Google Calendar Travel Time Not Showing? Why, and 4 Fixes

Why Google Calendar travel time is not showing

If your Google Calendar travel time is not showing, the usual reason is that Google Calendar doesn't have a travel time feature to show. There is no travel time field in Google Calendar on the web, on iPhone or on Android. Travel time you set somewhere else, most often in Apple's Calendar app on an iPhone or Mac, is stored only in that app and never syncs to Google.

So the fix isn't a setting you've missed. To make travel time appear in Google Calendar, it has to exist as a normal Google Calendar event: either one you create yourself ("Drive to client", ending when the meeting starts) or one a tool like Travel Time creates for you automatically.

Here is where the missing travel time usually came from:

• Apple Calendar's Travel Time switch. On an iPhone or Mac you can turn on Travel Time for an event in a Google account. Apple draws a shaded block above the event, but that block is Apple-only. The Google Calendar app, calendar.google.com and your colleagues never see it.
• Google Maps. Tapping an event's location shows the trip in Maps, but Maps doesn't write anything back to your calendar. Nothing is blocked.
• The early notification trick. A reminder set 40 minutes before a meeting buzzes your phone, but the calendar still shows those 40 minutes as free.
• Outlook or another calendar app. If you added a "travel" block to a different calendar or account, Google Calendar only shows it if that calendar is shared into, or added to, the Google account you're looking at.

Where Travel Time fits

If you want travel time to show up in Google Calendar without making it by hand, that's what Travel Time does. You connect your Google Calendar (or Outlook) once on the web. From then on it watches for events with a location and creates real Google Calendar events for the trip, like "Travel time (driving)", before your appointment.

Because they're ordinary events, they show everywhere your calendar does: the Google Calendar app on iPhone and Android, calendar.google.com, and as busy time to anyone checking your availability. Durations come from Google Maps for driving, public transport, cycling or walking, rounded up to the next five minutes, with an optional buffer. With back-to-back appointments the route can start from your previous meeting instead of from home, and if you move the meeting the travel event moves with it.

It costs $3/month billed annually after a 14-day free trial, with no credit card needed to start.

4 fixes for travel time that isn't showing in Google Calendar

Fix 1: Create a travel event by hand

The free, always-works option.

1. Open the appointment and click or tap its location to open it in Google Maps.
2. Check the travel time for your mode. Set Arrive by to the meeting's start for a realistic estimate, then round up for parking.
3. In Google Calendar, create a new event called "Drive to [place]" that ends when the appointment starts.
4. Save it. Repeat for the trip back if you need one.

It shows everywhere, but you do it for every appointment, and if the meeting moves the travel event stays behind. Step-by-step versions for phones are in our guides for iPhone and Android.

Fix 2: Stop relying on Apple Calendar's travel time

If you use Apple's Calendar app for a Google account, keep in mind that its Travel Time block is a private note to yourself. Anyone booking time with you through Google sees the slot as free. Either recreate the trip as a real event (Fix 1) or automate it (Fix 4). There's no setting that makes Apple's travel time sync to Google.

Fix 3: Make sure the travel event isn't hidden

If you know a travel event exists in Google Calendar but you can't see it:

• The calendar is unticked. On calendar.google.com, check the box next to the calendar under My calendars. In the phone app, open the side menu and make sure that calendar is ticked under the right account.
• It's on another account. If you use more than one Google account, the event may be on the one you aren't viewing.
• The phone hasn't synced. Pull down to refresh in the app. On Android, check that calendar sync is turned on for the account in your phone's account settings.
• It was declined. Declined events are hidden unless Show declined events is turned on in Google Calendar's settings.

Fix 4: Automate it

If you have more than a couple of appointments a week, the manual fixes stop being worth the effort. A service that writes travel events into Google Calendar for you removes both problems at once: there's nothing to forget, and the blocks are real events that everyone can see. That is what Travel Time is for, as described above.

Using Travel Time and one travel event is missing?

Travel Time deliberately skips some events. If one appointment has no travel block, check these first:

• No physical location. Events without a location are skipped, and so are locations that are a video link or "Zoom", "Google Meet", "Microsoft Teams" or "TBD". Add a real address and the travel event is created.
• All-day events. These never get travel time.
• Invitations you haven't accepted. Accept the invite and travel is added.
• Events in the past. Only upcoming events are processed.
• The calendar isn't selected. Check that the calendar holding the event is turned on in your Travel Time settings.
• No route, or a trip over six hours. If Google Maps can't find a route to the address, or the trip is longer than six hours, no travel event is created. A more specific address usually fixes the first one.
• Recurring events in Outlook. Recurring events are supported on Google Calendar but not yet on Outlook calendars.

Common questions

Does Google Calendar have a travel time feature? No. You can open an event's location in Google Maps to see the trip, but Google Calendar has no field that blocks travel time. You need a separate event for it.

Why does travel time show on my iPhone but not on my computer? You added it in Apple's Calendar app. That travel time is stored by Apple, not Google, so calendar.google.com and the Google Calendar app don't show it.

Will a travel event I create show to people booking me? Yes. A travel event is a normal Google Calendar event, so it shows as busy unless you set it to free.

Related guides

• How to Add Commute Time to Google Calendar (2 Ways)
• How to Add Travel Time to Google Calendar on iPhone (3 Ways)
• How to Add Travel Time to Google Calendar on Android (3 Ways)
• How to Add Travel Time in Google Calendar (And Why Other Tools Fall Short)
• How to Add Travel Time to Outlook Calendar (2 Ways, 1 Automatic)