5. Acadia National Park

Maine

Acadia, which the National Park Service calls the “Crown Jewel of the North Atlantic Coast,” is a 47,000-acre recreation area on the Atlantic Coast around 50 miles from Bangor, Maine. Visitors to the park, which is primarily on Maine’s Mount Desert Island, can see and enjoy 27 miles of historic motor roads, 158 miles of hiking trails, and 45 miles of carriage roads. As you’d expect, the most popular activities in the summer are biking, birdwatching, swimming, stargazing, and boating. On the other hand, in the winter, visitors travel to the park to hike, cross-country ski, and snowshoe.

In 2022, almost 4 million people visited Acadia. Interestingly, that number is only slightly off from the visitor tally of just under 4.1 million in 2021 — even though that number set a new attendance record at Acadia.

4. Rocky Mountain National Park

Colorado

There are 76 mountains in Rocky Mountain, and each of them is more than 10,000 feet high. The park, which sits just outside Estes Park and is about a 2-hour drive from Denver, is also known for its 355 miles of hiking trails. Visitors frequently see bighorn sheep, elk, mule deer, and other wildlife.

In 2022, 4.3 million people visited Rocky Mountain. That number is close to the 2021 tally of slightly more than 4.4 million and is only down slightly from the pre-pandemic year 2019’s tally of just under 4.7 million visitors. By the way, attendance at Rocky Mountain in 2019 set a new visitation record.