From misty mountains to sun-drenched deserts, the United States has some of the most spectacular natural landscapes in the world! And to protect these precious acres for future generations, the National Park Service was created in 1916 to ensure everyone can enjoy these natural wonders. If your group is planning an outdoor adventure, you’ll want to consider these 10 national parks for your trip. These parks offer something for everyone, from history to hiking to wildlife viewing.
And if your group needs help getting from your hometown to these breathtaking landscapes, Partybus.com is here to help. We’ve worked with school groups, wedding parties, corporate teams, church groups, and more to provide comfortable group transportation everywhere in the nation. Call us today at 877-563-2133 to learn more about how our transportation experts can help you reach the park of your dreams.
Now, let’s see some of those best National Parks you can explore!
Acadia National Park
Best Months to Visit: June-September
Entrance Fee: $30 per vehicle for 7 days
Pros: The park has numerous easy-to-moderate hiking trails, a scenic drive along the Park Loop Road, and delicious fresh seafood in nearby Bar Harbor.
Cons: Peak-season crowds can make for tedious traffic, limited parking at trailheads, and long wait times for local restaurants.
Annual Visitors: 3.5 million Most
Popular Activity: Hiking trails such as the Ocean Path, Beehive Trail, and Jordan Pond Path.
Where is it?
Located on Maine’s Mount Desert Island, Acadia National Park features a unique blend of pink granite mountains, rugged coastlines, and fragrant pine forests. A majority of the park is located on Mount Desert Island, but smaller portions can also be found on Isle au Haut and the Schoodic Peninsula.
All About The Park
The Wabanaki Confederacy inhabited this beautiful landscape for more than 12,000 years and called it “Pemetic.” French explorers stumbled upon the land in the early 1600s and it eventually became a territory of the British. European settlers harvested lumber from the area throughout the 1800s, and as a result, nearly all the forests you see today grew in the last century. Wealthy businessmen like John D. Rockefeller Jr. began to buy acres to protect the land from development and eventually the federal government took control, establishing Sieur de Monts National Monument in 1916, followed by Lafayette National Park in 1919.
In 1929, it was renamed to Acadia National Park (for the French province of Acadia that once covered the area) and has since expanded to protect 49,000+ acres of land as well as several islands. Today, you’ll find more than 158 miles of hiking trails to enjoy. For experienced hikers, the Beehive Trail is a must, featuring iron rungs and ladders to assist you as you ascend to beautiful, panoramic views of the rugged coast. Cadillac Mountain is the tallest mountain on the U.S. Atlantic coast, and is a popular place to watch the sunrise, while the Ocean Path offers a more mellow hike that traces the perimeter of the coast.
Visitors who’d like to enjoy scenic views from the comfort of their vehicle can reserve a timed ticket to drive along Park Loop Road. It takes about an hour to drive without stopping, but you’ll have a chance to enjoy views of the park’s popular areas from lookouts along the way, such as Sand Beach and Thunder Hole. A short drive from the park is the town of Bar Harbor, known for its charming, historic homes and its variety of lobster shacks, pubs, and seafood restaurants. Enjoy the authentic Maine lobster roll from local favorite spots like Thurston’s Lobster Pound and Geddy’s Pub.
You can also opt to visit one of the island’s many microbreweries to sample handcrafted beers, such as the ones from Atlantic Brewing Company and Bar Harbor Brewing Company.
Arches National Park
Best Months to Visit: April-May, September-October
Entrance Fee: $30 per vehicle, $15 per pedestrian or bicyclist
Pros: Most of the park’s most famous attractions—Delicate Arch, Balanced Rock, and the Windows—can be reached by a short, easy hike or walk, making Arches a wonderful place for family groups.
Cons: The park can get crowded from late spring through summer, which makes finding parking at popular trailheads difficult.
Annual Visitors: 1.8 million Most Popular Activity: Hiking to the natural sandstone arches, which make for pictures and photo-ops.
Where is it?
