Our National Park Rankings

I’ve been excited to put together this blog post since we started visiting the National Parks! We’ve enjoyed seeing how other people have the US National Parks ranked, and everyone’s perspective is different! So while we haven’t yet visited every US national park, we’re going to share our current National Park Adventure rankings and keep this list updated as we travel.

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How We Rank the Most Beautiful National Parks in the US

When our list of National Parks in US visited was under 15, it was pretty easy to put them in order without assigning point values with a specific rubric. But we quickly learned that we needed to put something official together, and then check the resulting top National Parks rankings against our more fluid opinions. Here’s a basic rundown of our rubric:

Beauty – Snow capped mountains, crystal blue lakes, and waterfalls are going to rank highest in our personal beauty standards, but we try not to be too partial in this category.

Unique landscapes – Are the natural features here unique to this park? The more unique the landscape, the higher the park will score.

Solitude – We don’t expect the parks to be deserted and would actually prefer some people on the trails with us. But we want to have many moments when it’s just our family in nature. Yellowstone scores low in this category, but so do parks with a resort town or tourist attraction feel.

Park Size – If there’s more to explore, the park will rank higher than smaller parks. How long can you stay here and fill your days with new activities? Some parks can be toured in a day. Others take 4 days or even a full week to explore.

Hiking variety – As a family with young children, we appreciate a wide range of hiking options. Are there short flat trails to cool natural features? Are there more challenging, longer trails that Ryan is excited to do on his own or we might return to do with older children?

Variety of touring options – When we visit a park, we look for a scenic drive, a hike less than 4 miles, and an alternate way to explore (paddleboard, bikes, backcountry drives, guided tour, rafting tour, etc). These small adventures get us off the main road and give us alternate ways to explore the park. Parks that don’t have this kind of variety will rank lower.

Repeat visits & seasonality – Would we want to visit this park again and again? Would we have a different and equally enjoyable experience visiting in another season?

What Doesn’t Matter in Our National Parks Ranked:

Geographic location – A park doesn’t lose points for us if it’s difficult to travel to. Since we RV, we don’t mind more rural parks. Obviously someone who flies to every National Park adventure might feel differently.

Wildlife – Don’t get me wrong, we are always on the lookout for wildlife while traveling, but it’s not a main factor in how much we enjoy a national park and we don’t plan around it at all. We include impressive wildlife as part of our ‘variety’ category, so it doesn’t have a big point value.

Big Huge Caveat:

None of the National Parks in US are bad. This is not Subpar Parks. (Although we love them. This Yellowstone review is my favorite.) We highly recommend that you visit all of the US national parks. Consider this a descending list of our favorites and reasons we loved one park more than others.

Without further ado, here’s how the national parks ranked from best to worst… or maybe we should say least best.

National Parks in US Visited as of Spring 2025: 26

Glacier National Park

We visited Glacier and Grand Teton as part of the same travel itinerary and it has always been hard to choose a favorite. Snow capped mountains and beautiful blue & green lakes are our favorite and both parks have those in spades. Glacier gets the win thanks to all its waterfalls, and also because it’s a larger park with more opportunities to explore. And biking Going to the Sun Road is just incomparable!

Grand Teton National Park

You can see the key feature of the park from wherever you are. These mountains are massive, rugged, and in May beautifully snow covered. But you’re looking at the same gorgeous mountain range no matter where you are. Glacier gets a slight edge for weather flexibility. We experienced rainy and foggy days in both parks, but visibility was a much bigger problem for us at Grand Teton. (If you can’t see the mountains…) In Glacier, it’s easier to drive to a different section of the park or focus on a waterfall hike instead.

Crater Lake National Park

As you can see, all the blue lakes and mountains rank top for me. Each spot we stopped at Crater Lake was a huge WOW! It’s incredible from all angles and it’s hard to take in just how massive it is, even when you’re standing on the very edge of it. Crater Lake ranks lower than Glacier and Grand Teton simply from the perspective of park size, length of stay, and variety of activities, but it will always be among our top 10 National Parks in USA.

Zion National Park

Zion loses some points for its heavy crowds, but Ryan and I agree that it’s one of the most beautiful National Parks in the US. Currently it’s 4th for us, and we gave it some extra beauty and hiking bonus points, because we feel it’s worth the headache of the crowds. If you can be strategic during your visit to minimize crowds, you will fall in love with this majestic place. I also love that you can view Zion Canyon both from up high and down low. And we can’t wait to experience the Narrows with the boys someday!

