Virginia’s Shenandoah is #1 national park in USA

In celebration of National Parks week, Travel Lemming released a data-backed ranking of all 63 US national parks. Shenandoah, Virginia’s only national park, surprised by clinching the top spot as the best national park in the US.

Travel Lemming’s national parks ranking is based on an analysis of data scoring each park across six factors: affordability, accessibility, biodiversity, crowds, reviews, and weather.

The report revealed the following insights: 

• Shenandoah National Park tops the list at 1st overall, with exceptional scores in affordability, accessibility, and biodiversity.
• Shenandoah ranks as the 2nd most affordable National Park in the USA. The only more affordable park in America is Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota.
• With 2,563 species, Shenandoah ranks 6th for biodiversity.
• Shenandoah ranks #7 in accessibility, because it is relatively close to major airports like Dulles International Airport, which is just 55.5 miles driving distance away.
• Shenandoah is the 19th best reviewed national park in the USA, with an average visitor rating of 4.77 out of 5.
• Several lesser-known parks rank in the top 20, challenging conventional ideas of the top US national parks.
• Iconic national parks fared worse in the data, largely due to crowds and affordability. Grand Canyon National Park was ranked #15, Yellowstone National Park at position #23, and Yosemite National Park at slot #34.

The top 10 US national parks in the USA according the report are: 

The full ranking can be found at: travellemming.com/best-national-parks-in-usa.

Travel Lemming Senior Travel Writer McKenna Mobley commented: “I have traveled the world, and can confidently say that the USA national parks are unparalleled, making them one of my all-time favorite travel destinations. Every US national park offers its own special flair, so in some sense ranking them is like ranking music genres — they’re all good!”

“However, I hope this report highlights the fact that some of America’s less famous parks offer far more than what meets the eye. Sometimes the best experiences can be found at hidden park gems that are off the lemming path.”

Methodology

National Parks were ranked on six factors, based on the following data:

• Crowds – Number of visits per acre of park land in 2022. (Sources: NPS 2022 Recreation Visit Data, Wikipedia Acreage Data)
• Reviews – Average visitor review score out of 5. (Sources: Google Maps, Yelp, TripAdvisor)
• Weather – Number of months with a comfortable average temperature, defined as between 50 and 90 degrees fahrenheit. (Source: NOAA NECI US Climate Normals)
• Affordability – Average nightly cost of a nearby quality hotel room during the first weekend of the park’s most popular month. (Sources: Booking, Google Travel, Hotel Websites)
• Accessibility – Average of driving distance to the park from the closest FAA Primary Airport and from the closest hub airport. (Sources: FAA, Google Maps Driving Distance, Wikipedia Major US Airports)
• Biodiversity – Number of species deemed “present or probably present.” (Source: NPS Species List)

Overall rankings were determined by each park’s average ranking across all factors. Further details are available in the report’s methodology section.

About Travel Lemming

Travel Lemming is an online travel guide with more than 10 million annual readers. It is known for highlighting emerging and lesser-known destinations, and for the authentic guides produced by its team of dozens of local and expert travel creators.