognized symbols of the city?
Answer: The Golden Gate Bridge
What species of whale is commonly spotted during whale watching in Monterey Bay area, known for its migration along the California coast?
Answer: The Gray Whale
In which U.S. state can you find McWay Falls, a waterfall that flows directly into the Pacific Ocean from a height of 80 feet?
Answer: California
As of 2023, which country holds the title for the world’s weakest passport in terms of travel freedom, offering the fewest visa-free or visa-on-arrival destinations?
Answer: Afghanistan
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U.S. Road Trip Trivia
What is the largest state in the United States by area?
Answer: Alaska
Which U.S. city is known as the birthplace of jazz music?
Answer: New Orleans, Louisiana
What famous landmark in South Dakota features the faces of four American presidents carved into it?
Answer: Mount Rushmore
Which U.S. national park is the oldest, established in 1872?
Answer: Yellowstone National Park
What is the name of the longest river in the United States?
Answer: The Missouri River
In which U.S. city can you visit the original Starbucks?
Answer: Seattle, Washington
What U.S. state is known for having the most breweries per capita?
Answer: Vermont
Which U.S. state is famous for its Keys and is the southernmost point of the continental U.S.?
Answer: Florida
What major American landmark is engraved with the words “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free”?
Answer: The Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor
Which historic route is known for connecting Chicago to Los Angeles, often referred to as the “Main Street of America”?
Answer: Route 66
Which iconic highway runs through Big Sur, offering some of the most breathtaking coastal views in California?
Answer: Highway 1 (Pacific Coast Highway)
Related: 70+ California Triva Questions And Answers
Trivia Questions For Movie Lovers
What movie famously features a DeLorean as a time-traveling machine?
Answer: “Back to the Future”
In what 1994 film did Tom Hanks play a man who recounts his life story at a bus stop?
Answer: “Forrest Gump”
What is the name of the fictional African country in “Black Panther”?
Answer: Wakanda
Which movie, directed by James Cameron, held the title of the highest-grossing film ever until it was surpassed by “Avengers: Endgame”?
Answer: “Avatar”
What are the dying words of Charles Foster Kane in “Citizen Kane”?
Answer: “Rosebud”
Which film features a fearsome shark and the line “You’re gonna need a bigger boat”?
Answer: “Jaws”
In which movie does the protagonist fight against the oppression in a dystopian future using a Guy Fawkes mask?
Answer: “V for Vendetta”
What 1980s movie was the first to become a hit largely due to MTV playing its music video?
Answer: “Flashdance”
Which 2019 film directed by Bong Joon-ho won the Academy Award for Best Picture, becoming the first non-English language film to win that award?
Answer: “Parasite”
In which movie series does the fictional character Jack Sparrow appear?
Answer: “Pirates of the Caribbean”
Trivia Questions For Music Lovers
Which legendary British band is known for the album “Abbey Road”?
Answer: The Beatles
Who is known as the “King of Pop”?
Answer: Michael Jackson
What iconic music festival took place in 1969, drawing hundreds of thousands of people to a farm in upstate New York?
Answer: Woodstock
Which artist famously played a blistering guitar solo during the national anthem at Woodstock?
Answer: Jimi Hendrix
What is the best-selling album of all time, with over 66 million copies sold worldwide?
Answer: “Thriller” by Michael Jackson
Which female singer is known as the “Queen of Soul”?
Answer: Aretha Franklin
Which song by Queen became famous again in the 1990s after being featured in the movie “Wayne’s World”?
Answer: “Bohemian Rhapsody”
What instrument is jazz musician Miles Davis best known for playing?
Answer: Trumpet
Which city is known as the birthplace of grunge music in the early 1990s?
Answer: Seattle, Washington
Who wrote and performed the song “Hotel California”?
Answer: The Eagles
Kid-friendly Trivia Questions Perfect For A Family Road Trip
What is the largest planet in our solar system?
Answer: Jupiter
In what movie will you find a character named Woody and his toy friends?
Answer: “Toy Story”
What type of fish is Nemo in the movie “Finding Nemo”?
Answer: A clownfish
Which animal is known as the “King of the Jungle”?
Answer: The lion
What is the color of an emerald?
Answer: Green
What is the name of the fairy in “Peter Pan”?
Answer: Tinker Bell
How many legs does a spider have?
Answer: Eight
Who lives in a pineapple under the sea?
Answer: SpongeBob SquarePants
What is the name of the red car in the movie “Cars”?
Answer: Lightning McQueen
What is the hardest natural substance on Earth?
Answer: Diamond
Fun Car trivia questions and answers
What car brand is known for its prancing horse logo?
Answer: Ferrari
Which car is often credited with initiating the muscle car era in the United States?
Answer: The Pontiac GTO
What does the term “SUV” stand for?
