The numbers are WILD for the most and least visited national parks in Alberta

Alberta has some of Canada’s most beautiful national parks, attracting millions of people every year to catch a glimpse at natural wonders.

We reached out to Parks Canada to see what national parks in the province drew the largest and smallest crowds, which could be a factor in where you want to explore come the summer holidays.

Parks Canada says its visitation statistics were collected for the year between April 1, 2021, to March 31, 2022, and does not have complete data for 2022-2023 yet.

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Banff National Park- 3,671,545 visitors

 

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Canada’s first national park and the “flagship of the nation’s park system,” Banff National Park was the most visited location in the province, welcoming nearly 3.7 million visitors.

Jasper National Park- 2,113,096 visitors

 

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It’s the world’s second-largest dark sky preserve and the largest national park in the Canadian Rockies, Jasper National Park was the second most visited location in the province, with more than 2.1 million visitors trying to catch a glimpse of all the elk and Maligne Canyon.

Waterton Lakes National Park- 514,558 visitors

 

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Chalked full of clear lakes, thundering waterfalls, rainbow-coloured streams, colourful rocks and mountain vistas, Waterton Lakes National Park came in third with a little over half-a-million visitors.

Elk Island National Park- 475,605 visitors

 

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Enjoy the rolling hills, glassy lakes, and star-filled skies of Elk Island National Park, a UNESCO-designated Biosphere Reserve just 35 minutes east of Edmonton. Nearly 500,000 visitors popped by to try and see herds of bison, elk or one of more than 250 bird species that call the park home.

Wood Buffalo National Park- 4,047 visitors

 

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Spanning the Alberta-Northwest Territories border, the largest national park in Canada protects a large swath of the Northern Boreal Plains ecosystem and contains the largest herds of wood bison in the world. It’s also highly remote, welcoming just a little over 4,000 visitors.