Arches National Park is located 5 miles north of Moab, Utah, just off of U.S. 191. With its proximity to other outdoor hotspots like Canyonlands National Park, Dead Horse Point State Park, and the La Sal Mountains, this region of Utah is perfect for a multi-day outdoor adventure for groups of all types—from hiking clubs to church retreats, to student field trips, to family vacations.
All About The Park
Although Arches is now a popular spot for hikers and outdoor enthusiasts, its history starts millions of years earlier. From 300 million to 65 million years ago, a shallow sea covered much of what we now know as Utah, leaving behind a layer of sand dunes as the water receded. Pressure on the sand formed sandstone over millions of years, and the shifting of tectonic plates caused cracks and fissures in the rock. These fissures slowly grew into arches as a result of wind and rain. Today, Arches National Park contains more than 2,000 sandstone arches (the largest collection of this type of rock formation in the world) spread across 76,519 acres of desert land.
Don’t let the expansive size and number of arches worry you. Many of Arches National Park’s most popular arches and rock formations are located right near the park’s paved scenic drive, with each trailhead featuring a designated parking lot. The Delicate Arch, a must-see on your visit, can be found on the edge of a cliff overlooking the Colorado River, while Balanced Rock, as the name suggests, is an oblong boulder precariously balanced atop a thin stone pedestal.
The Windows Section boasts views of multiple large arches, like the Double Arch, where two arches meet at their bases. The Fiery Furnace, a labyrinth of thin sandstone fins that requires a permit to enter, can be a fun and immersive experience—although it can also be disorienting to navigate, so we don’t recommend venturing in without a park ranger guide. If your group is looking for more challenging hikes, try the trails around Devils Garden, the longest paved trail in the park, with multiple overlooks. To make the most of your Arches National Park trip, pack plenty of sunscreen and water, wear comfortable hiking shoes with good grip, and stay on marked trails to avoid getting lost.
Bryce Canyon National Park
Best Months to Visit: May-September
Entrance Fee: $35 per vehicle, $20 per individual entry
Pros: The park offers a unique perspective on the Colorado Plateau, with panoramic views of amphitheaters and hoodoos that seem to change colors depending on the time of day.
Cons: The high-elevation of this park can make hiking difficult for out-of-town guests, and the unpredictable weather often causes trails to be closed for a large part of the year.
Annual Visitors: 2.6 million
Most Popular Activity: Hiking to the canyon’s viewpoints, like Inspiration Point, Sunset Point, and Sunrise Point.
Where is it?
Bryce Canyon National Park is in a high plateau at the southern end of Utah. This location makes it a great addition to a multi-day road trip to other Utah parks like Zion and Capitol Reef. Bryce Canyon National Park also lies just south of Kodachrome Basin State Park—another gorgeous park in Utah’s high plateau country with rock formations in unique, photo-worthy configurations, and it’s closer proximity to paved, major highways makes it a great choice for groups of travelers with less time.
All About The Park
Unlike other parks, Bryce Canyon isn’t technically a canyon. In other words, a river didn’t carve this unique landscape. Bryce Canyon consists of 12 amphitheaters—or horseshoe-shaped canyons—formed over millions of years due to weathering, erosion, and freezing and thawing cycles in the rock. This process is still occurring today, which means that every single time you visit, the park will look different.
The park’s most famous feature, however, remains the same: its breathtaking hoodoos. Hoodoos are thin, spire-like formations created by rain and frost wedging into fissures in the limestone. When rainwater freezes, the ice expands and slowly erodes the surrounding rock over hundreds or even thousands of years, leaving behind the iconic hoodoos for visitors to admire. The Navajo people, who inhabited this region for centuries, believed that the hoodoos were “Legend People” that had been turned to stone by a trickster coyote.
Today, more than 2 million visitors flock to Bryce Canyon to see and photograph these bizarre yet captivating red rock structures. At 35,835 acres, Bryce Canyon is a relatively small park compared to others, so you’ll be able to see the highlights in a day. You can visit the overlooks and viewpoints along the 18-mile paved scenic drive, hike the Navajo Loop Trail that descends 521 feet into the heart of the canyon, or even book a guided horseback riding tour or snowshoeing excursion.
