10 cheapest national parks to fly to in 2025
Written by Brooke Vaughan, travel writer for the Going app, based on Going data
Note: Due to reductions in funding and personnel, our national parks are experiencing challenges. Visitors may encounter reduced hours at visitor centers, longer lines, and limited access to campsites, bathrooms, and popular attractions. Trail and backcountry safety may also be affected. Supporting our parks helps ensure they remain accessible for future generations. If you plan to support by visiting, remember to check the status of the park, pack your patience, respect trail rules and closures, and always leave no trace.
Gatorade-colored lakes, Seussian trees, rocky isles, and snow-capped peaks: National parks are home to some of the most awe-inspiring natural wonders and cultural history that the US has to offer. Making the decision to see the parks doesn’t take much convincing, but working out the logistics is what can take your trip from zero to officially-out-of-the-group-chat.
Sure, road-tripping the country to hit all 63 parks sounds like a vibe, but unless you have lots of time on your hands and money burning a hole in your pocket, chances are you’re hopping on a plane to get close to your chosen national park, then renting a car to get you the rest of the way there. Here, we’ve rounded up the 10 cheapest national parks that you can fly to right now, based on the average cost of deals that we’ve sent to our members in the past year. Buckle up and read on.
10. Grand Canyon National Park
Compared to the other parks on this list, the Grand Canyon was without a doubt the most-visited in 2024—and for good reason. It has all the activities you’d expect: hiking, biking, and pull-off opportunities if you’re sightseeing by car. Or, to see things from a different perspective, you could hike along the less-traveled North Rim on the Transept Trail, raft along the Colorado River, or ride the Grand Canyon Railway.
Airports: Flagstaff (FLG), Phoenix (PHX), Las Vegas (LAS)
Average Going deal: $170 roundtrip
Number of deals found: 70
Lowest deal: $78 roundtrip
9. Rocky Mountain National Park
RMNP wasn’t too far behind the Grand Canyon in terms of visitor numbers for 2024. It’s a true year-round spot, whether you want to cross-country ski in the winter, view wildlife in wildflower-filled meadows in the spring, go rock-climbing in the summer, or hit the trails for some leaf-peeping when the aspen groves are goldest in the fall.
Trail Ridge Road (US Hwy 34) is closed to vehicles for through travel around October to May. Planning to visit May 23–October 19? Timed entry passes are required.
Airport: Denver (DEN)
Average Going deal: $164 roundtrip
Number of deals found: 92
Lowest deal: $53 roundtrip
8. Lassen Volcanic National Park
In 2024, California ran the show, with 6 out of 9 of its national parks topping our list of cheapest national parks to fly to. This year, Lassen Volcanic is the lone California park to make the cut. Located in north-central California, it comprises numerous volcanoes, steaming fumaroles, wildflower-filled meadows, and Gatorade-colored lakes. Mount Harkness Loop showcases all the highlights in one trail.
Airports: Redding (RDD), Sacramento (SMF)
Average Going deal: $161 roundtrip
Number of deals found: 20
Lowest deal: $79 roundtrip
7. Congaree National Park
Considering it’s one of the smallest national parks in the US by area, Congaree packs a punch. It’s South Carolina’s only national park, the largest intact expanse of old-growth bottomland hardwood forest in the US, and has the highest concentration of champion trees (the largest of their species) of anywhere in North America. Also, during a two-week window mid-May to mid-June, lucky lottery winners can watch fireflies light up in perfect synchrony inside the park.
Airports: Columbia (CAE), Charleston (CHS)
Average Going deal: $159 roundtrip
Number of deals found: 53
Lowest deal: $49 roundtrip
6. Voyageurs National Park
Right up there with Big Bend (also on this list), Voyageurs is particularly suited for night-sky enthusiasts, as it’s a certified Dark Sky Park. Beyond the usual meteor showers and standard stargazing opportunities, the northerly location of this Minnesota park earns it an extra point among chasers of the aurora borealis. Here, life revolves around the water, whether you charter a boat to zip around on it, rent a houseboat to sleep on it, or walk the coast of it.