Answer: Sport Utility Vehicle
Which company produced the first electric car to have over 200 miles of range on a single charge?
Answer: Tesla, with the Model S
In what year was the Ford Model T first introduced?
Answer: 1908
What luxury car brand is known for its Spirit of Ecstasy hood ornament?
Answer: Rolls-Royce
Which famous car chase movie features a 1968 Ford Mustang GT in a pivotal scene?
Answer: “Bullitt”
What is the term for a car engine with eight cylinders arranged in a V configuration?
Answer: V8
What Japanese car is often associated with the term “Godzilla” in the automotive world?
Answer: The Nissan GT-R
Which car brand introduced the iconic four-wheel drive vehicle known as the Wrangler?
Answer: Jeep
Related post: 320 Car Puns & Car Jokes For Your Next Road Trip
Natural Wonders Trivia Questions
What natural wonder in the U.S. is known for its colorful rock formations and is located in Arizona?
Answer: The Grand Canyon
Which bay is known for its high tides and is located between New Brunswick and Nova Scotia in Canada?
Answer: The Bay of Fundy
What is the name of the largest reef system in the world, located off the coast of Australia?
Answer: The Great Barrier Reef
Which South American waterfall system is the largest in the world by total area?
Answer: Iguazu Falls, located on the border of Argentina and Brazil
What U.S. national park is famous for having the world’s largest concentration of geysers?
Answer: Yellowstone National Park
What is the name of the tallest tree species in the world, found primarily in Northern California?
Answer: The Coastal Redwood
Which African lake holds the title for the world’s second-largest freshwater lake by surface area and is known for its high number of species?
Answer: Lake Victoria
What is the name of the desert area known for its salt flats, located in Bolivia?
Answer: Salar de Uyuni
Which is the deepest lake in the U.S., formed in a collapsed volcano?
Answer: Crater Lake in Oregon
What is the name of the highest uninterrupted waterfall in the world, located in Venezuela?
Answer: Angel Falls
Food And Drink Trivia Questions
What is the primary ingredient in traditional German sauerkraut?
Answer: Cabbage
What is the name of the French soup made from tomatoes and shellfish stock, served with seafood?
Answer: Bouillabaisse
In which country did the Caesar salad originate?
Answer: Mexico
What is the most consumed manufactured drink in the world?
Answer: Tea
Which U.S. state is famous for its bourbon production?
Answer: Kentucky
What is the main flavor of the liqueur Cointreau?
Answer: Orange
Which fruit is known as the “king of fruits” and is famous for its strong odor?
Answer: Durian
What type of bread is traditionally used to make a gyro?
Answer: Pita bread
What type of pasta, whose name means “little worms” in Italian, is often used in hearty soups like minestrone?
Answer: Vermicelli
Which specific type of tea, named after a British Prime Minister, is known for its distinctive flavor derived from oil extracted from the bergamot orange?
Answer: Earl Grey
What is the name of the Spanish dish made with rice, saffron, seafood, and meat, typically cooked in a large, shallow pan?
Answer: Paella
What is the alcoholic beverage, originating from Brazil, made from fermented sugarcane juice, that serves as the base for the cocktail caipirinha?
Answer: Cachaça
Which type of Italian cheese is traditionally made from water buffalo milk and is used in dishes like Caprese salad?
Answer: Buffalo Mozzarella (Mozzarella di Bufala)
What unique process do certain wines, particularly those from Italy’s Veneto region, undergo, where the grapes are partially dried before fermentation to concentrate their flavors?
Answer: Appassimento
What is the name of the French dessert made from layers of puff pastry alternating with rich custard, often topped with powdered sugar or icing?
Answer: Mille-feuille
Which Asian condiment is made from fermented soybeans, salt, and Aspergillus oryzae, and is a key ingredient in dishes like miso soup?
Answer: Miso
What term is used for a traditional Indian dish consisting of small balls or pieces of cottage cheese soaked in a sweet syrup?
Answer: Rasgulla
What is the name of the classic Greek dish made with layers of eggplant, ground meat, and béchamel sauce, often compared to lasagna?
Answer: Moussaka
Literature Trivia Questions
Who wrote the epic fantasy series “The Lord of the Rings”?
Answer: J.R.R. Tolkien
What is the name of the young wizard who is the main character in a series of books by J.K. Rowling?
Answer: Harry Potter
In which novel does the character Atticus Finch appear?
Answer: “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee
What dystopian novel features a future American society where books are outlawed and “firemen” burn any that are found?
Answer: “Fahrenheit 451” by Ray Bradbury
Who wrote “Pride and Prejudice”?
Answer: Jane Austen
What novel, set during the Great Depression, follows the Joad family as they travel west from Oklahoma to California?
Answer: “The Grapes of Wrath” by John Steinbeck
Which American poet is famous for the line “I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference”?
