Not Yosemite, Not Great Smoky Mountains: This Popular National Park Has The Most Campsites

Camping in a national park can be a magical experience, but you'll probably have to plan far ahead if you want to pitch a tent in popular parks like Yosemite or Great Smoky Mountains. Believe it or not, your likelihood of scoring a reservation is somewhat more favorable in Yellowstone. While this national park with stunning natural beauty and roaming bison is one of the country's most-visited, it also has the most campsites of any national park in the country. 

Yellowstone is home to 11 campgrounds with more than 2,000 campsites. (For comparison, Yosemite National Park has around 1,500 campsites, and Great Smoky Mountains National Park has 1,000.) About half of Yellowstone's campgrounds are operated by the park system, including Indian Creek, Lewis Lake, Pebble Creek, Slough Creek, Mammoth, and Tower Fall. In these locations, conditions are fairly rustic, with pit toilets and no showers. Primitive sites on these campgrounds start at $20 per night. 

The park's other five campgrounds, privately managed by Yellowstone National Park Lodges, offer more amenities. Bridge Bay, Canyon, Grant Village, Madison, and Fishing Bridge RV Park all have accessible sites and flush toilets, and several have showers. Nightly fees start at $38 plus tax. 

Generally speaking, Yellowstone's campsites must be booked in advance, with reservations opening exactly six months out. You'll need to keep a close eye on the calendar if you're planning on visiting during the peak summer season. Yellowstone is one of America's most crowded national parks from May through October, so planning ahead is essential to ensure you'll snag a spot.

Reservations for the park's more rustic campgrounds are available at Recreation.gov, while booking for the privately run campgrounds can be found on the Yellowstone National Park Lodge website. Navigating online reservations portals can be stressful, especially if you have your heart set on particular dates. But it's still preferable to the alternative: some of America's busiest national parks have done away with reservations in 2026, including Yosemite and Glacier, and the results have been chaotic. Getting a reservation at Yellowstone can still be difficult despite its many sites, so employ useful tricks for getting a highly sought-out campsite reservation, like checking for last-minute cancellations.

There's only one camping area at Yellowstone that doesn't always require a reservation. Mammoth Campground, the only park campground that's open year-round (the rest close between September or October and May or June, depending on the location) offers first-come, first-serve sites from October 15 to April 1. The campground is operated by the National Park Service, and the fee is $25 per night.

Set at an elevation of 6,200 feet and shaded by juniper and Douglas fir trees, Mammoth Campground provides easy access to the Mammoth Hot Springs, an interesting geothermal area and the starting point of one of Yellowstone's best under-the-radar hikes, the Beaver Ponds Loop Trail. It's also a good place for observing wildlife; campers have been known to spot elk and bison walking right past their campsites. It might be tempting to approach these gentle giants, but one of the most important things to know before camping in Yellowstone National Park is to keep your distance from wild animals, even if they appear to be used to the presence of humans.