With a charter bus or minibus rental, you can easily add these additional stops to your itinerary, and your driver can safely transport your group between Bryce Canyon National Park and other stops in the area.
Glacier National Park
Best Months to Visit: July-August
Entrance Fee: $35 per vehicle, $20 per person entering by foot or bike
Pros: This park offers stunning alpine views of snow-capped mountains and sparkling glacier-fed lakes, making it a popular spot for photographers and outdoor enthusiasts alike.
Cons: Heavy snowfall often restricts road and trail access for a large part of the year.
Annual Visitors: 3 million
Most Popular Activity: Exploring the Going-to-the-Sun Road, a 50-mile drive with dozens of scenic lookouts and trailheads.
Where is it?
Along the border of Canada and Montana, Glacier National Park is one of the wildest, most untouched parks in the U.S. The park’s namesake glacier may be slowly disappearing (due to rising global temperatures, sadly), but its jagged mountains and pristine lakes are still an incredible sight to behold.
All About The Park
For over 10,000 years, Glacier National Park has served as a crossroads for various Native American tribes, including the Blackfeet, Kalispel, Kootenai, and Salish. These indigenous people utilized the land for trade, hunting, and spiritual rituals, and you can still see ancient petroglyphs near Lake McDonald today.
Europeans arrived in the 1800s and began mining, ranching, and harvesting lumber from the region. However, local activists and nature enthusiasts pushed back against these exploitative practices to protect the unique environment. This eventually led to the creation of the park in 1910, which has since expanded to cover more than one million acres of mountains, alpine meadows, and lakes. Glacier National Park offers visitors a variety of exciting activities year-round.
During the warmer months, you’ll find plenty of hiking trails for all skill levels. The popular Trail of the Cedars features a paved pathway that’s easily accessible to wheelchairs and other mobility devices, making it a perfect, family-friendly path for groups that include those with mobility concerns. More experienced adventurers can try the longer, more strenuous trails that lead to scenic views of the peaks and glaciers.
The iconic Going-to-the-Sun Road, which winds across Logan Pass, has over a dozen trailheads and lookout points where you can admire the stunning alpine vistas. In the winter, trade in hiking boots for snowshoes and cross-country skis, and experience the quiet serenity of the park. It’s a magical time to experience snow-covered trails and mountains.
If you’re visiting the park between July and September, consider adding a visit to the Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park to your itinerary. This UNESCO World Heritage site encompasses Waterton Lakes National Park in Canada and Glacier National Park, protecting shared watersheds and cultural resources.
Grand Canyon National Park
Best Months to Visit: March-May, September-November
Entrance Fee: $35 per vehicle, $20 per person entering on foot or bike
Pros: It’s the Grand Canyon—a geological marvel that draws visitors from around the world. Need we say more?
Cons: It’s the Grand Canyon—expect crowds, tedious parking at every viewpoint, and high demand for accommodations, especially in the warmer months.
Annual Visitors: 6.3 million Most Popular Activity: Hiking the South Rim Trail to Mather Point or taking a scenic drive along Desert View Drive.
Where is it?
The Grand Canyon National Park is in the northwestern corner of Arizona, just south of the Utah border and a little over 3 hours from Las Vegas. It’s easy to see why this natural wonder attracts visitors from all around the world, but if your group prefers to enjoy stunning views without a large crowd, consider visiting the North Rim, which is more remote and has fewer tourists.
All About The Park
Grand Canyon National Park is a vast space—1,904 square miles to be exact—with much more to offer beyond just the canyon itself. Its geological history goes back 2 billion years to the Precambrian Era, when sedimentary rock was formed from eroded sand, and over the millennia, shifts in tectonic plates caused the layers to rise from below sea level.
Over the last 6 million years, the Colorado River carved out the layered landscape of the Grand Canyon we know today. The canyon is so massive—up to 18 miles wide and a mile deep—it has its own climate system. Temperatures at the top rim can be vastly different from temperatures at the base.
