The Year’s Most Visited National Park Service Sites

by Laurie Baratti
Last updated: 3:30 PM ET, Fri February 23, 2024

In a testament to the enduring allure of America's natural and historical wonders, the National Park Service (NPS) welcomed approximately 325.5 million recreation visits across its 400 sites last year, according to its newly released annual visitation report.

That’s a notable increase of four percent, or 13 million visits, over 2022 as the National Park system continues the long climb out of its pandemic-era struggles. According to CNN, 2016 remains the peak year for recreational national park visits, boasting a total of nearly 331 million.

“From Kaloko Honokōhau National Historic Park in Hawai’i to Congaree National Park in South Carolina, parks are attracting more visitors each year to learn about our shared history,” National Park Service Director Chuck Sams said in a news release.

As per usual, there were several predictably perennial favorite sites among visitors, which proved to be among the top 10 most popular.

Topping the list, as expected, is the scenic marvel known as the Blue Ridge Parkway, renowned for its breathtaking vistas and winding roads that showcase ever-changing seasonal landscapes. Boasting an impressive 16.75 million visits in 2023, visits to this spectacular strip of roadway constituted 5.15 percent of all visits to the NPS system.

The only newcomer to the lineup is Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, which makes its top 10 debut despite facing challenges from extensive drought in the Southwest in 2022. Meanwhile, the emotionally poignant Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., although slipping out of the top 10, maintained a respectable position at Number 12 in the rankings.

The National Mall with a view of Lincoln Memorial, Washington D.C.

In keeping with the most-visited NPS sites, Great Smoky Mountains National Park—which straddles the border between North Carolina and Tennessee—tops the list of headliner national parks. Typically occupying the top spot from year to year, the massive park welcomed more than13 million visitors in 2023.

The Grand Canyon and Colorado River, Arizona.

The list of the most popular national parks excludes other types of NPS sites, such as memorials, battlefields, recreation areas, etc. Last year, California’s Joshua Tree and Washington’s Olympic National Park pushed their way into the top 10, knocking Ohio’s Cuyahoga Valley and Montana’s Glacier National Park out of their 2022 top most-visited spots.