Airport: International Falls (INL), Minneapolis (MSP)
Average Going deal: $147 roundtrip
Number of deals found: 40
Lowest deal: $58 roundtrip
5. Carlsbad Caverns National Park
Carlsbad Caverns is but one of the nation’s parks where the Great Outdoors actually happens to be a bit more…indoors. Located in New Mexico near the Texas border, a complex system of 119 caves is undoubtedly the park’s main feature, with The Big Room being the largest cave chamber in North America. There’s also plenty to do above ground, like hiking the Old Guano Trail to White's City, which shows off the Guadalupe Mountains’ arid landscape.
Timed entry tickets are required to enter the Carlsbad Cavern and can be purchased online ahead of time.
Airport: El Paso (ELP)
Average Going deal: $138 roundtrip
Number of deals found: 8
Lowest deal: $96 roundtrip
4. Guadalupe Mountains National Park
Some 265 million years ago, the Capitan Reef—known as one of the best-preserved fossil reefs in the world—was formed in the American Southwest between Texas and New Mexico. An exposed section of the reef became known as the Guadalupe Mountains, and an approximately 12-mile stretch is found in the range’s eponymous national park. The park houses eight of the ten highest peaks in Texas, a rich Apache history, and diverse desert-dwelling fauna and flora.
Airport: El Paso (ELP)
Average Going deal: $138 roundtrip
Number of deals found: 8
Lowest deal: $96 roundtrip
3. Big Bend National Park
Named after the large curve in the Rio Grande, which separates the US in southwest Texas from Mexico, Big Bend National Park is a land of extremes. It’s home to some of the darkest night skies in the country, making it a paradise for astrotourists. It also has the craggy Chisos Mountains, where more than 150 miles of hiking trails abound; a river-cut landscape, perfect for afternoons spent floating; and tons of geological wonders, like sea fossils and dinosaur bones, so no science buff will go bored.
Airports: El Paso (ELP), San Antonio (SAT)
Average Going deal: $138 roundtrip
Number of deals found: 8
Lowest deal: $96 roundtrip
2. White Sands National Park
Rising like a mirage out of the Chihuahuan Desert, White Sands comprises 275 square miles of sparkling dunes in southern New Mexico, making it the largest gypsum dunefield in the world. The national park is one of the country’s newest, having earned its designation in 2019. The dunes themselves are only about 60 feet tall—for reference, some Sahara dunes top out at more than 500 feet—but they roll on for miles, providing ample space for dune drives, nature trail walks, and sand-sledding.
Airports: Las Cruces (LRU), El Paso (ELP), Albuquerque (ABQ)
Average Going deal: $138 roundtrip
Number of deals found: 8
Lowest deal: $96 roundtrip
1. Indiana Dunes National Park
Last year, Indiana Dunes took the top spot for the cheapest—and probably one of the most accessible—national parks on our list. And this year, it does once again. The dunes, carved by the push and pull of Lake Michigan more than 5,900 years ago, stretch along the southern shoreline of Lake Michigan for 15 miles, providing some 50 miles of trails, birdwatching opportunities, and excellent leaf-peeping in the fall.
Airports: Chicago Midway (MDW), South Bend (SBN), Chicago O’Hare (ORD)
Average Going deal: $138 roundtrip
Number of deals found: 42
Lowest deal: $58 roundtrip
Deals to the US national parks are always found in the Going app. Got a specific park you’d like to visit? Set up a flight alert so you never miss a price drop.
Methodology
Due to their remote nature, it’s pretty uncommon to find an airport located right next to a national park. So to create our list, we’ve begun by looking at airports within about 300 miles (about a four-hour drive) of each national park, though the shorter the distance the better. Major airports (e.g., ORD, MSP, DEN) were used when possible, as they tend to have more and cheaper deals.
We took several criteria into account when ranking the parks. In addition to the average cost of deals, we also looked at the number of deals that we sent and access to alternate airports. For example, if a national park had the cheapest average flight cost but we sent few deals overall and it was super far from the nearest airport, then it got bumped from the list.
In other words, don’t take this list as gospel, but rather which national parks you might consider visiting if you’re looking to spend less money to get there.