The 11 Best National Park Road Trips In The US You Can Take All Year Long

Hey Readers!

In a country like the United States, where road trips are fun, it can be hard to decide on a route. Should you take the historic Route 66 or the beautiful Pacific Coast Highway? Head south to the Florida Keys or north to the coast of Maine? We have one tip that might help you choose (at least a little bit): Check out our national parks.

Our national parks have some of the best road trips in the country, whether you like to drive on long highways through the desert or along the coast. Not only do they have amazing views, but they also often go by weird roadside attractions and a lot of great restaurants.

As an added bonus, some parks even have hotels inside their borders. Here, we’ve rounded up 11 of the best national park road trips in the US, with tips on where to stop, eat, and sleep along the way.

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Things To Consider When Planning A Road Trip To A National Park 

Here are the things you need to keep in mind when planning a road trip to a national park:

1. Prepare Your Vehicle

National parks are often in remote places, so if your car breaks down, it may take a while for help to arrive. So, before you start your trip, make sure your car is in good shape and has a full tank of gas.

2. Download Directions

Speaking of being in the middle of nowhere, you might not have cell service or Wi-Fi in the parks, so be sure to save directions (and this story) to your phone before you go.

3. Pack Snacks And Water

Don’t count on finding food or supplies on the road. Bring everything you need, including picnic gear, with you (and be sure to carry out anything you carry in with you).

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Best US National Park Road Trips

A trip to a national park isn’t just about getting to the park. It’s just as fun to get to these natural wonders in remote areas that have been preserved as it is to see them. This includes drives to and around the parks.

In fact, a car is the best way to see many US national parks. We’re not saying you shouldn’t get out and smell the flowers and fresh air, but these scenic drives are the best way to see a lot of nature and wildlife at once.

During the warmer months, we’re all about making plans for a huge cross-country road trip. These 11 best national park road trips in the US are more than up to the task, with beautiful views of the coast, deep canyons, and tall forests.

1. Acadia National Park, Maine

Acadia National Park is one of the best places in the country to take a long, scenic drive. It is easy to get to from Portland, Maine, and the best way to get there is along the coast on US-1. Start your trip to Acadia at the top of Cadillac Mountain.

This is the highest point on the North Atlantic seaboard and one of the first places in the United States to see the sun rise. Then, drive the 27-mile loop road in the park, stopping to look at the rocky coast and hike around Jordan Pond.

From the park, the Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse is 14 miles south. One of the most photographed lighthouses in America is a 19th-century tower and cottage that sit on rocky shores and are surrounded by weathered pines.

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2. Joshua Tree National Park, California

Joshua Tree National Park is a great example of how beautiful the desert can be. It has huge landscapes, bright night skies, rocky canyons, and plants that look like they came from another planet. Even better? It is very simple to get there.

From Los Angeles, take I-10 East to CA-62 and you’ll be there in about three hours, though you should allow more time for stops. (Note: Before you drive up to the park entrance, stop at the Park Visitor Center and pay for your park pass.) Once you get there, you can choose from a number of scenic routes.

You can park at White Tank Campground and walk to the famous Arch Rock, or you can drive along Park Boulevard and stop at Skull Rock and Cap Rock. Spend the rest of the day hiking at Intersection Rock and watching the sunset with some calm coyotes.

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3. Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks, Wyoming

When it comes to road trips to national parks, there’s nothing more classic than spending a few days in Yellowstone. On the park’s loop roads, drivers can see the steaming terraces at Mammoth Hot Springs, the erupting geyser Old Faithful, and the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone waterfall.

From Yellowstone’s southern exit, Grand Teton National Park is 31 miles south on the John D. Rockefeller Parkway. Stop along Teton Park Road to look at the sawtoothed Teton Range, and then go to Jackson Lake Lodge to see the Tetons’ reflection in the lake.

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4. Crater Lake National Park, Oregon

From Portland, it takes a little more than four hours to drive to Crater Lake National Park. The most beautiful part of your drive, though, is when you get there and see the snow-capped mountains of the Pacific Northwest behind the lake.

Take Rim Drive around the edge of the caldera and look down at the blue, clear, and deep water. Take a boat tour led by a park ranger and run by a company that the NPS has approved.

