{"id":530320,"date":"2026-03-18T06:49:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T06:49:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/530320\/"},"modified":"2026-03-18T06:49:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T06:49:08","slug":"these-are-the-most-popular-national-parks-in-the-united-states","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/530320\/","title":{"rendered":"These are the most popular National Parks in the United States"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n         Published on<br \/>\n            18\/03\/2026 &#8211; 7:00 GMT+1\n            <\/p>\n<p>The United States\u2019 national parks remain a jewel in the country\u2019s tourism crown, drawing millions of visitors each year to their vast landscapes and outdoors adventures.<\/p>\n<p>          <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"c-ad__placeholder__logo\" src=\"https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/website\/images\/logos\/logo-euronews-stacked-outlined-72x72-grey-9.svg\" width=\"72\" height=\"72\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><br \/>\n          ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p>          <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"c-ad__placeholder__logo\" src=\"https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/website\/images\/logos\/logo-euronews-stacked-outlined-72x72-grey-9.svg\" width=\"72\" height=\"72\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><br \/>\n          ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p>Despite disruption caused by a prolonged 43-day government shutdown, more than 323 million recreation visits were recorded across 406 park sites in 2025, according to the National Park Service (NPS). <\/p>\n<p>There were more than 13 million overnight stays with 26 parks setting new visitation records. In total, visitors spent nearly 1.4 billion hours exploring the parks.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAmerica\u2019s national parks continue to be places where people come to experience our country\u2019s history, landscapes and shared heritage,\u201d says Jessica Bowron, Comptroller, exercising the delegated authority of the NPS Director. \u201cWe are committed to keeping parks open, accessible and well-managed so visitors can safely enjoy these extraordinary places today and for generations to come.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Great Smoky Mountains takes the top spot<\/p>\n<p>Topping the list once again was Great Smoky Mountains National Park, which drew more than 11.5 million visitors in 2025 \u2013 comfortably retaining its position as the most visited national park in the US.<\/p>\n<p>Located between North Carolina and Tennessee, the park\u2019s accessibility, biodiversity and lack of entrance fees continue to make it a favourite among domestic travellers and international visitors alike.<\/p>\n<p>In second place was Zion National Park in Utah, which welcomed just under five million visitors. Known for its towering sandstone cliffs and hiking trails such as Angels Landing, Zion has become one of the most sought-after adventure destinations in the American Southwest.<\/p>\n<p>Close behind with 4.76 million visits was Yellowstone National Park, which is spread across Wyoming, Montana and Idaho. As the world\u2019s first national park, Yellowstone remains a bucket-list destination thanks to its geothermal features, including Old Faithful, and its abundant wildlife.<\/p>\n<p>Rounding out the top five were Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona (4.43 million visits) and Yosemite National Park in California (4.28 million), both of which continue to attract visitors with their dramatic scenery and iconic landmarks.<\/p>\n<p>The top 10 national parks in 2025<\/p>\n<p>Great Smoky Mountains National Park: 11,527,939<br \/>\nZion National Park: 4,984,525<br \/>\nYellowstone National Park: 4,762,988<br \/>\nGrand Canyon National Park: 4,430,653<br \/>\nYosemite National Park: 4,278,413<br \/>\nRocky Mountain National Park: 4,171,431<br \/>\nAcadia National Park: 4,079,318<br \/>\nGrand Teton National Park: 3,800,648<br \/>\nOlympic National Park: 3,584,187<br \/>\nGlacier National Park: 3,136,557<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Published on 18\/03\/2026 &#8211; 7:00 GMT+1 The United States\u2019 national parks remain a jewel in the country\u2019s tourism&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":530321,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[26638,23,7221,3,6206,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":["post-530320","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-adventure","tag-america","tag-nature","tag-news","tag-park","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/530320","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=530320"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/530320\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/530321"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=530320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=530320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=530320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}