Five US National Parks Accessible Only by Sea or Sky

remote US national parks

A national park road trip is almost a travel rite of passage in the US. But as more people pack into the same well-known viewpoints and trailheads, that classic drive-up experience can come with crowded parking lots and busy paths. In 2024 alone, a record 331.9 million travelers visited sites managed by the US National Park Service.

If you’re looking for something that feels genuinely untamed, there’s a different way to do it. A handful of US national parks can’t be reached by car at all. You can only arrive by boat or seaplane, which changes the entire mood of the journey. It’s not just the destination that feels remote, it’s the fact that reaching it takes effort, planning, and commitment.

As Crystal Jones, a senior tour leader at travel outfitter Intrepid, explains, arriving by air or sea makes you feel like you’re stepping into a landscape that doesn’t bend around convenience. That challenge is part of the appeal, because what you get in return is rare: a true sense of wilderness.

Channel Islands National Park, California
Often called the “Galapagos Islands of North America,” Channel Islands National Park is made up of five volcanic islands located around 20 to 70 miles off the southern California coast. The landscape is dramatic, with rugged peaks, coves, and trails, along with 145 plant and animal species found nowhere else.

You can only get there by ferry or private boat, typically departing from Ventura or Oxnard Harbors. And while it may feel briefly busy when you first step off the boat, former superintendent Russell Galipeau says solitude comes quickly. Within minutes, you can be alone in a place that still feels wild.

Since the islands are car-free, you’ll explore on foot, by kayak, or by private boat. Sea kayaking is especially popular, and Santa Cruz Island, including Scorpion Beach on its northeast coast is a well-known spot to paddle. Just keep in mind that landing options are limited, and understanding currents matters.

Out on the water, you can also go whale watching with Island Packers, where you may spot bottlenose dolphins and several whale species, including humpback, sperm, pilot, and orca whales.

Gates of the Arctic National Park & Preserve, Alaska
If your idea of wilderness is big, raw, and completely untouched, Gates of the Arctic delivers it in full. Located north of the Arctic Circle and about 250 miles northwest of Fairbanks, it’s the northernmost national park in the United States.

There are no roads, trails, or campsites here. The only way in is by air taxi or by hiking in, and the park’s 8.4 million acres span tundra, boreal forest, rivers, lakes, and rugged peaks in the central Brooks Mountain Range.

The National Park Service notes visitors should be proficient in outdoor survival skills and emergency situations. This is not a place that holds your hand.

Cory Lawrence, CEO and president of Off the Beaten Path, says part of the experience is flying itself. From the plane, you may be able to spot wildlife like moose, Dall sheep, wolves, wolverines, and both black and grizzly bears, if you’re lucky and paying attention.

car free national parks

Dry Tortugas National Park, Florida
Dry Tortugas sits 70 miles west of Key West in the Caribbean Sea, and it’s unlike most national parks you’ve heard about. It covers 100 square miles of ocean, and 99% of it is actually underwater. With the third largest barrier reef in the world, the park is known for snorkeling and diving around seven small islands.

Above sea level, the centerpiece is Fort Jefferson, a sprawling 19th Century military base that appears to float on turquoise water. It also once held one of the men involved in the plot to kill President Abraham Lincoln.

Geographer and architectural historian Thalia Toha, who recently visited, describes it as a rare mix of history and biodiversity in one place. You can arrive via private boat, charter, or ferry from Key West, or take a seaplane from Key West International Airport.

Toha loved snorkeling at Garden Key, where corals grow near old 19th Century Navy structures that have become dense fish habitats. She also recommends Loggerhead Key, where reefs attract blue tang, barracuda, and turtles. You can even dive to the Windjammer Avanti, an iron-hull ship that sank in 1907 and remains fairly well preserved at just 22ft deep.

Isle Royale National Park, Michigan
In Lake Superior, Isle Royale National Park offers a more quiet kind of isolation. This remote archipelago has more than 450 islands and is open to the public only from mid-April through October. It’s also designated as a Unesco Biosphere Reserve.

You can hike through forests, fish, canoe, kayak, scuba dive to shipwrecks, or simply disappear into a landscape that feels far from everyday life. You’ll take a ferry from Grand Portage or Copper Harbor, and you’ll pay a daily $7 park entry fee.

If you stay overnight, you can book Rock Harbor Lodge or Windigo Camper Cabins in advance or set up camp at one of the 36 first-come, first-served campgrounds. Lawrence notes that day trips are possible, but they require careful coordination with ferry or seaplane schedules.

Katmai National Park & Preserve, Alaska
Katmai is massive, wild, and shaped by volcanic history. The park covers about four million acres and includes rivers, streams, and the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes, where the largest volcanic eruption of the 20th Century took place.

Even though the park is larger than Connecticut and filled with gorges, extinct fumaroles, and mountain framed lakes, most visitors come for one reason: the bears. Around 2,200 brown bears live here, and Brooks Camp is one of the best places to see them in the wild, especially during the summer salmon run.

You can only arrive by boat or seaplane, so planning is essential. But those who make it often say the effort changes the experience. Jones says seeing Katmai in person, after landing somewhere with no roads in or out, adds a depth that screens simply can’t recreate.

Conclusion
If you’re craving a national park experience that feels truly removed from the usual crowds, these five places offer something different. Reaching them takes extra planning, but that’s exactly what protects their atmosphere. When you arrive by sea or sky, you don’t just visit wilderness, you enter it on its terms, and that shift alone can make the trip feel unforgettable.