By state · AZ

National Parks in Arizona.

By Nicholas Major · Last updated

Arizona has more than twenty NPS units, anchored by Grand Canyon and Petrified Forest. Other notable units include Saguaro, Canyon de Chelly, Walnut Canyon, Wupatki, Sunset Crater Volcano, Tonto, Casa Grande Ruins, Hubbell Trading Post, Tumacácori, Pipe Spring, Glen Canyon NRA, and Lake Mead NRA. Phoenix Sky Harbor (PHX) is the main anchor for southern Arizona and the desert units; Flagstaff (FLG) is closer to the Grand Canyon's South Rim. The season runs October through April for the Sonoran Desert units and for the Grand Canyon's inner canyon. The South Rim is workable year-round (cool in winter, hot in summer); the North Rim has historically opened mid-May through mid-October, but recent fire seasons have constrained services; check the official NPS Grand Canyon page for current North Rim status before planning. July and August bring summer monsoons with reliable afternoon thunderstorms.

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Arizona map with place names

Arizona National Parks map: labeled satellite map, showing 3 locations: Grand Canyon, Petrified Forest, Saguaro
Arizona's 3 designated National Parks. Dots mark general locations, not entrances. This map does not show every NPS source record in the directory below. Map: National Sites Guide, CC BY 4.0.

Customize or download the Arizona map. Change the names, pins and background, or download a ready-made PNG or SVG.

NPS source records in Arizona.

Arizona has 25 records in our combined NPS metadata and visitor-statistics registry: 13 National Monuments · 3 National Historic Trails · 3 National Parks · 2 National Historic Sites · 2 National Recreation Areas · 1 National Memorial · 1 National Historical Park. This is a source-record count, not the Park Service's official system-unit census. Combined 5-year-average annual visits: 18,272,253 (multi-state units count their full visits in every state they touch, see methodology). The most-visited record is Lake Mead National Recreation Area at about 6.31M annual visits.

Map of the broader NPS source-record directory
Every National Park Service site in Arizona, mapped. Each glowing marker is one site, placed at its real coordinates and colored by type. Select a marker for its yearly visits and a link, or use the filters to show or hide a group. 23 of 25 units are mapped here; long-distance trails and units centered in another state are in the table below.
National Park Service sites in Arizona, mapped Interactive map of Arizona showing the location of 23 National Park Service sites, colored by type: national parks, monuments and memorials, historic sites, recreation areas and seashores, rivers, trails and parkways, and other sites. It includes the National Parks Petrified Forest National Park, Saguaro National Park and Grand Canyon National Park. Each site is also listed with its yearly visits in the table below the map.

Marker positions are each unit's official NPS coordinates. State outline: U.S. Census cartographic boundary (public domain). Independent site, not affiliated with the National Park Service.

UnitDesignation5-yr avg visitsBusiest month
Lake Mead National Recreation Area National Recreation AreaLAKE 6,305,736 June
Grand Canyon National Park National ParkGRCA 4,669,660 July
Glen Canyon National Recreation Area National Recreation AreaGLCA 3,929,828 June
Saguaro National Park National ParkSAGU 958,601 March
Petrified Forest National Park National ParkPEFO 498,248 June
Montezuma Castle National Monument National MonumentMOCA 369,876 April
Canyon de Chelly National Monument National MonumentCACH 320,106 August
Wupatki National Monument National MonumentWUPA 193,533 June
Walnut Canyon National Monument National MonumentWACA 176,959 April
Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument National MonumentORPI 173,600 March
Coronado National Memorial National MemorialCORO 148,970 March
Tuzigoot National Monument National MonumentTUZI 107,747 March
Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument National MonumentSUCR 88,713 March
Casa Grande Ruins National Monument National MonumentCAGR 86,277 March
Chiricahua National Monument National MonumentCHIR 63,834 March
Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site National Historic SiteHUTR 43,417 September
Navajo National Monument National MonumentNAVA 40,535 September
Tumacácori National Historical Park National Historical ParkTUMA 34,744 December
Tonto National Monument National MonumentTONT 30,411 March
Pipe Spring National Monument National MonumentPISP 22,908 May
Fort Bowie National Historic Site National Historic SiteFOBO 8,550 March
Butterfield Overland National Historic Trail National Historic TrailBUOV — —
Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail National Historic TrailJUBA — —
Old Spanish National Historic Trail National Historic TrailOLSP — —
Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument National MonumentPARA — —

Methodology

Rows come from our combined NPS metadata and Visitor Use Statistics registry, not the Park Service's official census of 433 managed system units. Per-record visit counts come from the official NPS Visitor Use Statistics Data Package, 2025; the "5-year average visits" column is the mean of 2021-2025 Recreation Visits. Multi-state records are listed under every state they touch, and their full visit total appears in each state. Official National Park counts use the central 63-park classification rather than the source designation label alone. Independent site, not affiliated with the National Park Service.

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Independence

Independent site. Not affiliated with or endorsed by the National Park Service. Data comes from the official NPS Visitor Use Statistics Data Package, 2025; editorial analysis is ours. The NPS Arrowhead and other NPS marks are not used.

Last updated · 2026-09-10