Big Bend National Park

This park is full of adventure! We wanted to explore every inch of Big Bend National Park, because the desert landscape was so varied! Big Bend is one of the least visited National Parks, but it ranks high for us because it was our boys’ first national park and the most exciting stop of our first month-long RV trip. Big Bend is massive! The Chisos mountains are truly stunning, the backcountry campsites are unique, the canyon is striking, and there is so much backcountry to explore! It really couldn’t feel much more remote! And I couldn’t get over how many colors of cacti I found!

Yellowstone National Park

This park is internationally known as one of the best National Parks to visit in the US. The park is full of hot springs, geysers, and wildlife here! Trying to see it all is overwhelming. Yellowstone gets points for size and uniqueness but it loses a lot for us in the solitude department. We love that it’s popular and accessible, because everyone should get to see this amazing park. And while there are options for getting away from the parking lots and the travel crowds, Yellowstone’s features are best seen from the many boardwalks, which is a bit different than our usual nature experiences. That said, the colorful hot springs and powerful geysers are not something you can see just anywhere. And the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone was an unexpected favorite for us!

Grand Canyon National Park

I have said it a dozen times… I don’t know how people only spend a couple of hours here. This incredible park is so vast! And the views vary more than you’d think, because there are so many overlooks and the light changes throughout the day! While it can feel crowded, we felt like we could find plenty of solitude at the less popular overlooks and we can’t wait to visit again when the boys are big enough to hike more down in the canyon. Maybe we’ll even do the rim to rim hike one day! It’s one of the top 10 National Parks in USA by visitation numbers for a reason!

Canyonlands National Park

This park flies under most people’s radar and isn’t even one of the most well-known of Utah’s Mighty Five, but Canyonlands is gorgeous! We have so far only been able to explore 1 of the 3 sections of this massive park and it rivals the Grand Canyon in vastness and beauty! We really loved being able to drive down into the canyon and this park feels remote while also being conveniently located in Moab, Utah.

Bryce Canyon National Park

I LOVE the magic of the hoodoos in Bryce Canyon and I was especially excited for the dusting of snow we got during our trip (in May)! The vastness of Canyonlands edges this park out, but walking among the hoodoos is not to be missed. It’s also one of the best National Parks to visit when other Utah parks are starting to heat up, since it’s at a pretty high elevation.

Arches National Park

Some people might think this is crazy to say, but Arches is our least favorite Utah National Park. It’s missing the size, solitude, and variety that you can find in the other red rock parks. Even if you never get out of the car, you can see some pretty amazing natural features just driving through Arches National Park. And that’s a good thing, because you might have trouble finding a parking spot!

Badlands National Park

I wasn’t sure what to expect here, and it was a pleasant surprise to us! The vast expanse of barren landscape reminded us of Big Bend National Park, on a much smaller scale. Two factors that give this park a boost is the ease of seeing wildlife – bison and prairie dogs just on the side of the road – and the ‘walk anywhere’ open hike policy. You can explore open areas and climb formations without sticking to a designated path. Badlands loses points on park size and variety of touring. And you can also see badlands formations from the highway in South Dakota, so it’s not imperative that someone visit the national park to enjoy them. (Although the views are definitely better inside the park!)

Acadia National Park

One of the few East Coast National Parks! This is a truly beautiful place but it doesn’t feel like a national park to me. It feels very similar to Cannon Beach, Oregon: a lovely coastal town with some history, cute little shops, and beautiful nature to enjoy. Great for couples to visit, but a bit harder for families to enjoy. People might be surprised how many National Parks ranked higher than Acadia for us, but we feel it ranks much better on a list of vacation towns, than it does next to other National Parks in US.

Mammoth Cave National Park

Ryan has been on two different cave tours here and he did one of them with the boys while I was in Iceland. We agree with all of our other National Park rankings, so I’m trusting him to put this in the correct place. Mammoth Cave National Park is the longest known cave system in the world and you can see almost every geological formation here. The park has several different tours that rotate on a schedule, so you can see something completely different on a repeat visit. We rank this park higher than other cave National Parks in US, because of the grandness of the cave, the tour variety, and longer tour lengths.

