16 units · National Recreation Area

National Recreation Areas

The National Park System has 16 units designated National Recreation Area, spread across 16 states and territories. Golden Gate National Recreation Area draws more people than any of them, 15.7 million in 2025. Most of them are free to enter.

Where they are

Free to enter Charges an entrance feePoints are the Park Service reference point for each unit, not a boundary.

Ranked by 2025 visits

All units ranked →
No. 1 · 15,748,676 visits · CA
Golden Gate National Recreation Area
Free to enter5 campgrounds
No. 2 · 7,696,939 visits · NY, NJ
Gateway National Recreation Area
Free to enter2 campgrounds
No. 3 · 6,135,586 visits · AZ, NV
Lake Mead National Recreation Area
Entrance fee16 campgrounds
No. 4 · 3,986,709 visits · NJ, PA
Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area
Entrance fee6 campgrounds
No. 5 · 3,729,502 visits · AZ, UT
Glen Canyon National Recreation Area
Entrance fee11 campgrounds
No. 6 · 2,901,903 visits · GA
Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area
Entrance feeNo alerts
No. 7 · 1,877,797 visits · OK
Chickasaw National Recreation Area
Free to enter9 campgrounds
No. 8 · 1,183,757 visits · WA
Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area
Free to enter24 campgrounds
No. 9 · 1,017,135 visits · TX
Lake Meredith National Recreation Area
Free to enter11 campgrounds
No. 10 · 807,117 visits · CO
Curecanti National Recreation Area
Free to enter10 campgrounds
No. 11 · 763,798 visits · CA
Whiskeytown National Recreation Area
Entrance fee7 campgrounds
No. 12 · 734,293 visits · TX
Amistad National Recreation Area
Free to enter6 campgrounds
No. 13 · 722,626 visits · CA
Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area
Free to enter1 campground
No. 14 · 228,382 visits · MT, WY
Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area
Free to enter7 campgrounds
No. 15 · 213,596 visits · WV
Gauley River National Recreation Area
Free to enter1 campground
No. 16 · 4,276 visits · MA
Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area
Free to enter1 alert

States with this designation

All states →
Arizona 2California 3Colorado 1Georgia 1Massachusetts 1Montana 1New Jersey 2Nevada 1New York 1Oklahoma 1Pennsylvania 1Texas 2Utah 1Washington 1West Virginia 1Wyoming 1

Visit counts are from the NPS Visitor Use Statistics system. Designations, fees, alerts and campgrounds are from the NPS API. Data refreshed October 14, 2026. Other unit types.