By State

National Parks in Alaska

Alaska is home to 8 national parks, each offering a distinct landscape and experience. Here they are, ranked by annual visitation.

Updated

#1Icebergs, calved from tidewater glaciers are a common sight in Glacier Bay National Park.

Glacier Bay & Preserve

AK

Moderate CrowdsHidden Gem

Fifteen tidewater glaciers calve into a 65-mile fjord where humpback whales surface within camera range, reachable only by boat or plane.
#2snowy mountains reflected in a pond

Denali & Preserve

AK

ComfortableHidden Gem

North America's tallest peak anchors six million acres where one road separates you from wilderness and grizzlies outnumber summit-spotters.
#3kayakers in front of a tidewater glacier

Kenai Fjords

AK

Moderate CrowdsHidden Gem

Exit Glacier is the only glacier in Alaska you can reach by road, with retreat markers showing how fast the ice is vanishing.
#4Two backpackers sitting in an alpine meadow with snowy mountains in the background

Wrangell - St Elias & Preserve

AK

ComfortableHidden Gem

America's largest park holds nine of the continent's sixteen highest peaks, including Mount St. Elias, with glaciers you can drive to.
#5Bear standing at the edge of a waterfall while a salmon is leaping towards it.

Katmai & Preserve

AK

Room to BreatheHidden Gem

Brooks Falls draws 2,200 brown bears to its salmon runs—North America's largest protected population concentrated in one watershed.
#6Waterfall surrounded by forest in fall foiliage and mountains in the background.

Lake Clark & Preserve

AK

Room to BreatheHidden Gem

Two active volcanoes, 42-mile glacial lake, and bears fishing roadless salmon streams you can only reach by floatplane.
#7A green pack canoe sits on the bank of the Kobuk River. Clouds are mirrored on the water's surface.

Kobuk Valley

AK

Room to BreatheHidden Gem

Six hundred square miles of sand dunes rise from Arctic tundra, carved by 15,000-year-old winds still pushing them across permafrost.
#8Alpenglow on the granite cliffs of mountains

Gates Of The Arctic & Preserve

AK

Room to BreatheHidden Gem

Six million acres where caribou migrations follow ancient routes and the Brooks Range rises through valleys most will never reach.