For example, in summer, expect the top rim to have an average temperature of 80°F, with 100°F temperatures at the bottom. If you’re planning to visit in the cooler months, you’ll find an average temperature of 45°F on the rim with 60°F at the canyon’s base. The South Rim is the most popular area to visit in Grand Canyon National Park, but if you have time, we’d recommend exploring both the North and South Rim.
If your group plans to hike, be sure to read through the park’s safety guidelines and bring plenty of food and water. There are trails for both novice and experienced hikers, from the easy-going Rim Trail to the ambitious Bright Angel Trail, a steep, 9-mile descent into the canyon.
Your charter bus or minibus rental can serve as a cool place to relax and recharge after a day of hiking, before venturing to other locations like Phoenix or Flagstaff.
Grand Teton National Park
Best Months to Visit: Mid-May-Late September
Entrance Fee: $35 per vehicle, $20 per person entering by foot or bike
Pros: In one place, your group can enjoy stunning views of the Teton Mountain Range, explore glacial lakes, and even take a trip to visit nearby Yellowstone National Park.
Cons: Like Glacier National Park, heavy snowfall often restricts access to roads and trails for a large portion of the year.
Annual Visitors: 3.4 million
Most Popular Activity: Hiking trails like Jenny Lake Trail, Inspiration Point Trail, and Cascade Canyon Trail.
Where is it?
Grand Teton National Park is in the northwest corner of Wyoming, just south of Yellowstone National Park. The Jackson Hole valley where the park is located is easily accessible from major highways like U.S. 26, U.S. 89, and U.S. 191. This accessibility makes the park a great stop for groups taking a road trip through the Rockies.
All About The Park
Grand Teton National Park’s natural landscape and breathtaking views attract millions of visitors every year. It also has a rich history that goes back more than 11,000 years when Paleo-Indians hunted and gathered food in the area. The Shoshone, Bannock, Crow, and Blackfoot tribes also inhabited the region for centuries, leaving remnants of tepees and other structures in places like Death Canyon and around Jenny Lake.
The arrival of Europeans in the early 1800s brought new settlements, cattle ranching, and timber harvesting, which eventually led to local activism to protect the area’s natural beauty. In 1929, Grand Teton National Park was established to protect the Teton Range.
Now, with 310,000 acres of protected land, the park offers a variety of outdoor activities, including hiking trails, ranger-led programs, fishing, kayaking, climbing, and white water rafting along the Snake River. One of the best ways to take it all in is to go on a scenic drive. The 42-mile inner park loop road takes visitors past the park’s most popular attractions and can be easily reached in a private charter bus or minibus, so you won’t have to worry about limited parking at each lookout point.
In the mood for a hike? Jenny Lake Trail is a 7.2-mile loop with a moderately difficult rating. Your group can even take the Jenny Lake ferry across the water to shorten the hike by 2 miles. This trail will lead you through stunning wildflower meadows, past groves of aspen trees, and to scenic views of Cascade Canyon. If you’re looking for a more challenging trek, try hiking up to Inspiration Point for breathtaking views of the Tetons and Jenny Lake.
Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Best Months to Visit: April-May, September-October
Entrance Fee: Free
Pros: The park has an abundance of outdoor activities, like whitewater rafting and hiking, as well as hundreds of miles of trails perfect for beginner hikers—all free of charge.
Cons: The park sees more annual visitors than any other national park in the US, which means traffic and limited parking can easily become issues during peak travel season.
Annual Visitors: 14.1 million
Most Popular Activity: Exploring the park’s more than 800 miles of hiking trails or taking a scenic drive along the Newfound Gap Road.
Where is it?
As the name suggests, Great Smoky Mountains National Park lies in the heart of the Appalachian Mountains—its 522,419 acres straddle the border between Tennessee and North Carolina. While many of the park’s most popular attractions are located on either the North Carolina side (near Asheville) or the Tennessee side (near Gatlinburg), the park’s immense size allows for unique, less-crowded attractions on either side of the park. The park’s location makes it a popular option for groups taking a private road trip on the Blue Ridge Parkway and is easy to access from major highways like I-40.
