# The 20 best national parks in the USA

Consensus ranking from U.S. News, park-by-park rankings by travellers who have visited all of them, and visitor reviews: scenery, hiking and wildlife.

- 1166 votes · 27 items
- Apr 4, 2026 · roamer_detroit
- https://even.best/en/l/57/the-20-best-national-parks-in-the-usa

## Top 20

1. **Yellowstone National Park** (103 · ▲106 ▼3) — The world's first national park (1872), with Old Faithful, the Grand Prismatic Spring, bison and wolves. <https://www.nps.gov/yell/>
2. **Grand Canyon National Park** (78 · ▲86 ▼8) — The Colorado River's 446 km canyon, up to 1.8 km deep; the South Rim is open all year. <https://www.nps.gov/grca/>
3. **Zion National Park** (63 · ▲70 ▼7) — Red sandstone canyon in Utah famous for the Narrows river hike and Angels Landing. <https://www.nps.gov/zion/>
4. **Yosemite National Park** (52 · ▲63 ▼11) — Granite walls of El Capitan and Half Dome, Yosemite Falls and giant sequoias in California's Sierra Nevada. <https://www.nps.gov/yose/>
5. **Grand Teton National Park** (42 · ▲53 ▼11) — Jagged Teton Range rising above Jackson Hole and its lakes, just south of Yellowstone. <https://www.nps.gov/grte/>
6. **Glacier National Park** (40 · ▲55 ▼15) — Montana park crossed by the Going-to-the-Sun Road, with over 700 miles of trails. <https://www.nps.gov/glac/>
7. **Rocky Mountain National Park** (36 · ▲42 ▼6) — Colorado peaks above 12,000 feet reached by Trail Ridge Road, with elk herds in the meadows. <https://www.nps.gov/romo/>
8. **Denali National Park and Preserve** (33 · ▲39 ▼6) — Six million acres of Alaska wilderness around Denali, North America's highest peak at 6,190 m. <https://www.nps.gov/dena/>
9. **Bryce Canyon National Park** (32 · ▲40 ▼8) — Amphitheatres packed with orange hoodoo rock spires, best at sunrise from Sunrise and Sunset Points. <https://www.nps.gov/brca/>
10. **Great Smoky Mountains National Park** (32 · ▲38 ▼6) — The most visited national park in the US, on the Tennessee–North Carolina border, free to enter. <https://www.nps.gov/grsm/>
11. **Acadia National Park** (31 · ▲36 ▼5) — Rocky Maine coastline and Cadillac Mountain, one of the first places in the US to see the sunrise. <https://www.nps.gov/acad/>
12. **Death Valley National Park** (30 · ▲32 ▼2) — The hottest, driest and lowest national park, with Badwater Basin 86 m below sea level. <https://www.nps.gov/deva/>
13. **Mount Rainier National Park** (28 · ▲36 ▼8) — Active 4,392 m volcano in Washington with wildflower meadows at Paradise. <https://www.nps.gov/mora/>
14. **Joshua Tree National Park** (28 · ▲33 ▼5) — Where the Mojave and Colorado deserts meet, with Joshua trees, boulder fields and dark skies. <https://www.nps.gov/jotr/>
15. **Everglades National Park** (26 · ▲34 ▼8) — Subtropical wetland in Florida, the only place where alligators and crocodiles live side by side. <https://www.nps.gov/ever/>
16. **Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park** (25 · ▲35 ▼10) — Kīlauea and Mauna Loa, two of the world's most active volcanoes, on Hawaiʻi Island. <https://www.nps.gov/havo/>
17. **Olympic National Park** (25 · ▲31 ▼6) — Three ecosystems in one: Pacific coast, the Hoh Rain Forest and the glaciated Olympic Mountains. <https://www.nps.gov/olym/>
18. **Arches National Park** (24 · ▲31 ▼7) — Over 2,000 natural sandstone arches near Moab, Utah, including Delicate Arch. <https://www.nps.gov/arch/>
19. **Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks** (24 · ▲30 ▼6) — Home of the General Sherman Tree, the largest tree on Earth by volume. <https://www.nps.gov/seki/>
20. **Canyonlands National Park** (17 · ▲21 ▼4) — Utah's largest park, carved by the Colorado and Green rivers, with Mesa Arch at Island in the Sky. <https://www.nps.gov/cany/>
21. **Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve** (16 · ▲20 ▼4) — Tidewater glaciers and humpback whales in southeast Alaska, mostly seen from cruise ships. <https://www.nps.gov/glba/>
22. **Big Bend National Park** (13 · ▲22 ▼9) — Remote Texas park on the Rio Grande with Chihuahuan Desert, the Chisos Mountains and gold-tier dark skies.
23. **Crater Lake National Park** (11 · ▲16 ▼5) — Oregon park around the deepest lake in the United States, formed in the collapsed caldera of Mount Mazama.
24. **Shenandoah National Park** (5 · ▲12 ▼7) — Virginia park along the Blue Ridge Mountains, crossed by the 105-mile Skyline Drive.
25. **Badlands National Park** (4 · ▲9 ▼5) — South Dakota park of eroded buttes and pinnacles and one of the richest fossil beds in the world.
26. **Redwood National and State Parks** (3 · ▲3 ▼0) — Northern California parks protecting old-growth coast redwoods, the tallest trees on Earth.
27. **Capitol Reef National Park** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — Utah park around the Waterpocket Fold, with historic Fruita orchards where you can pick fruit in season.

How is this ranking ordered? By people's votes: each ▲ adds a point and each ▼ takes one away. Anyone can vote and add what is missing.