Explore The Most Iconic National Parks The East Coast Offers On This Thrilling Road Trip
Usually, when people talk about road-tripping across the country, they mean going coast to coast. However, you can experience the best of the natural world that the East Coast has to offer in one whirlwind tour of national parks from Maine to Florida (or vice versa!). This is a good chance to determine if the America the Beautiful Pass fits your needs because, with seven stops on this trip, you'll definitely get your money's worth.
On this incredible 39-hour drive, you'll take in the towering pine forests and rocky coasts of Acadia, admire the waterfalls of New River Gorge, look up at the starry sky above Shenandoah, hike to the highest peak in the Great Smoky Mountains, descend into the depths of the Earth at Mammoth Cave, and spot alligators and crocodiles in the mangroves of Everglades.
While it's possible to do more, experienced roadtrippers often try to keep their driving to around six or seven hours per day. How long you want to spend in the parks is entirely up to you, but if you're hoping to stay a few nights in each one, you're probably looking at a two to three week adventure. Fortunately, there's plenty of hiking, camping, and exploring to do in between your long stretches on the road, so you'll have lots of opportunities to stretch your legs and get your blood pumping.
Acadia National Park - Maine
Start your journey by taking in the postcard-worthy scenery in Acadia National Park. It has definitely earned its iconic status as one of the top 10 most popular national parks in the U.S. Whether you like clambering up mountain ladders to reach breathtaking views of the coast, canoeing through pristine lakes, peering into tide pools to look for tiny marine life, or searching for the silhouettes of megafauna like moose and bear emerging from the foggy landscape, you're sure to have a once in a lifetime experience in Acadia.
Exploring the whole park would take more time than you can spare on a road trip, but there are car camping spots, so you can easily spend a night or two there. Be warned, the weather in Acadia varies dramatically with the season, so make sure to plan ahead. Don't be fooled by Maine's chilly reputation: If you visit in the summertime, it might get up to 90 degrees Fahrenheit, although you'll still find some cold mountain winds if you climb.
Acadia is far from the next stop, so consider taking a break near the halfway point in New York's Bear Mountain State Park. You can hike, see the unique merry-go-round, and visit the zoo (which only features rehabilitated native animals that are unreleasable) in a few hours, so it won't be much of a detour — just a chance to spend the night in a lodge instead of the backseat of a car.
Shenandoah National Park and New River Gorge National Park & Preserve - Virginia and West Virginia
Virginia's Shenandoah National Park is a sprawling 200,000 acres of wild country. You can grab a day-use ticket for just $2 and challenge yourself to scramble up rocky Old Rag to look out on the sweeping views of the woods from what feels like the top of the world. If you prefer to stay in your vehicle and admire the park through the windshield, you can do that on the gorgeous three-hour drive through the park known as The Skyline Drive. If you're interested in some late-night stargazing, procure a backcountry permit in advance from recreation.gov to camp totally on your own within the park.
Since it's only about a three-hour drive from Shenandoah National Park to West Virginia's New River Gorge National Park and Preserve, you can see them both without spending too much time behind the wheel. Despite how close together they are, these parks are pretty different, and both deserve a visit. While there's plenty to see, you can keep your stop at New River Gorge to just a day if you want to, walking the boardwalk to the beautiful Sandstone Falls, heading to the Main Overlook at Grandview for a look at the river twisting around the mountains, or even whitewater rafting.
Great Smoky Mountains National Park - North Carolina and Tennessee
No tour of East Coast national parks would be complete without a trip to the Smokies. Straddling the border between Tennessee and North Carolina are the Great Smoky Mountains, one of the oldest mountain ranges in the United States. Though their peaks are typically hidden by fog, their secrets will be revealed as you explore the park. The deeper you go, the more there is to find, from leaping elk and furtive black bears to enormous roaring waterfalls. Make sure to drive around Newfound Gap Road to see gorgeous views from higher up in the mountains, or hike to Clingmans Dome, the tallest spot in Tennessee, to visit the observation point and look down on the mountains from above.
Great Smoky Mountain National Park is the most visited national park in the United States, and it's only getting more popular, with 13.3 million total visits in 2023 (per the National Park Service). Visitors to the park have said that to truly experience the best of what it has to offer, you should probably spend at least a week there, but if you need to get back on the road and head to your next destination as soon as possible, it's still worth stopping even if you only have a day or two.
Mammoth Cave National Park - Kentucky
Kentucky's impressive national park promises unique adventures above and below ground. Mammoth Cave National Park has more than 50,000 acres of forests and rivers to explore. These wild woods are dotted with old stone graves — the final resting places of individuals who once lived on the land that is now a protected park. There is plenty of history and wildlife to discover above ground, but that's not why most people come to Mammoth Cave. The real show is under the earth.
The Mammoth Cave system is the longest mapped sequence of underground caves, with more than 365 miles of explored caverns descending into the earth. The most exciting piece of your East Coast national park road trip might just be a lantern tour of Mammoth Cave (which you can book in advance through recreation.gov), which has tour guides that teach about the fascinating ecosystem and its earliest explorers, like Stephen Bishop, while allowing you to climb through deep underground caverns lit only by flickering lamplight.
It's a nearly 15-hour drive to your next destination, so history buffs might want to make another stop near the midpoint to visit Ocmulgee Mounds National Historical Park, which may soon become a national park in its own right. You can see even older historical sights, including mounds built by the Muscogee people more than 1,000 years ago.
Everglades National Park - Florida
If you're exploring the fascinating and diverse natural landscapes along the Atlantic coastline, you can't skip the lush tropical and subtropical habitats found in Florida. After the woods, mountains, rocky beaches, and caves, it's time to explore the mangroves and swamps of Everglades National Park.
The National Park Service has authorized tours that allow you to see this lush ecosystem by boat while experienced guides teach you about the history of the area (just make sure you only choose one endorsed by the park). The landscape isn't the only beautiful thing to take in while you're in the Everglades. Not only is this the only place in the world to spot wild alligators and crocodiles living together, but you might be lucky enough to see manatees, sea turtles, and dolphins on your journey around the park. If you're extremely fortunate, you could see one of the endangered Florida Panthers that make this park their home.
There are a lot of factors to consider when it comes to what time of year to take your road trip, considering you'll be traveling all along the East Coast. While many parks on your journey are most popular in the summertime, you may want to try to finish your trip sometime in November, December, January, March, or April since that's the dry season in the Everglades. Not only will you be spared the hot weather and mosquito bites of a Florida summer, but you'll probably see more wildlife.