During the summer of 2020, as a way to promote social distancing during the Covid-19 pandemic, Yosemite National Park instituted a reservation system that limited numbers of visitors and the times they could enter. I was there that summer. Yosemite was at half its normal summer capacity, and I have to admit that it was nice. Still, I wasn’t the only one that had a suspicion that these policies would outlast the pandemic, and that turns out to have been right.

This year, there are 10 national parks that require reservations to enter. These cover the busiest times of the year and most of the daylight hours. In many cases, you can only enter during a specific time window you reserve. There’s also an extra fee to reserve.

Some hate the system, and some say it makes sense in parks that have become more and more overcrowded by the year. In this article, you’ll find out which parks have some kind of reservation system, but for exact, up-to-date months and hours, it’s best to check the park’s website. Don’t be the person I saw in July 2020 who didn’t know about the system, drove up to the gate, and got turned away after driving who knows how long to get there.

I’ve also listed an alternative suggestion for each park that doesn’t require reservation to get into.

Acadia, Maine

For now, you only need to reserve a permit to drive the road up Cadillac Mountain between May and September; the rest of the park does not currently have restrictions. Cadillac is the highest mountain along the East Coast, and its summit is the first spot on the mainland to be touched by the rising sun each day.

Alternative: Head inland to Baxter State Park and hike up Mount Katahdin, the highest peak in Maine and the northern end of the Appalachian Trail. For pristine beachscapes in the National Park Service (NPS) system, try Cape Cod National Seashore in Massachusetts.

Arches, Utah

From April 1 through October 31, you now need to reserve entry to this spectacular wonderland of natural arches and desert towers between 7 a.m. and 4 p.m. If you don’t want to deal with that, enter earlier or later; neither time is obscenely early or late, unlike the system in some other parks.

Alternative: Canyonlands National Park is close by and much larger. Most of its arches require effort to get to, but destinations like Angel Arch and Druid Arch will feel like rewards once you get to them. The park also has spectacular canyons carved by the Colorado and Green Rivers, vistas that stretch almost forever, and some of the best displays of ancient rock art in the country.

Carlsbad Caverns, New Mexico

You’ve long had to purchase a ticket to tour the caves open to the public, but now there’s a timed-entry system in effect for the entire year. If you can, make your trip in the summer so that you can see the caverns in the afternoon and then snag a spot in the amphitheater to watch thousands of bats emerge from the main cave entrance at dusk to go hunting for insects.

Alternative: There’s no NPS cavern alternative close by, but Guadalupe Mountains National Park is just south of the state line in Texas. It’s really a hiker’s park, but you can still admire the highest mountains in Texas from the U.S. highway adjacent to the park. For something, drive out to Sitting Bull Falls in New Mexico between the two parks; it’s a pretty desert waterfall that has a nice swimming hole at its base.

Glacier National Park, Montana

My favorite national park now has a timed-entry system that presents quite a challenge, but it has actually gotten a little easier. Last summer, you had to have a permit to enter pretty much anywhere between 6 a.m. and 3 P.M. This year, you’ll only need one for entering Many Glacier, the North Fork, and the western side of Going-to-the-Sun Road.

Alternative: There’s really no alternative to Glacier, so go to the Two Medicine area or start GTTS road from the east side. If you do want a NPS alternative, you can choose the Sawtooth National Recreation Area in Idaho or Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming; both are a day’s drive away.

Great Smoky Mountains, North Carolina and Tennessee

Great Smoky Mountains is the nation’s most-visited national park, and parking has been a problem for a long time. You don’t need a reservation now, but you do have to purchase a parking tag if you plan to park for more than 15 minutes anywhere inside the park.

Alternative: The Blue Ridge Parkway is an NPS site and connects the NC side of GSMNP with Shenandoah National Park in Virginia via 470 stoplight-free miles. For Smokies-like scenery without the Smokies crowds and parking hassles, drive the section between Cherokee and Boone in North Carolina; it includes a side trip to Mount Mitchell, the highest peak east of the Mississippi.

Haleakala, Hawaii

Haleakala is a volcano that’s so massive that it makes up more than 75% of the land area on Maui. The drive to the summit is legendary, especially at sunrise, and that’s why you now need a reservation to enter between 3 and 7 a.m.

Alternative: Do some island-hopping to the Big Island (Hawai’i) and visit Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. You won’t get as high up in the sky, but you can see awesome sea cliffs and active lava flows.

Rocky Mountain, Colorado

Back in the summer of 2021, a friend and I planned to climb Notchtop Mountain here, and we debated coming in the night before and sleeping in our cars, which is technically illegal, or getting up stupid-early to get in before the 5 a.m. permit system kicked in. She and I chose the latter to avoid running afoul of park law enforcement. The good news: if you just want to drive Trail Ridge Road, you don’t need a permit until 9 a.m.

Alternative: The only permit-free alpine NPS alternative within a day’s drive is Great Sand Dunes National Park several hours to the south. It takes a lot more work to get high up among the peaks there, but that will also mean a lack of crowds.

Mount Rainier, Washington

The Paradise and Sunrise corridors will this year require advance reservations from, respectively May 24 and July 3 through September 2. The hours are between 7 a.m. and 3 p.m.

Shenandoah, Virginia

The good news is that there’s no permit system for Skyline Drive, the way most people experience this park; the bad news is that to hike Old Rag Mountain, one of the best hikes in the national parks, you now need a permit. First they closed the upper parking lot, adding two miles round-trip for most people. Then they started charging a day-use fee. Neither succeeded in reducing congestion, so now they’re trying a permit system. How I miss the days that I drove out to the upper parking lot on sub-freezing nights, got toasty in my 0-degree sleeping bag, and ventured out on the icy Summit Trail at sunrise the next day.

Alternative: From the southern end of Skyline Drive, take the Blue Ridge Parkway about 90 miles south to Peaks of Otter. Then hike up Sharp Top; it’s not as fun as Old Rag, but the rocky summit area is exciting and the views are great.

Yosemite, California

Horsetail Falls is a famous February feature, and you now need a permit to enter the park on certain weekends that month. April 13 through October 27, though, it becomes a mess because the system fluctuates between weekends and holidays early and late in the season and every day during summer.

Alternative: Yosemite Valley really has no rival, but you can get a similar experience at Kings Canyon National Park to the south. If it’s the high country you love, try hiking into Kings Canyon from South Lake near Bishop or from Onion Valley near Independence, both on the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada.

Zion, Utah

For a long time now, Zion Canyon has been closed to motor vehicles for most of the year, with a free shuttle system available instead. That hasn’t changed. Something else that also isn’t new is having to reserve a permit for the famous Subway during the warmer months. What is new, though, is the requirement to get a permit to hike to Angels Landing any time of year; it’s a lottery system that requires not only an application fee but also a fee for the actual permit if you “win” the lottery. This old curmudgeon remembers when you could drive to the trailhead in the spring and hike up without hordes of people in sandals carrying a small water bottle and a selfie stick.

Alternative: It’ll take you 3-4 hours to get to Capitol Reef National Park, but it has Zionesque scenery without the Zion crowds, parking issues, and lines for shuttle buses. Or you can explore and discover the secrets of Zion, which I have, and that means I can always find splendor without permits and crowds.

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19 Incredible Places To Visit Within a Few Hours of Denver