7. Yellowstone National Park

Wyoming, Montana, Idaho

Yellowstone, the nation’s oldest national park, is known around the world for thermal features such as the Old Faithful geyser, the breathtaking Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River, and of course, its bison, wolves, bears, and other wildlife. The park, which was established on March 1, 1872, encompasses more than 2.2 million acres and has more than 900 miles of hiking trails.

Interestingly, nearly 3.3 million people visited Yellowstone in 2022, which is down substantially from 2021’s visitor count of nearly 4.9 million. Then again, it must be pointed out that 2021 was a record-breaking year for attendance at Yellowstone.

6. Yosemite National Park

California

Yosemite, which is located in California’s rugged Sierra Nevada mountains, features numerous waterfalls, ancient sequoia trees, deep valleys, giant meadows, vast sections of wilderness, and an abundance of wildlife. The park’s most-crowded attraction is Yosemite Valley, which is only natural since it’s the best place to see the world-famous granite cliffs: Half Dome and El Capitan.

In 2022, nearly 3.7 million visitors traveled to Yosemite. While that number is up from the 2021 visitor tally of just under 3.3 million visitors, it still falls short of the pre-pandemic year of 2019 when almost 4.5 million visitors traveled to Yosemite.