Best National Parks to Visit Month-By-Month
Most national park planning advice tells you the “best” month to visit a park without showing you the full picture. This guide does both. We’ve visited 56 of the 63 US national parks, many of them multiple times and in different seasons, and timing is consistently one of the biggest factors in how good a trip turns out. Get it right and you’re hiking Angels Landing with a fraction of the crowds. Get it wrong and you’re stuck behind a closed gate on Going-to-the-Sun Road.
Below are our month-by-month guides covering which parks are the best to visit each month of the year, based on weather, crowd levels, road access, and our own firsthand experience. Following that is a series of tables that maps every park across all 12 months, so you can find parks for a specific trip window or confirm the best time for a park you already have in mind.
We also have a season-by-season breakdown for those who prefer to think in broader terms — spring, summer, fall, and winter rather than specific months.
For guides to individual parks, including things to do, itineraries, and hiking trails, visit our US National Parks guide.
When to Visit the National Parks by Month
Below is a series of 12 guides, one for each month of the year. Each national park is listed at least once and many are listed multiples times.
These guides take many factors into consideration: weather, crowd levels, special events, fall colors, best time to go hiking, road closures, and our personal experiences in the parks. We haven’t been to all of the national parks, at least not yet, but we have done a lot of research as to the optimal times to visit these parks.
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Best Time to Visit Each National Park
In the tables below, we list each of the 63 national parks in alphabetical order, and provide data for the best months to visit each of these parks.
Green lines indicate the best months to visit based on weather, road access, and our experience. Red lines indicate peak crowd periods based on National Park Service visitation data.
There are two different ways to use these tables.
If you have a particular month or season that you are planning your trip, you can look at that column (for example: May) and the parks that are highlighted in green for that month make great options for your trip.
If you have a park that you would like to visit (for example, Bryce Canyon National Park), scroll down to Bryce Canyon and the months highlighted in green are the best times to visit this park.
The tables are broken up into 8 national parks each, just to keep them manageable. In the caption for each table, we have links to our national park guides, if you want to learn more about the parks listed in that table.
To learn more about what the green and red bars indicate, scroll past the tables to the section “More Information about These Tables.”
ACADIA | AMERICAN SAMOA | ARCHES | BADLANDS | BIG BEND | BISCAYNE | BLACK CANYON OF THE GUNNISON | BRYCE CANYON
CANYONLANDS | CAPITOL REEF | CARLSBAD CAVERNS | CHANNEL ISLANDS | CONGAREE | CRATER LAKE | CUYAHOGA VALLEY | DEATH VALLEY
DENALI | DRY TORTUGAS | EVERGLADES | GATES OF THE ARCTIC | GATEWAY ARCH | GLACIER BAY | GLACIER | GRAND CANYON
GRAND TETON | GREAT BASIN | GREAT SAND DUNES | GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS | GUADALUPE MOUNTAINS | HALEAKALA | HAWAI’I VOLCANOES | HOT SPRINGS
INDIANA DUNES | ISLE ROYALE | JOSHUA TREE | KATMAI | KENAI FJORDS | KINGS CANYON | KOBUK VALLEY | LAKE CLARK
LASSEN VOLCANIC | MAMMOTH CAVE | MESA VERDE | MOUNT RAINIER | NEW RIVER GORGE | NORTH CASCADES | OLYMPIC | PETRIFIED FOREST
PINNACLES | REDWOOD | ROCKY MOUNTAIN | SAGUARO | SEQUOIA | SHENANDOAH | THEODORE ROOSEVELT | VIRGIN ISLANDS
VOYAGEURS | WHITE SANDS | WRANGELL-ST. ELIAS | WIND CAVE | YELLOWSTONE | YOSEMITE | ZION
More Information About These Tables
Red lines show peak visitation months based on National Park Service data from the last four years. Green lines indicate the optimal time to visit based on a combination of factors: average temperatures, road access, rainfall, and our own experience in these parks.
A few things worth knowing about how we made these calls:
Temperature: For a month to earn a green cell, the average daily high had to stay below 90°F (32°C) and the daily mean had to be above freezing. This is based on averages, so it won’t account for an unusual heat wave or cold snap.
Road closures: Several parks close key roads in winter due to snow. Going-to-the-Sun Road in Glacier, for example, typically doesn’t fully open until late June or early July. For a once-in-a-lifetime trip, you want access to the whole park, so any month with a likely road closure doesn’t get a green cell, even if the weather is otherwise fine.
Special events: Some parks have one or two months where something extraordinary happens — the superbloom in Death Valley, cactus blooms in Saguaro, bats emerging at Carlsbad Caverns. These moments are worth planning around and you’ll find them highlighted in our monthly guides.
