The podcasts to listen to on your next long drive or plane ride, whether you’re a history nerd or a true-crime aficionado
Summer trips are good for a lot of things: watching scenic landscapes as you wander between states, belting along to epic playlists, and (finally) hopping back on a plane. They’re also good for binge-listening to some of the imaginative and thought-provoking podcasts that are being produced across the country.
A big plus of podcasts is that they represent true democratization of the storytelling space—anyone with a smartphone or voice recorder (and an internet connection) can make one. But that freedom is a double-edged sword: There is a lot to sift through to get to the quality shows, and no semblance of a rating system exists, so it can be difficult to determine what is audience appropriate if you’re listening in a group.
Never fear—we’ve done the work for you. Now that you’ve planned your adventure, here are some of the best podcasts out there (including some family-friendly podcasts!), all perfect for your next long road trip or plane ride, whether you love a good murder mystery or want to laugh for miles.
1. The Atlas Obscura Podcast
Did you know you can visit Hitler’s toilet in a New Jersey car repair shop? Or that there’s a library in Edinburgh, Scotland, devoted to the world’s greatest financial mistakes? These are the strange facts you’ll glean from the short (as in roughly 10 minutes) episodes of the new Atlas Obscura podcast. Each delves into a curious place in the world. You’ll be edified—and ready for trivia night—in no time.
2. Ear Hustle
Ear Hustle, now in its seventh season, is a nonfiction podcast from Radiotopia about life inside the prison system and what happens once people leave it. Each 30-minute episode of Ear Hustle tells stories that are intimate and funny, as well as heartrending and difficult. Above all, their stories are human. Earlonne Woods and Antwan Williams (both formerly incarcerated at San Quentin State Prison) cofounded the podcast with Bay Area visual artist Nigel Poor. In 2020, Ear Hustle was a finalist for the inaugural Pulitzer Prize in Audio Reporting
3. Travel Tales by AFAR
Yes, AFAR has a podcast—and season two launches June 10. Join us each week as we dig into stories from people who took a trip—and came home transformed. Travel Tales by AFAR brings some of our favorite journeys to life. Head to the Philippines with a Hawai‘i-born Filipino chef in search of his grandmother’s adobo recipe. Travel with a photographer documenting a daring giraffe rescue in Kenya. And discover how one traveler used nature to heal his PTSD. Our podcast is your ticket to the world—no passport required.
4. Outside Podcast
Adventurers yearning to learn about epic rescues, endurance athletes, and what it’s really like to be on Naked and Afraid should tune into this weekly podcast from the team at Outside magazine. In the most recent season, listeners will hear an Appalachian Trail horror story, true tales of treasure hunting, and lessons from a storm chaser who finally met her match.
5. TED Radio Hour
Here, “unexpected” translates to the realm of ideas. For an hour every week, host Manoush Zomorodi narrates some of the big ideas TED speakers explore, with snippets from thought-leaders who are tackling digital manipulation, creativity, altruism, or humane city planning. With well over 150 episodes to spark conversation among car passengers, TED Radio Hour is a surefire way to pass the time.
6. The Left Right Game
It’s a bit of a slow burn, but once The Left Right Game gets its hooks into you, there’s no turning it off. We open in the hospital with a young man, who was injured in a car accident and is spending his convalescence telling the story of his former classmate Alice. She was a young, enigmatic woman who disappeared playing what we discover is a game-slash-urban legend called the Left Right Game. You play by, you guessed it, turning left and then right, over and over, until you land in a supernatural world. Only, this time, something’s very wrong. Warning for road-trippers: The storyline features some car crash audio, so keep that in mind as you listen.
7. Mission to Zyxx
Alumni of comedy group Upright Citizens Brigade created and perform in this improvised, sometimes NSFW sci-fi sitcom set in space, now in its fifth season. Join Ambassador Pleck Decksetter and his ragtag team as they explore the Zyxx Quadrant on their diplomatic missions. The first episode made me laugh out loud in the first five minutes, and it’s my go-to whenever I need a bit of comic relief.
8. LeVar Burton Reads
Lovers of short fiction should check out LeVar Burton Reads. Yes, THE LeVar Burton, of Reading Rainbow, Roots, Jeopardy, and Star Trek fame, whose velvety warm voice encouraged youngster millennials and gen-Zers to embrace their love of literacy. Now, download that same wonderful voice and listen to his podcast, in its sixth season. Every week, he selects a short story he loves and reads it. Need we say more?
9. Blood Ties
Sometimes you just need a gripping, but fictional, mystery to get you through a long trip. Enter Blood Ties, which revolves around siblings Eleanor and Michael grappling with shocking revelations about their surgeon father in the aftermath of his supposed death in a plane crash. As they dig into their parents’ lives and their father’s empire, the siblings discover that neither was what they seemed. Nervous flyers might want to save this one for their next road trip.
If it’s all about the comedy
10. Tig & Cheryl: True Story
Ostensibly, this is a podcast about documentaries. Each week, comedian Tig Notaro and actress Cheryl Hines (best known for her recurring role as Cheryl David on Curb Your Enthusiasm) select a documentary to watch and review. And each week, Tig and Cheryl go wildly off the rails as they “review” the documentary—past selects included Tiger King, Honeyland, and Framing Britney Spears—veering into Cheryl’s childhood in Florida, random tangents on garage sales, which characters they were attracted to, and so much more. It’s like getting a front-row seat to the pair’s friendship—and a strange, very funny Cliff Notes version of the world’s best documentaries. Is it educational? Mmm, kinda. Will it make you giggle for miles? Absolutely.
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