All About The Park
The Cherokee inhabited these misty mountains for thousands of years, harvesting medicinal plants, hunting game, and tending crops like corn, beans, and squash. European settlers and prospectors arrived in the 1800s, and the Smoky Mountains quickly became known for its logging and agricultural potential. However, it wasn’t until the 1930s that the creation of the national park began, thanks to the persistence of nature conservationists and activists who wanted to protect the area’s unique ecosystems.
Today, the Great Smoky Mountains boast the most biodiversity of any national park in the US, with nearly 19,000 documented species and an estimated 100,000 additional undiscovered species. That number doesn’t just include plants and animals—it also includes fungi! The park is home to hundreds of species of mushrooms, making it a prime destination for groups of mycophiles.
You’ll find an abundance of activities for visitors of all ages, such as black bear and elk watching, fishing, horseback riding, white water rafting and an extensive network of hiking trails—there’s something for everyone here! Cades Cove Loop is an 11-mile driving and biking route through a historic valley with scenic views, and the iconic Newfound Gap Road takes visitors on a scenic drive between Cherokee, North Carolina, and Gatlinburg, Tennessee.
Olympic National Park
Best Months to Visit: June-September
Entrance Fee: $30 per vehicle
Pros: This sprawling park offers visitors a taste of every Pacific Northwest ecosystem, from old-growth rainforests and alpine meadows to rocky tidal beaches and rugged, glacier-capped peaks.
Cons: The park’s sprawling size means driving between destinations can be a time-consuming endeavor, and the most popular trails, like Hoh Rainforest Hall of Mosses, can get crowded during peak season.
Annual Visitors: 3.2 million
Most Popular Activity: Walking along the rocky shoreline of Rialto or Ruby Beach to enjoy the views of the Pacific Ocean.
Where is it?
Located on the Olympic Peninsula, Olympic National Park is truly a unique landscape in the Pacific Northwest. Its location makes it a popular weekend getaway from Seattle. The park is a little over 2.5 hours from SeaTac airport and a little over 3 hours from Portland, making it a feasible day trip for visitors from either city.
All About The Park
The Quileute, Quinault, Makah, Hoh, and Skokomish tribes have inhabited the Olympic Peninsula for over 12,000 years. These tribes utilized the area for hunting, gathering traditional foods, and spiritual rituals. European explorers first arrived in the 1700s but European settlement didn’t occur until the 1800s.
Exploitation of natural resources quickly became an issue—from clear-cutting forests for lumber and fur trapping to mining gold and other minerals. Conservationists and local activists fought for decades to protect the Peninsula’s beauty from destruction, eventually creating Mount Olympus National Monument in 1909. Ten years later, President Woodrow Wilson expanded the monument’s borders and renamed it Olympic National Park.
Today, the park covers almost a million acres of land, boasting some of the most diverse landscapes in the U.S., from temperate rainforests on the western coast to the glacial peaks of the Olympic Mountains in the east. Hike through ancient forests with moss-covered trees at the Hoh Rainforest Hall of Mosses, take in breathtaking views of the Pacific Ocean while walking along Rialto Beach and Ruby Beach, and camp at one of 16 developed campgrounds.
Rocky Mountain National Park
Best Months to Visit: June-September
Entrance Fee: $35 per vehicle for 7 days
Pros: Located only 70 miles from Denver, Rocky Mountain National Park is easy to get to and offers plenty of opportunities for hiking and camping.
Cons: Wildfires and intense thunderstorms can make outdoor activities in this park dangerous in summer months.
Annual Visitors: 4.7 million
Most Popular Activity: Hiking to alpine lakes like Emerald Lake, Bear Lake, and Dream Lake.
Where is it?
Situated in north-central Colorado, Rocky Mountain National Park encompasses 415 square miles of breathtaking mountainous landscape. Although the park sees more than 4 million visitors every year, its vast size and abundance of trails offer something for every hiking experience, from beginner-friendly paths to remote wilderness treks.
