As the government shutdown enters its first full week, travelers planning visits to national parks and other tourist sites run by the federal government face more than a little uncertainty.
National parks largely will remain open, but there are exceptions, and even those that are open may reduce services for visitors. Specifics likely vary from park to park.
“As a general rule, if a facility or area is locked or secured during nonbusiness hours (buildings, gated parking lots, etc.) it should be locked or secured for the duration of the shutdown,” a contingency plan posted online by the Interior Department states.
Roughly two-thirds of the employees at the National Park Service, which is already facing a steep staffing shortage, have been furloughed during the shutdown, according to the plan. How much the remaining crew members will be able to do involving essential functions like law enforcement, emergency services and wildfire monitoring is unclear.
While not a comprehensive list, here is a rundown among prominent destinations of what is open, what is not and what is limited while the shutdown persists.
California National Parks
California’s nine national parks, the most of any state in the country, broadly remain open to visitors, according to the parks’ websites. But services will be limited, and some facilities, including Black Rock Nature Center in Joshua Tree National Park, will be closed.
Elsewhere in the state, local media reported that Alcatraz Island in San Francisco, home to the infamous former federal prison of the same name, reopened last week after briefly closing at the start of the shutdown. And Muir Woods, a national monument near San Francisco famed for its redwood trees, will be closed, according to its website.
Utah National Parks
According to the Utah Office of Tourism website, the state’s five national parks — Zion, Arches, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef and Bryce Canyon — will remain open during the shutdown, with visitor centers at each park either open now or slated to open this weekend.
Colorado National Parks
The eight National Park Service sites in Colorado that collect fees — including Rocky Mountain, Mesa Verde and Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Parks — will continue to operate using fee revenues until that funding runs out, the state’s governor, Jared Polis, said in a statement. State agencies are working with National Park Service leaders to keep those parks open, and county sheriffs in the state have also offered to support law enforcement at national park sites during the shutdown, Mr. Polis’s office said.
Underground attractions
The caves in Carlsbad Caverns National Park in New Mexico will be closed for the duration of the shutdown, as will all roads into the park, according to a post on the park’s Facebook page. Under the Interior Department contingency plan, guided tours of other cave systems, including those in Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky and Wind Cave National Park in South Dakota, likely will be limited or suspended.
Grand Canyon National Park
Arizona’s most famous National Park will remain open to the public during the shutdown, but it will not collect entrance fees, according to the Grand Canyon Conservancy. Buildings on the site that are operated by the National Park Service, such as visitor centers, will be closed, the group said.
Elsewhere in the state, Petrified Forest National Park, which typically closes overnight, will likely be inaccessible for the duration of the shutdown under the Interior Department’s contingency plan.
Great Smoky Mountains National Park
The country’s most visited National Park will remain open, according to a news release from Sevier County, Tenn., which encompasses a section of the park. Under a joint plan formed by several state and local agencies and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, areas that closed at the start of the shutdown will reopen. Staff members will be on duty to clean restrooms, as well as protect visitors and wildlife, according to the statement.
Acadia National Park
In a news release on Wednesday, Senator Susan Collins of Maine said that Acadia National Park would remain “mostly open” during the shutdown, with essential visitor services intact. Local media reported on Thursday that the road to Cadillac Mountain, the park’s highest peak, which offers sweeping views of the Maine coastline, had reopened after briefly closing at the start of the shutdown.
White Sands National Park
Because of the shutdown, New Mexico’s White Sands National Park will be closed “until further notice,” according to the park’s website.
Washington, D.C., Museums and Attractions
Most museums and monuments in D.C. remain open, but more could begin to close if the shutdown continues, according to Destination DC, a nonprofit that promotes tourism in the nation’s capital. Sites that have already closed include the Library of Congress, the National Archives Museum, the Washington Monument and the National Arboretum, according to the site. Tours of the Capitol Building and the Pentagon are also suspended.
Sites run by the Smithsonian Institution — including galleries and museums across D.C. and the National Zoo — will remain open through Oct. 11, the institution said in a statement. Under the National Park Service contingency plan, open-air memorials and monuments like the National Mall also generally will remain accessible to the public.
Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia
Several landmarks in Philadelphia’s Independence National Historical Park — including the Liberty Bell Center, Independence Hall and the Benjamin Franklin Museum — are closed, according to Visit Philadelphia.
Gateway Arch in St. Louis
The tram to reach the observation deck of the Arch will be suspended during the shutdown, and all ticketed events at the site have been canceled until further notice, according to the park’s website.
Chris Hippensteel is a reporter covering breaking news and a member of the 2025-26 Times Fellowship class, a program for journalists early in their careers.
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