All 396 U.S. national parks will offer free admission during National Parks Week (Apr. 21 - 29), and many of the parks are also scheduling special programs, events, lodging discounts and tours.
From Saturday, April 21 through Sunday, April 29, eighty-four million acres of your spectacular parklands, historic places and cultural treasures will be free to enter (saving you such as $20 at Yosemite, $15 at Joshua Tree).
You can take part in Volunteer Day at the parks on April 21, Earth Day on April 22 and National Junior Park Ranger Day on April 28.
For instance, Whiskeytown National Recreation Area near Redding, CA, invites you to visit four of the park’s dazzling waterfalls, take rubbings of the bronze plaques at each fall, then return to the visitor center for a special reward.
Lonely Planet says that these are the best National Parks to visit in April:
- Arches
- Big Bend
- Bryce Canyon
- Capitol Reef
- Death Valley
- Everglades
- Grand Canyon
- Great Smoky Mountains
- Joshua Tree
- Sequoia & Kings Canyon
- Shenandoah
- Yosemite
- Zion
Looking for inspiration? Click here for Budget Travel magazine’s slideshow of stunning National Parks images.
Can’t get to a National Park? Here are some fun videos of three guys who toured national parks across the country.
Karen Misuraca is the author of several guidebooks, including Backroads of the California Wine Country; Backroads of the California Coast, and the newly released 8th edition of Fun with the Family Northern California. Check out Karen's new iPhone app, California Coast North.
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