All About The Park
For over 10,000 years, the Ute and Arapaho people traveled and hunted through this mountain region, and the park has remnants of their historic encampments in the Kawuneeche Valley. As the name suggests, Rocky Mountain National Park is home to dozens of mountains, including Longs Peak at 14,259 feet and 77 peaks over 12,000 feet.
The scenic Trail Ridge Road, which reaches an elevation of 12,183 feet, is a popular choice for visitors to see alpine meadows, observe wildlife like elk and bighorn sheep, and catch great views. In warmer months, hiking trails weave through the mountains, forests, and lakes of Rocky Mountain National Park, while winter brings opportunities for skiing and snowshoeing, as well as snowmobiling, ice fishing, and ice climbing—all depending on trail and road closures due to snowfall and weather conditions.
Sequoia National Park
Best Months to Visit: June-August
Entrance Fee: $35 per vehicle for 7 days
Pros: This park features not only the largest trees on Earth, but also miles of hiking trails, limestone caves, and high-elevation views, all in one location.
Cons: Heavy snowfall often restricts park access during winter months.
Annual Visitors: 1.2 million
Most Popular Activity: Taking a photo in front of the General Sherman Tree in the Giant Forest grove.
Where is it?
Sequoia National Park is located in the southern Sierra Nevada mountains of California. You’ll find it about 3.5 hours from Los Angeles and about 4 hours from San Francisco, making it the perfect addition to a road trip through California’s many national parks.
All About The Park
The giant sequoia trees are the most recognizable part of this park, and for good reason! These trees are truly massive—the General Sherman Tree in the Giant Forest Grove stands 275 feet tall and is 36 feet in diameter. These redwoods can live for 3,000+ years, making them a wonder to behold.
While you’re admiring the trees, be sure to take a group photo in the hollowed-out Tunnel Log. This fallen giant sequoia was carved out to make a road in 1937, and though it’s no longer the park’s main road, visitors are welcome to walk and drive through it. The Moro Rock granite dome in the Giant Forest grove is another great photo op and offers visitors scenic views of the surrounding landscape.
If you’re traveling with children, take a short trip through Crystal Cave and admire the calcite formations and underground pools. If you’d rather have an adrenaline rush, Moro Rock and the High Sierra Trail will surely deliver. Experienced hikers may want to take on the strenuous climb up the sheer rock face of Moro Rock. It’s a difficult climb, but its summit offers sweeping views of the park.
Yellowstone National Park
Best Months to Visit: April-May, September-October
Entrance Fee: $35 per vehicle, $20 per individual entry
Pros: As the world’s first national park, Yellowstone is home to more geysers and hot springs than any other place on Earth, as well as thousands of wild bison, elk, wolves, and more.
Cons: Yellowstone can be extremely crowded during the summertime peak season, and the park’s unpredictable weather can cause trails to close and campgrounds to fill quickly.
Annual Visitors: 4.9 million
Most Popular Activity: Watching Old Faithful Geyser erupt.
Where is it?
Yellowstone National Park is massive—it stretches across 2,219,789 acres in Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho. If you’re traveling from out of state, the park is most easily accessible from Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport (BZN) in Montana and Jackson Hole Airport (JAC) in Wyoming.
All About The Park
Established in 1872, Yellowstone National Park was the very first national park in the world. It quickly became known for its breathtaking geothermal features—exploding geysers, bubbling mud pots, and hot springs—and vast, wild landscapes. The park is also home to a diverse array of wild animals, including grizzly bears, black bears, wolves, bison, and elk.
If you’re planning a Yellowstone road trip, set aside at least a week to explore. The park’s iconic Grand Loop Road stretches 142 miles through the main attractions, including Old Faithful Geyser, Grand Prismatic Spring, and Yellowstone Lake. You can also embark on one of Yellowstone’s many hiking trails to see bison herds, blooming meadows, and picturesque waterfalls.
If you’re traveling with kids, they can become a Junior Ranger, while you can join a Ranger Program for a more immersed learning experience in the park.
