1. Key Summit and View of Lake Marian via Routeburn Track, Fiordland National Park, New Zealand
Walk difficulty: Moderate
Best time to visit: Jan-Feb
Cost: $
- Fiordland National Park occupies the southwest corner of the South Island of New Zealand
- It is by far the largest of the 13 national parks in New Zealand
- Fiordland was set aside as a national reserve in 1904
- The area had already become a destination for trampers, following the opening up of the Milford Track from Lake Te Anau to Milford Sound in 1889
Featured in The Best of New Zealand
2. Lake Agnes Trail, Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada
Walk difficulty: Moderate
Best time to visit: June-Aug
Cost: $
- Small mountain lake in the Banff National Park, where a teahouse is situated along the eastern shore
Featured in The Best of Alberta
3. Plitvice - Upper and Lower Lakes, Plitvice Lakes National Park, Croatia
Walk difficulty: Moderate
Best time to visit: Sept-Oct
Cost: $
- One of the oldest and largest national parks in Croatia, due to its outstanding and picturesque series of tufa lakes, caves, connected by waterfalls
- The park is famous for its lakes arranged in cascades
- The lakes are located along an important transport route and have always been a meeting place of occidental and oriental cultural influences
Featured in The Best of Croatia
4. Svartifoss - Sjónarsker, Vatnajokull National Park, Iceland
Walk difficulty: Moderate
Best time to visit: June-Aug
Cost: $
- Waterfall in Skaftafell in Vatnajökull National Park, surrounded by dark lava columns, which gave rise to its name
- The base of this waterfall is noteworthy for its hexagonal column sections that break off faster than the falling water wears down the edges
Featured in The Best of Iceland
5. Lower Yosemite Falls Trail, Yosemite National Park, California, United States
Walk difficulty: Easy
Best time to visit: May-Sept
Cost: $
- Park internationally recognized for its cliffs, waterfalls, clear streams, giant sequoia groves, lakes, mountains, meadows, glaciers, and biological diversity
- Almost 95 percent of the park is designated wilderness
- Yosemite is one of the largest and least fragmented habitat blocks in the Sierra Nevada
Featured in The Best of California
#1 in Best National Parks in the USA
#3 in Best Attractions in the USA
#11 in Best Landmarks in the USA
6. Grand Prismatic Spring, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, United States
Walk difficulty: Easy
Best time to visit: late April-May, Sept-early Oct
Cost: $
- Largest hot spring in the United States, and the third largest in the world, after Frying Pan Lake in New Zealand and Boiling Lake in Dominica
- Grand Prismatic Spring was noted by geologists working in 1871, and named by them for its striking coloration
- Its colors match most of those seen in the rainbow dispersion of white light by an optical prism: red, orange, yellow, green, and blue
Featured in The Best of Wyoming
#2 in Best Attractions in the USA
#2 in Best National Parks in the USA
#11 in Best Attractions in the World
#15 in Best Landmarks in the USA
#46 in Best Landmarks in the World
7. South Kaibab Trail to Ooh Aah Point, Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona, United States
Walk difficulty: Moderate
Best time to visit: March-May, Sept-Nov
Cost: $
- Grand Canyon National Park, is the 15th site in the United States to have been named as a national park
- The Grand Canyon, a gorge of the Colorado River, is often considered one of the Wonders of the World
- The park received the second highest count of visitors of all American national parks after Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Featured in The Best of Arizona
#1 in Best Attractions in the USA
#3 in Best National Parks in the USA
8. Mount Kintoki - Kintoki Shrine, Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park, Japan
Walk difficulty: Moderate
Best time to visit: Jan-Feb, Oct-Dec
Cost: $
- National park in Yamanashi, Shizuoka, and Kanagawa Prefectures, and western Tokyo Metropolis
- Rather than being a specific spot, the park is a collection of dispersed tourist sites that dot the region
- The park includes a variety of geographic features including natural hot springs, coastlines, mountainous areas, lakes, and more than 1000 volcanic islands
- Vegetation in the park ranges from species of mountainous trees to the subtropical vegetation of the Izu Islands
Featured in The Best of Japan
9. Calanque de Sugiton, Calanques National Park, France
Walk difficulty: Moderate
Best time to visit: Sept-Nov
Cost: $
- One of the numerous Calanques located between Marseille and Cassis
- While quite small, Sugiton is perhaps the most known of all Marseille Calanques, simply because it can be easily accessed by hikers, and because it is open to tourists even during hot season, unlike most Calanques
