WASHINGTON COUNTY, Utah (ABC4) – Zion National Park was recently recognized as America’s most beautiful national park and Utah’s Best National Park, courtesy of a study of national parks in the United States.

Among national parks in the county, Zion National Park was the highest-ranking Utah park, at No. 7. Arches National Park and Capitol Reef rounded out Utah’s Top 3, ranking No. 17 and 19, respectively. Bryce Canyon and Canyonlands were also featured on the list, ranking No. 26 and No. 50.

The study, conducted by Travel Lens, analyzed 62 national parks, taking into account a park’s size, number of visitors, ticket prices, “beautiful” reviews, park ratings, and distance from the closest city.

Zion National Park was praised across the board, receiving an overall score of 7.09 out of 10. Zion received the highest beauty score across the country, with Travel Lens saying it has the fourth-highest total number of reviews that mention its beauty, as well as a five-star rating on TripAdvisor.

The Southern Utah national park’s beauty lent itself to making the park the second most popular park in the country, with over 5 million visitors per year.

According to Travel Lens, Zion easily beat out other Utah national parks, though that is not to say Utah’s parks should be slept on. Arches National Park wasn’t too far behind Zion in terms of beauty, ranking No. 5 nationally.

Utah’s beauty overall from Arches to Zion, the three parks in between, and beyond was recognized by National Geographic as a 2023 top destination for a breathtaking adventure.