Yosemite National Park
Best Months to Visit: May, September
Entrance Fee: $35 per vehicle, $20 per person entering by foot or bike
Pros: You can enjoy stunning views of El Capitan and Half Dome on beginner-friendly trails like the Lower Yosemite Falls Trail, as well as see the park’s highlights from Tunnel View.
Cons: Peak-season crowds and traffic congestion can be intense, and popular campsites often reach capacity within minutes of opening.
Annual Visitors: 4.4 million
Most Popular Activity: Hiking to Yosemite Falls, the tallest waterfall in North America.
Where is it?
Yosemite National Park lies on the western edge of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California, about 3.5 hours from San Francisco and 4 hours from Los Angeles. This location makes it a great choice for a group tour or multi-day road trip, but if your group has limited time to explore, consider adding a nearby park, like Pinnacles National Park, to your itinerary.
All About The Park
Yosemite National Park is known for its soaring granite cliffs and towering sequoia trees, as well as its rushing waterfalls and beautiful valleys. The Ahwahneechee lived in the valley for hundreds of years, until the Gold Rush era, when European settlers arrived in the 1850s.
By the late 19th century, activists like John Muir began campaigning to protect the unique landscape, and in 1890, Yosemite National Park was established to protect 1,500 square miles of wilderness. Today, the park welcomes more than 4 million visitors per year who flock to witness the beauty of this iconic American park.
Most of the park’s popular trails and attractions are located in the valley, so expect to experience crowds during peak travel season. For the best panoramic views of the valley, the Tunnel View lookout point should be on your itinerary. You’ll need to drive to this popular spot, so having a charter bus or minibus on hand to handle the parking while your group takes in the breathtaking views will save you stress.
Yosemite’s granite domes are among its most iconic attractions. For beginner hikers, the Lower Yosemite Falls Trail is a short and accessible 1-mile loop. If you’re looking for a more difficult trek, try hiking to the summit of Half Dome or climbing the vertical rock face of El Capitan. Even if hiking isn’t your thing, you can admire these impressive formations from Tunnel View.
Zion National Park
Best Months to Visit: April-November
Entrance Fee: $35 per vehicle, $20 per person entering by foot or bike
Pros: This park features a breathtaking canyon carved by the Virgin River with trails suitable for every hiker, and its location outside of Las Vegas makes it easy to reach.
Cons: Due to its popularity, Zion Canyon and its most famous trails, like Angels Landing, are often filled with large crowds.
Annual Visitors: 4.5 million
Most Popular Activity: Hiking to the summit of Angels Landing or trekking The Narrows in Zion Canyon.
Where is it?
Located near Springdale, Utah, Zion National Park is about 2.5 hours northeast of Las Vegas. Its close proximity to the Vegas strip makes it an easy day trip destination.
All About The Park
For thousands of years, Native American tribes, including the Paiute, Anasazi, and Virgin Anasazi people, called the Zion Canyon home. They constructed cliffside dwellings and petroglyphs, and the park still bears traces of their presence. Mormon settlers arrived in the mid-1800s, and the area quickly became known as Zion, a Hebrew word meaning sanctuary.
By 1909, Mukuntuweap National Monument was established and in 1919 it was renamed Zion National Park. Now covering 229 square miles, the park attracts more than 4 million visitors who come to enjoy the sandstone cliffs and canyons, as well as its diverse ecosystems and beautiful hiking trails. The 6.5-mile Narrows hike, one of the most popular treks in the park, includes wading up the Virgin River, which carves its way through the canyon.
For a challenging and truly unforgettable experience, try hiking to the summit of Angels Landing, which offers some of the most breathtaking views in the canyon.
Charter a Bus to Your National Park Trip
Whether your group is traveling for a day trip or a week-long vacation, Partybus.com is here to make the journey as relaxing as possible. We’ll match you with the perfect minibus or charter bus rental for your group and help you create a custom travel itinerary for your next adventure in the great outdoors. Call us today at 1-877-563-2133 for your free, no-obligation charter bus quote!