Theodore Roosevelt National Park

This park felt like a tease of the adventure you get in the Badlands. You get a taste of the formations but not a bunch in one huge expansive section like the Badlands. Take the scenic drive and the short walks from overlooks and you’ve covered everything in just a few hours. That said, it’s particularly lovely in June when everything is green, and it’s a great opportunity to learn how Theodore Roosevelt preserved many of our national treasures in the NPS.

Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park

The steep and jagged rocks of this canyon are beautiful and since this canyon is pretty narrow, you get great views of the stone walls on both sides. The reason this park ranked a bit lower than others is because the park is not that big and visitors are very limited in how they can experience the canyon. Black Canyon has lots of very short trails to overlooks with only a few mid to longer hiking trails. I don’t give any points for rock climbing, because that’s only for experienced climbers and not accessible to the majority of visitors. It’s one of the least visited National Parks in the lower 48 and I wish more people got to enjoy its beauty.

Shenandoah National Park

We grew up in Virginia so these mountains and lush forests feel more normal than impressive or unique to us. The layered mountains are very beautiful with lush green trees in the summer and stunning colors in the fall, but since Skyline Drive is right next to the Blue Ridge Parkway, you get similar views inside and outside the National Park. Shenandoah makes more sense to me to be a state park. I just don’t see enough to justify ranking Shenandoah as a top national park. But we also haven’t explored the north end of the park, so maybe we’re missing something.

Petrified Forest National Park

Petrified wood is extremely cool and you can see a lot of it in this national park! In addition to the petrified wood trails, the park has a large painted desert area and a couple of historic buildings. That said, most other National Parks ranked above it, leaving Petrified Forest towards the bottom of our national park list because it is pretty small and isn’t going to be a park that most people visit more than once.

Guadalupe Mountains National Park

This park is one of the least visited National Parks in the lower 48, but we enjoyed 2 great hikes here. While we didn’t make it to the very end, the Devil’s Hall trail had such a fun rock scrambling section. And Ryan took our oldest on his first mountain peak hike. We were so proud of him! Climbing 3,000 feet of vertical elevation at 8 year old!

Our Bottom 8 Rankings:

While we’re glad we visited all of the places I rank in the bottom, I do have some negative things to say. These parks don’t come to mind when you think ‘National Park’. They’re mostly small parks (or parks with small areas accessible to visitors), and several of them feel more like state parks or even museums. These aren’t the parks you’re going to visit for a week of hiking and enjoying nature. You’ll likely spend a day here, or even just a few hours, as part of a larger road trip.

But that doesn’t make them bad parks. In fact, most of these are not even in the bottom half of least visited National Parks, so plenty of people enjoy them. They just don’t rank in my personal list of best National Parks in USA.

New River Gorge National Park & Preserve

New River Gorge is the newest national park in the lineup of 63. The park is long and skinny, following the New River through West Virginia. Most of the visitation is focused around the Canyon Rim Visitor Center and the New River Gorge Bridge overlooks, with many people not ever visiting the other 3 sections of the park. (We only made it to 1 other section on our visit.) Because the park is new to its premier National Park status and it is pretty small, resources here are limited. The roads are very narrow, parking is very limited outside of the main area, and signage and maps weren’t always clear, all of which led to a bit of frustration during our visit. However, there are 2 very cool opportunities at New River Gorge that we would be excited to experience on a return visit: whitewater rafting on the New River and Bridge Day. Those who aren’t afraid of heights might also enjoy the Bridge Walk.

Cuyahoga Valley National Park

We really enjoyed spending the day at Cuyahoga Valley. This park is most known for its scenic train rides and the Towpath Trail, which we enjoyed biking. This is a great spot to enjoy some nature in the middle of northeast Ohio, but the park has limited hiking and doesn’t have much in the way of scenic views, so it’s not a vacation destination for most people.

Carlsbad Caverns National Park

Mammoth Cave is far and away our favorite cave, but we definitely think people should take the time to visit Carlsbad Caverns National Park. We took the natural cave entrance trail, which doubled our time exploring the cave. One of our boys was too young for the guided tour, but we’d like to do that on a future visit. And of course, next time we’ll have to schedule our visit when we can see the evening bat flight.

Hot Springs National Park

This national park is kind of a weird one! I personally think Hot Springs is more of a national historic site than a national park, although there is a nature element to the park. There’s a lot of cool history here and the visitor center museum is very well done. The urban setting gives the historic buildings a bit of a ‘tourist attraction’ feel. And since there’s no need for an entire row of functioning bathhouses, most of them have been converted into other things, like a hotel, a gift shop, a fully modern spa, even a brewery!

