These are the 10 most popular national parks
More than 323 million visitors explored America’s national parks last year, from Acadia in Maine to Zion in Utah.
Since the U.S. National Park Service (NPS) started keeping records in 1904, its mountain landscapes, seaside wildernesses, and high desert acres have registered more than 16.4 billion visits.
Straddling the border between North Carolina and Tennessee, Great Smoky Mountains National Park passed 11.5 million recreation visits in 2025, while more than 3.1 million people took in the massive U-shaped valleys and peaks carved by ice flows long ago at Montana’s Glacier National Park.
Visitors are drawn to the vastness and variety of “America’s best idea.” From sea to shining sea (as well as in the wilds of Alaska and Hawaii), the NPS’s 85 million acres encompass 150,000 miles of rivers and streams and over 21,000 miles of trails.
(Go wild, and skip the crowds, at these 7 spectacular parks.)
These 10 parks are the superstars of the system, but they offer just a glimpse of the variety to be found in the 433 park units (including 63 national parks) of the NPS.
10. Glacier National Park
Set in the majestic Rockies of northern Montana, Glacier National Park takes its name from the rivers of ice and glacial forces that shaped its rugged topography over two million years. In 2025, the park’s mosaic of rock, ice, forest, and water attracted 3,136,557 visitors.
9. Olympic National Park
In 2025, more than 3.6 million people visited Washington State’s Olympic National Park. The park comprises 922,651 acres of wild Pacific coast (pictured), rugged glacier-capped mountains, and old-growth temperate rainforest
8. Grand Teton National Park
The peaks of the Teton Range, regal and imposing, soar nearly 7,000 feet above the Wyoming valley floor, making them some of the boldest geological statements in the Rockies. Grand Teton National Park’s jewel-like lakes, blue and white glaciers, and naked granite pinnacles enticed 3,800,648 visitors in 2025.
7. Acadia National Park
Sea and mountains meet at Acadia National Park in Maine, which saw 4,079,318 people visit in 2025. Most of the park is on Mount Desert Island, a patchwork of parkland, private property, and waterside villages.
6. Rocky Mountain National Park
Sweeping alpine vistas attracted 4.2 million visitors to Colorado’s Rocky Mountain National Park in 2025. The park contains 150 lakes and 450 miles of streams, plus ecosystems ranging from wetlands to pine forests to montane areas to alpine tundra.
5. Yosemite National Park
“No temple made with human hands can compete with Yosemite,” wrote John Muir, whose crusading led to the creation of California’s Yosemite National Park in 1890. This temple of granite cliffs and towering waterfalls saw 4,278,413 visitors in 2025. Most spent time in Yosemite Valley, a mile-wide, seven-mile-long canyon that was cut by a river and then widened and deepened by glacial action.
(These national parks are best visited by train)
4. Grand Canyon National Park
In 2025, Grand Canyon National Park attracted 4,430,653 people to witness one of the largest canyons on Earth, which is a mile deep and up to 18 miles wide at some points. Explore it by hiking, mule riding, or rafting in the mighty Colorado River.
3. Yellowstone National Park
Yellowstone National Park—the world’s first national park—was visited by 4,762,988 people in 2025. The vast reserve—covering 2.2 million acres in Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana—has craggy peaks, explosive geysers, alpine lakes, deep forests, and a wealth of wild animals. The stars are bison, bears, sheep, moose, and wolves.
2. Zion National Park
Rising in Utah’s high plateau country, the Virgin River carves its way through Zion Canyon to the desert below. Zion National Park’s striking vertical topography—rock towers, sandstone canyons, and sharp cliffs—attracted 4,984,525 visitors in 2025.
1. Great Smoky Mountains National Park
More than 11.5 million visitors went to Great Smoky Mountains National Park in 2025. Travelers can explore its misty peaks and waterfall-filled valleys via a mountain-skimming scenic highway or by taking 800-plus miles of hiking trails stretching across North Carolina and Tennessee.