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5. Glacier National Park, Montana

Mountains carved by glaciers and topped with snow rise above sapphire lakes all over Glacier National Park. Get to Missoula, Montana, then take US-93 north and US-2 around the park. Your goal is to get to the famous Going-to-the-Sun-Road, which gets its name from the mountain just past Logan Pass.

This 50-mile, two-lane road goes through the park. Travelers can stop along the way to hike trails with waterfalls and bighorn sheep. Wild Goose Island and Jackson Glacier Overlook are two places along the road that you must see.

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6. Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona

There are many ways to get from Las Vegas to the Grand Canyon, but we recommend taking the northern route along I-15 which briefly goes into Utah; if you plan ahead, you can even stop at Zion National Park and US-89 to visit Lake Powell and Antelope Canyon first.

From there, it’s mostly a straight shot along US-89 and AZ-64 to the Grand Canyon National Park entrance, where you can start another short adventure. Start at the South Rim. From there, you can take a hop-on, hop-off shuttle to pullouts with great views of the canyon’s abyss and the Colorado River.

Then, take US-89 for a five-hour drive to the North Rim, which is usually open from May to October. At the North Rim, there are winding trails and wide views of the canyon’s cracks, cliffs, and bluffs.

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7. Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado

Starting in Denver, you can go west to Winter Park, loop up to Estes Park on US-40, and then go back down through Boulder on US-36 to circle Rocky Mountain National Park and enjoy scenic view of Colorado national parks road trip. The 48-mile Trail Ridge Road climbs 4,000 feet and is the highest continuously paved road in the United States.

It is the most beautiful part of the park. It goes over the Continental Divide at 12,183 feet and has many pullouts where you can stop and take pictures of the mountains.

At 11,796 feet, the Alpine Visitor Center is the highest visitor center in the NPS. It is on Trail Ridge Road. Before getting back in the car, stop here for a hot chocolate and to take in the view.

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8. Yosemite National Park, California

After spending a few days in San Francisco, take I-580 and CA-120 east for about four hours until you reach Yosemite National Park. The Tioga Road, which goes from Crane Flat to Tioga Pass and is 46 miles long, is the most well-known scenic drive in the park.

After you’ve seen enough domes and waterfalls, take CA-41 south to add two more parks to your trip: Kings Canyon National Park and Sequoia National Park, which is home to trees that are bigger than life and have been around for hundreds of years.

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9. Zion, Bryce Canyon, and Capitol Reef National Parks, Utah

In Utah, we couldn’t just pick one: All three of these National Park gems show how beautiful the American Southwest is. Start in Zion national park road trip, where you can hike the Narrows, a narrow gorge with high canyon walls on either side, or climb to Angel’s Landing, a tall rock formation with a notoriously steep trail to get there.

The spooky amphitheaters and natural arches of Bryce Canyon can be reached in 90 minutes by driving on US-89. Capitol Reef, one of the most underrated and beautiful parks in the United States, is another two hours away via UT-62 and UT-24.

Even though it doesn’t get as much attention as nearby Zion and Bryce, it has beautiful cliff, canyon, and red rock landscapes with a lot less people. One of the best US national park road trips.

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10. Olympic National Park, Washington

Olympic National Park is the only U.S. park where you can see ocean shores, temperate rainforests, and alpine mountains all in one day. Start in Port Angeles, Washington, and drive south on Hurricane Ridge Road (off Mount Angeles Road) to get to Hurricane Ridge and enjoy Olympic national park scenic drive.

Smaller cars can then turn off onto the 8-mile unpaved Obstruction Point Road to see amazing mountain views. US-101 goes around the Olympic Peninsula and takes about 2.5 hours to drive from Hurricane Ridge. Along the beautiful eight-mile stretch from Ruby Beach to Kalaloch, you can stop at viewpoints to see the rocky Pacific.

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11. Denali National Park, Alaska

When people go to Denali, they see more than 6 million acres of lakes and mountains, including Mount McKinley, which is the tallest mountain in North America. Along Interstate A-4, it takes five hours to drive from Anchorage to Denali.

Park Road, which runs from east to west through the park and is 92 miles long, can only be reached by hop-on, hop-off shuttles or tour buses. When you get off at Wonder Lake, it’s an easy 10-minute walk to Reflection Pond, where you can see Mount McKinley in all its glory. one of the most underrated and best national park road trips in the US.

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FAQs About Best US National Park Road Trips

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