White Sands National Park

We ranked the sandy parks quite a bit lower than the desert parks, because we enjoy the added variety of plant and animal life. And the sand dune parks are so much harder for families with young children to access, because their walking stamina on dunes is limited, although they did really enjoy sledding. They viewed White Sands as their own personal sledding playground!

Great Sand Dunes National Park

Ryan visited Great Sand Dunes National Park with the kids while I was in Iceland. Here you’ll find some unique views: the tallest sand dunes in North America surrounded by the towering Colorado mountains. The park has a less traveled route via the 4WD high clearance Medano Pass that the boys really loved. The off-road trail takes you across the mountain and there are gorgeous views of the dunes behind the aspens as you descend to the sand. Medano Creek also flows right through the park and creates a beach style area right near the parking lots, which is a great way to cool off. While it has some cool features, most other national parks ranked above this sand dune park, because we enjoyed visiting the others more.

Wind Cave National Park

We enjoyed our cave tour, but it felt too short. An hour cave tour ends up being less than 30 minutes of walking through the cave when you account for the welcome spiel, the elevator rides, the intro talk, and the exit elevator ride. It went by so fast and there wasn’t an opportunity to see anything more in the park. We came and saw our scheduled thing and then it was time to go. We really wanted something more to do when the tour was over. More details in the exhibit area, like a 3D printed display of the cave, would help extend your visit and your enjoyment of Wind Cave. The park does have extensive grasslands and wildlife, but it’s connected to Custer State Park (which we were also visiting), so that doesn’t feel as unique. This is one of the least visited National Parks and gets a lot less buzz than nearby natural attractions like Mt. Rushmore, Custer State Park, and Crazy Horse.

Gateway Arch National Park

No matter how great the museum is and how cool the monument is, I don’t think the arch should be a national park. It should be a national monument or national historic site under the NPS just like Mt. Rushmore not a full-fledged National Park. But I could also see it as a Missouri state park or even just a famous tourist attraction, because it’s in a fully urban area and covers only 92 acres. It is by far the smallest national park, with the next largest park covering more than 5,000 acres. That’s a huge difference. And the largest 12 parks each cover at least 1,000,000 acres, with the top four all being larger than the state of Connecticut. The St. Louis Arch simply cannot compare to other national parks in size, natural landscape, or in variety of experiences. It’s a monument not a park, so it ranks last for us.

So that’s how we’ve ranked the most beautiful National Parks in the US that we’ve visited. Someday I hope we get to all 63!

When Will We Visit All 63 National Parks?

Certainly not for a while. We’re hoping to visit 5 to 7 more National Parks in 2026, but we’re not sure of our 2027 plans at this point. I think in the next few years we’ll have visited about 50 of the 63 US National Parks. But it’s likely we won’t visit the last dozen or so while we still have kids at home… or maybe even ever.

Parks like Isle Royale, Voyageurs, and Dry Tortugas National Park require a boat or flight to visit, so that can be pretty expensive for a day trip or short tent camping excursion. (For example, the cheapest day trip option for our family of 4 at Dry Tortugas is $1,065.) But that doesn’t mean we won’t go! It sounds like a blast to see Voyageurs by houseboat, and we’re definitely planning to visit Dry Tortugas when the boys are older and more excited to snorkel.

Some of the most expensive parks to visit include National Park of American Samoa, Gates of the Arctic National Park, and Kobuk Valley National Park. The most remote Alaskan National Parks essentially require you to book a guided tour, which gets very expensive. (The cheapest flightseeing tour over Gates of the Arctic I could find was $729 per person and multi-day hiking excursions cost several thousand per person.) Virgin Islands National Park, Glacier Bay National Park, and the National Park of American Samoa could all be visited on a cruise (I should say 3 different cruises) if we’d like to go that route, but I’m not sure when we’ll be ready to tackle those. There are so many amazing places in this world to visit and I’m not sure we’ll prioritize checking the remaining National Parks off of our list over visiting other countries and exploring other cultures. Right now, our main goal is to visit all 50 states and we’d like to hit at least 50 of the 63 National Parks.

Check out our national park guides & itineraries here. Want more tips on planning your National Park trip? Check out this blog post of 10 things you need to know before your first National Park family vacation.