National Park travel tips

It’s easy to pigeonhole England’s south-west as overrun with visitors, yet there is a national park here that is one of the UK’s least visited. The reason perhaps lies with its location, in the shadow of its Devon neighbour. Indeed, when I told one person I was heading to Exmoor for a break, they queried: “Do you mean Dartmoor?”

Due to fears of environmental damage caused by tourists, the popular Thai island, Koh Tachai, will close indefinitely on October 15. All marine national parks are closed in Thailand during monsoon season, from mid May to mid October, which means Koh Tachai is no longer allowing tourists. The island is in the Similan National Park and is a popular spot for both Thai and foreign tourists, especially divers.

Whether you’re looking to explore the farthest reaches of the globe or vacation closer to home, the year ahead will offer plenty of reasons to explore. In 2017, many of the world’s most intriguing destinations will be celebrating anniversaries, festivals, easier access, and other new reasons to visit. So grab your suitcase and go—there’s never been a better time to visit these fascinating places near and far.

Yosemite National Park, perhaps more than any other, is responsible for the broader vision of wilderness conservation in this country, thanks to a Scottish immigrant named John Muir who fell in love with this land, fought to protect its natural wonders and, in the process, founded the Sierra Club.

Adventure travel company, G Adventures has long been a leader when it comes to socially responsible tourism and animal welfare, and its latest collaboration with the Jane Goodall Institute even further sets the company apart.

TripAdvisor (owner of SmarterTravel.com) is among a select few corporations that wear their social conscience on their sleeves, due in large part to the conviction and efforts of company founder and CEO Steve Kaufer. The company’s latest initiative, announced this week: a ban on sales of tickets to animal attractions “where travelers come into physical contact with captive wild animals or endangered species, including but not limited to elephant rides, petting tigers, and swim with dolphin attractions.”

Among its 232 square miles of mesas, canyons, and terraces lies the highlight of Zion National Park: the 16-mile-long, 2,500-foot-deep Zion Canyon, where the north fork of the Virgin River has been sluicing its way through red-and-ochre sandstone of Utah’s plateau for more than a million years.

The U.S. National Park Service recently proposed doubling entry fees at the 17 most-popular parks, and one park is now considering creating a reservations system for visitors, the Associated Press reports.

When the U.S. National Park Service (NPS) proposed drastic hikes to admission fees last fall, the reaction was swift and negative. It seems the NPS heard what people will saying.

I recently spent a week in Hawaii, splitting my time between Honolulu’s bustling Waikiki area and the lush shores of Kauai. My trip was completely unaffected by the Hawaii volcano eruption that’s been going on since early May, despite the scary pictures I’d seen of spewing ash and fiery lava. My flights were on time, the air was fresh and clean, and I was able to enjoy the pristine landscapes and local hospitality for which Hawaii is famous.

Missing the great outdoors? Us too. While we’re spending more time planning our next national park vacation than we are being outside, we’re making the most of quarantine with these live cams of national parks.

Soon after the turn of the 20th century, rumors began making their way west that man-eating lizards, 10 feet long and weighing up to 350 pounds, with fearsome talons, chain mail scales, and serrated teeth dripping with venom, had been found living on a remote Indonesian island. The source of the reports was Lieutenant Jacques Karel Henri van Steyn van Hensbroek, a Dutch colonial officer, who revealed the existence of Varanus komodoensis, the world's largest extant reptile, in 1910. But it was a 1926 American Museum of Natural History expedition to capture live specimens, led by a flamboyant Vanderbilt scion named William Douglas Burden, that caused interest in the creature to explode in popular culture. Burden's gripping account, Dragon Lizards of Komodo, inspired his friend Merian C. Cooper to dream up the primordial Skull Island for his classic 1933 film, King Kong. Civilization was steaming forward, and yet, in that era, the map still seemed to hold places that hid ancient secrets.

Glacier National Park is one of the most gorgeous parks in the national park system. The sprawling park is in northern Montana and is home to some of the oldest glaciers in the US — not to mention wildlife like grizzly and brown bears, mountain goats, bighorn sheep, pumas, wolves, elk, moose, and more. The park has gorgeous day hikes running between half a mile or 20 miles, and some of the best backcountry backpacking in the US. You can even hike from the US into Waterton Lakes National Park, the attached national park just on the other side of the US-Canada border.

Winter is a magical time to visit Tetonia and Driggs, Idaho, when the region transforms into a snowy wonderland with endless opportunities for outdoor winter activities. On a recent trip, we stayed at the Teton Peaks Resort in Tetonia, which served as the perfect homebase for all our cool (pun intended) adventures.

Tsingy National Park (full name: The Tsingy de Bemaraha National Park) is a national park in Madagascar. The name “tsingy” comes from a Malagasy word meaning “walking on tiptoes,” which is an apt description of the landscape of the park. It is known for its unique karst formations, formed by rain that dissolved the soft limestone over time, creating sharp, rocky spires.

Big Bend National Park shares a border with Mexico in a stunning stretch of southwestern Texas, where evenings are defined by orange skies reflecting against red-rock canyons.  While such stunning scenes are commonplace within Big Bend, the massive desert preserve remains overlooked among US national parks. It’s never had more than 500,000 visitors in a single year since it was made a national park in 1944, making it one of the least-visited parks in the lower 48.

Grand Canyon National Park is one of the most-visited parks in the national park system, but don’t let that stop you from visiting — it’s absolutely stunning and there’s plenty of room for everyone. It’s also a great park for both active visitors and more laid-back travelers, as you can do a 20-plus-mile hike all the way through the canyon or just stay on the top, strolling between viewpoints and checking out the various visitors centers.

For most travelers, there are a few trips considered bucket list must-dos: seeing the northern lights, sleeping in a tropical over-water bungalow, and walking through Times Square in New York City are just a few. And for many, one of those dream trips is also taking an African safari.

Abutting the US border with Canada, North Cascades National Park is a land of contrasts. Cerulean blue lakes sit at the foot of mountains forested in deep green pines, with their peaks capped in snow and pointing to the heavens. The park mirrors the various landscapes of the Pacific Northwest, shifting from mountainous areas dominated by rain showers and heavy snowfall to arid plateaus cut by glaciers since melted into alpine rivers and lakes. The park is remote, accessible only by the beautiful North Cascades Highway or from hiking trails to the north.

Imagine yourself with family, friends, or even alone on horseback, meandering the trails in and around Zion National Park. After a day of hiking or canyoneering, what’s better than relaxing by the pool or hot tub with a stunning view of the desert mountains behind you? Experience all this and more at Utah’s first-ever national park and really immerse yourself in the park’s nature, wildlife, and historical landmarks and features. Really get up close and personal with the park at these Zion lodging and dive into the geology, tours and history, and culture that Zion has to offer.

Spanning across more than 800,000 acres, Joshua Tree National Park is where two distinct desert ecosystems, the Mojave and Colorado, meet, resulting in an incredibly diverse array of flora and fauna. The Southern California park takes its name from the Joshua Tree, a peculiar and beautiful species of yucca that dots the landscape with its spiky, outstretched branches. But the trees are just the beginning. Joshua Tree National Park is also renowned for its striking rock formations, carved over thousands of years by harsh winds and rains. The special landscape is best enjoyed at a leisurely pace. There’s a lot to see here, so opting for a hotel nearby offers you easy access first thing in the morning and at night too. It’s worth noting that the region is a magical place for stargazing and you can drive into the park when the sun goes down to join a tour, or simply enjoy the night sky independently. There are various accommodation options from outstanding Airbnbs and a handful of hotels near Joshua Tree National Park.