How Visitors Stay in National Parks
While camping across all forms makes up the majority of stays, in-park lodging remains the top choice for national park visitors
Sources: Dunhill Travel Deals analysis of National Park Service Visitor Use Statistics data
Accommodation choices play an important role in shaping the national park experience. Whether visitors opt for a lodge, an RV campground or a backcountry campsite often reflects how they balance comfort, accessibility and immersion in nature. For travelers seeking a "soft adventure," in-park lodging and developed campgrounds that accommodate RVs offer a way to experience the outdoors while maintaining access to amenities that can make national parks more accessible and enjoyable.
Camping in its many forms accounts for most overnight stays at U.S. national parks, but no single accommodation type is more popular than staying at an in-park lodge, hotel or cabin. In 2025, visitors recorded nearly 2.9 million overnight stays at in-park lodging facilities, representing almost 30% of all overnight stays across the nation's 63 national parks. By comparison, park-run tent campgrounds accounted for about 2.3 million stays (23.9%), followed by park-run RV campgrounds with 1.6 million (16.6%), backcountry camping with 1.2 million (12.3%) and privately operated campgrounds with another 1.2 million (12.0%). Together, in-park lodging and park-run RV campgrounds accounted for roughly 4.5 million overnight stays—nearly half of all overnight accommodations in national parks—signaling a strong demand for soft-adventure options.
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