Top 10 Underrated National Parks You Need to Visit

The most surreally colorful natural landscape on Earth. Jiuzhaigou's dozens of lakes display colors — electric turquoise, emerald green, deep sapphire — that look Photoshopped but are caused by calcium carbonate deposits and algae. Waterfalls cascade between lakes through Tibetan prayer flag-adorned forests. China has invested heavily in infrastructure while limiting daily visitors to 20,000. The autumn foliage season (October) against the turquoise water is indescribable.

Fiordland encompasses Milford Sound, Doubtful Sound, and some of the most primeval rainforest remaining on Earth. The Milford Track is called "the finest walk in the world," and the sheer cliff faces rising from mirror-still fjord waters create compositions that humble every landscape photographer. Annual rainfall exceeds 6 meters, creating hundreds of temporary waterfalls after rain. The remoteness is part of the magic — getting there requires effort, and the park rewards it.

Sixteen terraced lakes connected by waterfalls, set in dense beech and fir forest. The wooden boardwalks let you walk directly over crystal-clear water where you can count individual fish. Plitvice is more accessible than most parks on this list (2 hours from Zagreb or Split), yet many visitors to Croatia skip it for the coast. The winter season — frozen waterfalls, snow-covered boardwalks, virtually empty — is secretly the best time to visit.

Mars on Earth. Wadi Rum's vast sandstone desert — towering red cliffs, natural rock bridges, and ancient Nabataean petroglyphs — has served as the filming location for The Martian, Dune, and Lawrence of Arabia. Bedouin camps offer overnight stays under skies with zero light pollution, where the Milky Way is not just visible but overwhelming. T.E. Lawrence described Wadi Rum as "vast, echoing and God-like" — he was not exaggerating.

The sandstone pillar formations that inspired Pandora in Avatar are real, and they are in Hunan Province, China. Over 3,000 quartzite sandstone pillars — some rising 200 meters from misty valley floors — create a landscape that looks genuinely alien. The glass bridge connecting two pillars (430 meters long, 300 meters above the valley) is terrifying and exhilarating. Zhangjiajie proves that reality can be more fantastical than CGI.

The fairy chimneys of Cappadocia — cone-shaped volcanic rock formations that ancient civilizations carved into homes, churches, and underground cities — are unlike anything else on Earth. The hot air balloon sunrise over Goreme (hundreds of balloons floating between the rock formations at dawn) is one of the most photographed scenes in travel. Underground cities extend 8+ stories deep, sheltering up to 20,000 people during invasions.

One of the most remote and least-visited national parks in North America. Nahanni protects the South Nahanni River canyon system, Virginia Falls (twice the height of Niagara), and hot springs in the subarctic wilderness. Access is by floatplane only, and fewer than 1,000 people visit annually. The multi-day canoe trip down the Nahanni River is considered one of the greatest wilderness experiences in the world by those who have done it.

Socotra looks like another planet. Isolated for millions of years, the island evolved species found nowhere else — most famously the dragon blood tree, which looks like an inside-out umbrella and bleeds red sap. One-third of Socotra's plant species are endemic. Despite political instability in mainland Yemen, Socotra has remained relatively peaceful, and its alien landscapes are slowly attracting adventurous travelers. It is Earth's most otherworldly island.

The most visited national park in the US (12.1 million annually) is ironically underrated because most visitors never leave the main roads. The backcountry — 800 miles of trails, old-growth forests with trees over 500 years old, synchronous firefly displays, and 2,100 species of plants — is virtually empty. The Appalachian Trail runs through it, the biodiversity rivals a tropical rainforest, and entrance is free. The Smokies are hiding in plain sight.