- During summer most of the Calanques are closed because of high fire risk
- A small beach can be found at the extremity of the calanque
Featured in The Best of France
10. Vintgar Gorge - St. Catherine Loop, Triglav National Park, Slovenia
Walk difficulty: Easy
Best time to visit: April-May, Sept-Oct
Cost: $
- Only national park in Slovenia, established in its modern form in 1981
- Mount Triglav, the highest peak of the Julian Alps, stands almost in the middle of the national park
- From it the valleys spread out radially, supplying water to two large river systems with their sources in the Julian Alps, flowing to the Adriatic and Black Sea, respectively
Featured in The Best of Slovenia
11. Taranaki Falls Walk, Tongariro National Park, New Zealand
Walk difficulty: Moderate
Best time to visit: Jan-May, Nov-Dec
Cost: $
- Oldest national park in New Zealand, located in the central North Island
- Tongariro National Park was the sixth national park established in the world
- The active volcanic mountains Ruapehu, Ngauruhoe, and Tongariro are located in the centre of the park
- There are a number of Māori religious sites within the park, and many of the park's summits, are sacred
Featured in The Best of New Zealand
12. Nawurlandja Lookout and Burrunggu Walk, Kakadu National Park, Australia
Walk difficulty: Easy
Best time to visit: May-Oct
Cost: $
- Kakadu National Park is a protected area gazetted as a locality, with 313 people recorded living there
- Kakadu National Park is the second largest national park in Australia (after the Munga-Thirri–Simpson Desert National Park)
- Most of the area is owned by the Aboriginal traditional owners, who have occupied the land for around 60,000 years, who manage the park jointly with Parks Australia
Featured in The Best of Australia
13. The Zion Narrows Riverside Walk, Zion National Park, Utah, United States
Walk difficulty: Easy
Best time to visit: April-Nov
Cost: $
- Park located at the junction of the Colorado Plateau, Great Basin, and Mojave Desert regions
- The park features a variety of life zones that allow for unusual plant and animal diversity
- There are four life zones in the park: desert, riparian, woodland, and coniferous forest
- Zion National Park includes mountains, canyons, buttes, mesas, monoliths, rivers, slot canyons, and natural arches
Featured in The Best of Utah
#7 in Best Attractions in the USA
#7 in Most Surreal Attractions in the USA
14. Kīlauea Iki Trail and Crater Rim Trail, Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park, Hawaii, United States
Best time to visit: Sept-Nov
Cost: $
- Pit crater that is next to the main summit caldera of Kīlauea on the island of Hawaiʻi
- It is known for its eruption in 1959 that started on November 14th and ended on December 20th, producing lava fountaining up to 1900 feet and a lava lake in the crater
- Today, the surface of the lava lake has cooled and it is now a hiking destination to view the aftermath of an eruption
Featured in The Best of Hawaii
#21 in Best National Parks in the USA
#68 in Best Attractions in the USA
15. Delicate Arch Trail, Arches National Park, Utah, United States
Walk difficulty: Moderate
Best time to visit: April-May, Sept-Oct
Cost: $
- Delicate Arch is a 52-foot-tall (16 m) freestanding natural arch located in Arches National Park
- The arch is the most widely recognized landmark in Arches National Park
- Delicate Arch is formed of Entrada Sandstone
- The original sandstone fin was gradually worn away by weathering and erosion, leaving the arch
Featured in The Best of Utah
#10 in Best National Parks in the USA
#23 in Best Attractions in the USA
16. El Golfo - Playa del Paso, Timanfaya National Park, Spain
Walk difficulty: Moderate
Best time to visit: March-May, Sept-Nov
Cost: $
- Spanish national park on the island of Lanzarote, in the Canary Islands, and the parkland is entirely made up of volcanic soil
- Timanfaya National Park represents a sign of recent and historical volcanism in the Macaronesian Region
- The last volcanic eruptions occurred during the 18th century as well as on the 19th century
Featured in The Best of Spain
17. Gorham Mountain Loop, Acadia National Park, Maine, United States
Walk difficulty: Moderate
Best time to visit: June-Aug
Cost: $
- Trail offering rocky coastline, Cadillac Mountain, and a panoramic view of ocean drive
Featured in The Best of Maine
#12 in Best National Parks in the USA
#16 in Best Attractions in the USA
18. Cascade Canyon Trail, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming, United States
Walk difficulty: Moderate
Best time to visit: mid May-late Sept
Cost: $
- National park that includes the major peaks of the 40-mile-long (64 km) Teton Range as well as most of the valley known as Jackson Hole
