Be sure to check out the USA page to check out all of the sights found in “How Long to Stay at Each US national park”!
*Last updated July 19, 2024
HOW LONG TO SPEND AT EACH US NATIONAL PARK
First of all, welcome! This has become my most visited page, so I can see a lot of people are trying to figure out how long to spend in each national park. Additionally, I am going to go through each of the 545Travel National Park Pages (links on the right column) and make the first topic about how long to stay, with more details. I know that it can be tricky figuring out how to allocate your time, especially if you have limited time.
First, the “minimum” time listed is what I consider the least amount of time I would want to spend to make it worthwhile going. Sure you could spend 4 hours in Big Bend and have a great time, but it doesn’t really make sense when it takes most of a day to get there and over 2 hours just to drive from one side to the other. Second, the “suggested” time is what I would consider an optimum amount of time to be able to get a good feel for the park.
Of course, longer is always better, but I think that this would be a good target for a family visiting each area. Additionally, if you are planning a unique trip, say hiking Tonto Trail in the Grand Canyon, it is of course going to take much longer than the time listed here. Lastly, some Alaska parks are listed with a “*”, they are unique parks and more difficult to visit.
I hope this helps and please email me if you have any comments or suggestions.
National Parks (NPS Site)
Minimum
Suggested
545Travel Page
Be sure to check out all of the reviews on each park at the main USA page.