Foliage: For parks where trees define the landscape — Shenandoah, Great Smoky Mountains, Acadia — the presence of leaves is part of what makes a visit worthwhile. Shenandoah in June looks completely different from Shenandoah in February, and that’s reflected in the tables.
Best National Parks by Season
Winter is the season for the southern parks. Death Valley hits its sweet spot in January and February, with mild temperatures. Virgin Islands and Everglades are at their best when the rest of the country is cold, offering warm weather, low humidity, and excellent conditions for snorkeling and wildlife spotting. Joshua Tree is another strong winter pick, with clear skies and comfortable hiking temperatures before the summer heat sets in.
Spring opens up the Colorado Plateau. Zion, Arches, and Canyonlands all hit their stride in March, April, and May. The light is beautiful, wildflowers are starting to appear, and the extreme summer heat hasn’t arrived yet. Big Bend is wrapping up its peak season in early spring and remains an excellent choice through April. Pinnacles is one of the more underrated spring destinations, with great hiking and the chance to see California condors soaring overhead.
Summer is Alaska and the northern Rockies. Glacier, Grand Teton, and Rocky Mountain National Park reach full accessibility in July when high-elevation roads and trails finally open. Yellowstone is at its most dynamic in summer, with wildlife active and all areas of the park open. For the ultimate summer adventure, Denali and Mount Rainier offer experiences that simply aren’t possible any other time of year.
Fall is the season that surprises most people. Acadia, Shenandoah, and Great Smoky Mountains put on one of the best foliage displays in the country through September and October. Bryce Canyon takes on an entirely different character in fall — the hoodoos set against golden aspens are some of the most striking scenery in any national park. Badlands is another strong fall pick, with cooler temperatures and dramatic skies that make for exceptional photography.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which national parks are best to visit in winter?
The best national parks to visit in winter are concentrated in the southern and southwestern US, where temperatures stay mild. Top picks include Death Valley, Big Bend, Saguaro, Dry Tortugas, Everglades, and Virgin Islands National Park. These parks are at their best from November through March, with comfortable hiking temperatures and lower crowds than the summer peak.
Which national parks are best to visit in summer?
Summer opens up parks that are inaccessible or limited earlier in the year. Glacier, Denali, Kenai Fjords, and Mount Rainier are at their best in July and August when roads are fully open and wildlife is active. Rocky Mountain, Grand Teton, and Yellowstone are also excellent summer destinations, though crowds peak in July.
Which national parks are good to visit year round?
Several national parks are worth visiting in any month, though each has a season that’s less ideal than others. The Grand Canyon is accessible year round, with winter bringing snow to the South Rim and a completely different, quieter experience. Redwood National Park is beautiful in every season, as the towering trees look stunning in fog and rain as much as sunshine. Gateway Arch is a year-round destination given that most of the experience is indoors.
What is the least crowded time to visit national parks?
January and February are the quietest months across most of the national park system. If you want to avoid crowds at a specific park, check the red cells in our tables above — any month without red is typically a lower-crowd window. Shoulder seasons (April to May and September to October) offer the best combination of good weather and manageable crowd levels at most parks.
Which national parks have the best fall colors?
Acadia, Shenandoah, New River Gorge, and Great Smoky Mountains are the top picks for fall foliage, typically peaking in October. Rocky Mountain, Grand Teton, and Zion also put on a strong fall show, with aspens turning gold in late September and early October.
Which national parks should I avoid in summer?
Parks in the desert Southwest become extremely hot in summer and are best avoided in July and August. Death Valley regularly exceeds 115°F, and even Zion, Arches, and Grand Canyon can see temperatures above 100°F. If summer is your only option for these parks, plan to hike early in the morning and limit midday activity.
What national parks can I visit in April?
April is one of the best months to visit parks across the Southwest and Southeast. Arches, Canyonlands, Guadalupe Mountains, and the Grand Canyon are all excellent in April. It’s also a strong month for Haleakala and Hawai’i Volcanoes, with great weather and lower crowds than most other months of the year. See our full guide to the best national parks to visit in April for the complete list.
What national parks can I visit in October?
October is arguably the best month of the year for national park travel. Crowds drop sharply after Labor Day, temperatures cool across the Southwest, and fall colors peak in the eastern parks. Top picks include Acadia, Shenandoah, Great Smoky Mountains, Zion, Rocky Mountain, and New River Gorge. See our full October guide for the complete list.
More Information About the National Parks
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Learn more about the US National Parks. See the full list of all 63 parks, get recommendations on where to go, and start planning your next national parks adventure.