- Along with surrounding national forests, the park constitutes part of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, one of the world's largest intact mid-latitude temperate ecosystems
Featured in The Best of Wyoming
#5 in Best National Parks in the USA
#15 in Best Attractions in the USA
19. Emerald Lake Trail, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado, United States
Walk difficulty: Easy
Best time to visit: June-Sept
Cost: $
- Park located within the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains
- The eastern and western slopes of the Continental Divide run directly through the center of the park
- The main features of the park include mountains, alpine lakes and a wide variety of wildlife within various climates and environments, from wooded forests to mountain tundra
Featured in The Best of Colorado
#9 in Best National Parks in the USA
#21 in Best Attractions in the USA
20. Navajo Loop and Queens Garden Trail, Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah, United States
Best time to visit: May-Sept
Cost: $
- Park whose major feature is Bryce Canyon, which despite its name, is not a canyon, but a collection of giant natural amphitheaters
- Bryce is distinctive due to geological structures called hoodoos, formed by frost weathering and stream erosion of the river and lake bed sedimentary rocks
Featured in The Best of Utah
#3 in Most Surreal Attractions in the USA
#6 in Best Attractions in the USA
#13 in Best National Parks in the USA
21. Alta Via 1 Dolomites: Pian de Fontana Hut - La Muda (Variant Stage XI), Dolomiti Bellunesi National Park, Italy
Walk difficulty: Moderate
Best time to visit: Sept-Nov
Cost: $
- Trail in a national park, in the province of Belluno, Veneto, in northern Italy
- Established in 1988 and declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2009
Featured in The Best of Italy
22. Loughrigg Fell Circular, Lake District National Park, England, United Kingdom
Walk difficulty: Moderate
Best time to visit: May-June, Sept
Cost: $
- National park in North West England, designated a national park in 1951
- It is the most visited national park in the United Kingdom, and the largest of the thirteen national parks in England and Wales
- Its aim is to protect the landscape by restricting unwelcome change by industry or commerce
Featured in The Best of England
23. Passage Peak, Whitsunday Islands National Park, Australia
Walk difficulty: Moderate
Best time to visit: Sept
Cost: $$
- The Whitsunday Islands lie midway along Australia's Queensland coast and are bordered by the Great Barrier Reef and the waters of the Coral Sea
- Migrating humpback whales favor the waters around the Whitsunday Islands as a calving ground between May and September each year
- Marine stingers are found in the waters of the islands between October and May
- All 74 of the islands are surrounded by the Great Barrier Reef and only eight of them are inhabited.
Featured in The Best of Australia
24. Torc Waterfall Trail, Killarney National Park, Ireland
Best time to visit: July-Oct
Cost: $
- Killarney National Park, near the town of Killarney, County Kerry, was the first national park in Ireland
- The park encompasses diverse ecology, including the Lakes of Killarney, oak and yew woodlands, and mountain peaks
- It has the only red deer herd on mainland Ireland and the most extensive covering of native forest remaining in Ireland
Featured in The Best of Ireland
25. Ryan Mountain, Joshua Tree National Park, California, United States
Walk difficulty: Moderate
Best time to visit: March-May, Oct-Nov
Cost: $
- Ryan Mountain is a 5,456-foot-high (1,663 m) mountain in Joshua Tree National Park
- It is one of the locations in Joshua Tree that features abundant lichen populations
- It is named after J.D. Ryan, a wealthy rancher and early mining operator in the park
Featured in The Best of California
#11 in Best National Parks in the USA
#20 in Best Attractions in the USA
26. Dove Lake Circuit, Cradle Mountain - Lake St. Clair National Park, Australia
Walk difficulty: Moderate
Best time to visit: Jan, Dec
Cost: $
- Dove Lake is a corrie lake near Cradle Mountain in the central highlands region of Tasmania
- It lies in the Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park
- Like several other lakes in the region, Lake Dove was formed by glaciation
- Among animals wandering the shores of the lake are numerous wombats, echidnas, pademelons and tiger snakes
Featured in The Best of Australia
27. Great Barrier Reef Drive (Cairns to Cape Tribulation), Great Barrier Reef National Park, Australia
Best time to visit: June-Oct
Cost: $
- The Great Barrier Reef Drive from Cairns to Cape Tribulation is a coastal drive in northern Australia
- The 140 km scenic drive goes from the city to the jungle in 2.5 hours
- The drive shows two World Heritage areas, remote beaches, scenic views, resorts, crocodiles, and rain forest
Featured in The Best of Australia