Best Months to Visit Each National Park (With Chart)
As America’s national parks become more and more popular each year, many of them have to deal with huge crowds, traffic congestions, and other issues, such as incidents involving wildlife.
Therefore, planning a trip to a national park can be somewhat more difficult nowadays than it used to be. This is especially true when also taking into account the reservation systems in certain parks.
So, to better help you plan your next national park trip and figure out when to visit U.S. national parks, I’ve created a couple of handy visual overviews of the best months to visit each national park.
Best National Parks to Visit in Every Season
For more information about which national parks to visit in each season, I recommend checking out the following blog posts.
- Best National Parks to Visit in Spring
- Best National Parks for Summer Island Vacations
- Best National Parks for Fall Foliage
- Best National Parks for Winter Wonderlands
- Best National Parks for Warm Winter Getaways
When to Visit Each National Park (Calendar)
The colorful chart below shows up to seven of the best months to visit each individual national park.
Feel free to save or screenshot it for future use! Click the chart to see a larger version and see below for notes explaining how I determined the best months for each national park.
Best Months to Visit Each National Park (By Region)
Notes On This Chart
The colors in this table don’t have a specific purpose other than to more clearly distinguish between individual months. If a box has a color, that means it’s one of the best months to visit its corresponding national park.
I decided to limit the number of months to seven in order to really showcase the best times to visit every national park. (For several parks, for example Acadia, Yellowstone and Zion, this meant leaving out the most crowded times.)
Note that some parks may also be enjoyable to visit outside of the indicated (colored) months, while other parks might have a very brief visitation window of no more than two or three months.
To determine the best months for each national park, I took into account several different factors. Those include historical visitor use statistics (especially peak visitation), seasonal weather, and road/trail closures. Wherever possible, a “best month” is a month that isn’t extremely busy, yet still offers great access, nice weather, and an overall enjoyable experience.
I also took into consideration certain annual events, which may make a park particularly worth visiting. Examples of those are bat flights in Carlsbad Caverns, synchronous fireflies in Great Smoky Mountains, subalpine wildflowers in Mount Rainier and North Cascades, bison calving in Yellowstone, and possible superblooms in Death Valley and Joshua Tree.
Additionally, I also used my own national park experiences to figure out the three to seven best months for each individual park.
Best National Parks by Month
Check out the following blog posts for the best national parks to visit in each specific month:
- January: Best National Parks to Visit in January
- February: Best National Parks to Visit in February
- March: Best National Parks to Visit in March
- December: Best National Parks to Visit in December
This is a brand new series I’ve started, so the list will be expanded as I publish new blog posts for each month.
What do the colors mean? I don’t see a color key.
The colors don’t mean anything specific other than to more clearly distinguish between individual months. If a box has a color, that means it’s one of the best months to visit its corresponding national park.
Interesting that you don’t recommend visiting Saguaro National Park in April or May when the saguaro are blooming.
Thanks for your comment, Donna. I’m working on an updated version of the table!
Great concept. I wish you spelled out a little more specifically what criteria you used. For instance, I assume Acadia is very busy in October during the Fall leaf season. Did you pick October because of the fall colors irrespective of crowds? Typically I like to avoid the crowds if possible (My last trip was Yellowstone and Grand Teton in February), but like Acadia in October, sometimes the draw is seasonal, but worth the crowds. Any insight on your thought process is appreciated.
Thanks for your comment, John. There’s a section below the table where I explain the factors and criteria I used to determined which months are the “best.” In your example of Acadia, yes, October is a pretty busy month, but July and August tend to be even busier. In the case of that park, the October crowds are a necessary evil to enjoy the spectacular New England fall colors. Wherever possible, though, the “best months” are the months that have (relatively) smaller crowds, yet still offer good access, nice weather and a great overall experience.
Love this. I would absolutely purchase a poster or print of this. You did such a nice job with the design.
You don’t mention Great Falls National Park.
Great Falls is not one of the 63 major national parks. Instead, it’s one of the many sites managed collectively as part of the George Washington Memorial National Parkway.
is “blue” better than “yellow”? What is the color key?
No, as I explained below the tables, “the colors in this table don’t have a specific purpose other than to more clearly distinguish between individual months. If a box has a color, that means it’s one of the best months to visit its corresponding national park.”
Where is Mount Rushmore on the chart? When is it best to visit there?
Mount Rushmore is a national memorial, not a national park. See both Badlands and Wind Cave national parks (both are close to Mount Rushmore) for the optimal months to visit.
Thanks for this in one place; it’s very helpfully organized. Will bookmark it for updates! Happy 2024.
Bram,
The time and effort put into this chart and your explanations afterword are a true sign of your awesomeness. Thanks so much for putting this together and sharing it freely. Of course everyone’s mileage may vary as we all have different situations but this chart is fantastic. I’ll be getting my national Park passport book ready for new adventures soon.
Thanks, Donna! I’m glad you find it useful.