Popular National Parks in California

If you’re planning a trip to one of California’s national parks this summer, we’ve rounded up some of the best and most popular parks to visit in California. They’re as follows:

Yosemite National Park

Yosemite National Park is not only one of the most popular national parks in California, but also one of the best national parks to visit in the US for its natural attractions.

Top 10 things to do in Yosemite National Park

Yosemite boasts the spectacular waterfalls, huge sequoias, and amazing rock formations such as El Capitan and Half Dome, which is one of the most popular hiking destinations in California.

Yosemite national park is one of the most popular vacation destinations in the US, and it’s no doubt as famous as Montana’s Yellowstone NP and North Carolina’s Great Smoky Mountains NP.

Redwood National Park

Next up on our list of popular national parks in California is Redwood National Park, which is one of the best places to camp in northern California.

places to visit on west coast

If you enjoy marveling at the Sequoia trees in Yosemite, you’ll love spending time in Redwood national park as the tallest Sequoias trees in world are located in Redwood.

Besides the magnificent Sequoia trees (coast redwoods), a few other attractions that make Redwood national park such a popular place to visit in California are its many hiking, trails, wildlife (home to the spectacular Roosevelt Elk), views of the Pacific Ocean, and beaches.

Joshua Tree National Park

Joshua Tree National Park is located right in the southern California desert; and it’s without a doubt, one of the most popular national parks in California.

Joshua Tree NP is truly in a league of its own as it boasts some of the most memorable landscapes, fascinating Yucca plants, and interesting sites such as mines and ranches.

If you’re looking for an outdoors experience not far from Long Beach California or Los Angeles, you’ll definitely enjoy a trip to Joshua Tree to hike and climb its many trails and huge boulders.

Death Valley National Park

Death Valley National Park is located on the California-Nevada border, and it’s one of the most popular national parks in California because of it’s close proximity to Las Vegas Nevada.

Death Valley NP is definitely one of the most breathtaking and enigmatic national parks you’ll ever set foot inside as there is no place quite like it!

Best Places to visit in California

Death Valley boasts a moon-like landscape filled with salt plains, old dwellings, petroglyphs, sand dunes, old mining towns, and cool wildlife such as bighorn sheep and coyote.


Overall, Death Valley national park is one of the best national parks in the US if you want to enjoy an Australian outback-type experience.

Channel Islands National Park

Channel Islands national park is without a doubt, one of the most popular national parks in California, and one of the top 10 natural wonders in US.

places to visit along the California Coast

The Channel Islands NP is located off the coast of Oxnard, and Santa Barbara, and they are definitely one of the most remote and stunning national parks in the country.

If you’re into water sports and wildlife, you can enjoy fantastic birdlife viewing, as well as sea cave kayaking and snorkeling tours.

Lassen Volcanic National Park

Lassen Volcanic national park is another stunning park in northern California, and one of the most popular national parks in California as it’s the only national park in the state containing a volcano (Lassen Peak).

If you’ve been to Hawaii Volcanoes national park, you’ll find a lot of similarities in Lassen Park such as lave domes, thermal vents and rock avalanche deposits.

If you love your climbs, you’ll certainly enjoy the hike to the summit of Lassen Peak for memorable views of the area around and Mount Shasta in the distance.

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