Answer: Robert Frost, from the poem “The Road Not Taken”
In what novel would you find a mysterious island ruled by the enigmatic Doctor Moreau?
Answer: “The Island of Doctor Moreau” by H.G. Wells
Who is the author of “Moby-Dick”?
Answer: Herman Melville
Which Shakespeare play features the characters Rosalind and Orlando, and includes a setting in the Forest of Arden?
Answer: “As You Like It”
Science Trivia Questions
What is the chemical symbol for water?
Answer: H2O.
What planet in our solar system is known for having a ring system made up of chunks of ice and rock?
Answer: Saturn.
Which element is the most abundant in the Earth’s atmosphere?
Answer: Nitrogen.
What is the name of the first programmable computer in the world?
Answer: The Z3, developed by Konrad Zuse in 1941.
What year did the first human land on the moon?
Answer: 1969.
Who developed the theory of evolution by natural selection?
Answer: Charles Darwin.
What technology is used to perform genetic modification on organisms?
Answer: CRISPR.
Which physicist developed the equation E=mc^2?
Answer: Albert Einstein.
What is the term for the amount of time it takes for a radioactive substance to lose half of its radioactivity?
Answer: Half-life.
Who invented the first successful photographic process called the daguerreotype?
Answer: Louis Daguerre.
What phenomenon explains the acceleration of the universe’s expansion, discovered through observations of distant supernovae?
Answer: Dark energy.
What is the term used for a computer system that is able to perform tasks that normally require human intelligence, such as visual perception, speech recognition, decision-making, and translation between languages?
Answer: Artificial Intelligence (AI).
Which element, discovered in 1898 by Marie Curie, is named after her native country?
Answer: Polonium.
What is the name of the spacecraft that was the first to leave our solar system in 2012?
Answer: Voyager 1.
What is the principle called that states the uncertainty in the position and the uncertainty in the momentum of a particle cannot both be precisely determined at the same time?
Answer: Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle.
What rare earth element is used in the production of smartphone screens, wind turbines, and electric cars?
Answer: Neodymium.
What is the term for the transition zone between different biological communities in an environment, often resulting in higher species diversity?
Answer: Ecotone.
Which law of thermodynamics states that the entropy of an isolated system can only increase over time?
Answer: The Second Law of Thermodynamics.
Pop Culture Road Trip Trivia Questions
- In the movie “Forrest Gump,” what kind of company does Forrest start?
Answer: A shrimp company (Bubba Gump Shrimp Company).
Which 1994 movie features a group of criminals who rob a bank dressed as clowns?
Answer: “Heat.”
In which movie does Brad Pitt play the character Tyler Durden?
Answer: “Fight Club.”
Who is known as the “Queen of Pop”?
Answer: Madonna.
Which Beatles song is their best-selling single?
Answer: “Hey Jude.”
Which artist sang the hit song “Purple Rain”?
Answer: Prince.
What was the name of Elvis Presley’s iconic mansion?
Answer: Graceland.
What is the name of the coffee shop where the characters in “Friends” often hang out?
Answer: Central Perk.
Which television series features the Stark family and their struggles for power?
Answer: “Game of Thrones.”
In “The Simpsons,” what is the name of the bar where Homer often spends his time?
Answer: Moe’s Tavern.
In the television series “Breaking Bad,” what is the main character’s alias when he starts producing and selling methamphetamine?
Answer: Heisenberg.
Fun & “What If?” Road Trip Questions
- If your car could magically transform into another type of vehicle, what would it be?
Answer: No wrong answers — get creative! - If you could teleport to any destination on this road trip, where would you go first?
Answer: Anywhere you want — the stranger the better! - If your GPS had a personality, what kind of voice and attitude would it have?
Answer: Sassy? British? Sarcastic? Let’s hear it. - If you had to eat only gas station snacks for a week, what’s your go-to meal plan?
Answer: Think salty, sweet, and weird combos. - If you could rename your car based on this trip, what would you call it?
Answer: Bonus points if it sounds like a band name.
Tips for Using Trivia on a Road Trip
- Rotate trivia hosts. Let each passenger take turns reading questions to keep everyone involved.
- Keep it light. If someone’s not feeling competitive, make it more about laughs than points.
- Create categories on the fly. Have someone shout “Music round!” or “Kid’s choice!” to keep things fresh.
- Set a time limit. Try 10-minute trivia bursts every hour to avoid burnout.
- Mix in real prizes. Even if it’s just choosing the next playlist or picking the lunch stop.
- Adapt for younger kids. Let them ask questions, guess wildly, or just yell out funny answers.
There you have it! And if you’re looking to spark deeper conversations on your journey, be sure to check out our list of road trip questions.
For more trivia questions and answers check out our California trivia and nature trivia posts.
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