Must See National Parks in India By Region

With 110 national parks encompassing an area of more than 15,638 square miles, you’ll never run out of places to visit or wildlife to see on your trip to India - everything from Bengal tigers and snow leopards to humpback whales and lion-tailed macaques, plus a vast array of birds, reptiles, and fauna.

There is a national park nearby no matter where you are visiting - whether you are trekking in the Himalayas to the north, taking in the charm of Mumbai to the east, relaxing on the beaches of Kerala to the south, exploring the Land of the Seven Sisters to the north-east, or taking a safari in the jungles at the heart of the country.

Here are the top national parks in each of the seven regions of India.

Himalayas and the Foothills

Hemis National Park, Jammu And Kashmir

Hemis is a high-altitude national park (at 17,000 ft) founded in 1981 and is the largest national park in South Asia, encompassing 1,700 square miles. Globally famous for its snow leopards, it is believed to have the highest density of these powerful yet agile cats than in any other protected area in the world - around 200.

Best time to go: Mid-June to mid-October, but the best time to spot snow leopards in in late winter

Expect to see: Snow leopards (pictured above), argali (Great Tibetan Sheep), bharal (Blue Sheep), Ladakhi urial (Wild Sheep), Tibetan wolf, the Eurasian brown bear (endangered in India), the red fox, and livestock.

Jim Corbett National Park, Uttarakhand

Jim Corbett National Park is the oldest national park in India and was established in 1936 as Hailey National Park to protect the endangered Bengal tiger. Named after Jim Corbett, a well-known hunter and naturalist, the park was the first to come under the Project Tiger initiative. An ecotourism destination, it contains 488 different species of plants and a diverse variety of fauna.

Best time to go: November - May

Expect to see: Bengal tigers, although plentiful, are not easily spotted due to the abundance of foliage which aid camouflage. Leopards are found in hilly areas but may also venture into the lowland jungles. Other mammals include barking deer, sambar deer, hog deer, chital, sloth, Himalayan black bears, Indian grey mongoose, otters, yellow-throated martens, Himalayan goral, Indian pangolins, and langur and rhesus macaques. Owls and nightjars can be heard during the night. In the summer, Indian elephants (pictured above)can be seen in herds of several hundred.

Rajasthan and the Gangetic Plains

Ranthambore National Park, Sawai Madhopur

Ranthambore National Park is one of 50 Project Tiger reserves in India. The park's deciduous forests are characteristic examples of the type of jungle found in Central India and lies at the edge of a plateau that is bounded to the north by the Banas River and to the south by the Chambal River. It is named after the historic Ranthambore fortress which lies within the park.

Best time to go: November - May

Expect to see: Tigers, Indian leopard, nilgai, wild boar, sambar, striped hyena, sloth bear, southern plains gray langur (pictured above), rhesus macaque, mugger crocodile, and chital. The sanctuary is home to a wide variety of trees, plants, birds and reptiles, as well as one of the largest banyan trees in India.

Desert National Park, Rajasthan

Desert National Park is one of the largest national parks in India, covering an area of 3,162 km² and is an excellent example of the ecosystem of the Thar Desert. Sand dunes form around 20 percent of the park, but the major landform consists of craggy rocks and compact salt lake bottoms, intermedial areas, and fixed dunes.

Despite a fragile ecosystem, there is an abundance of birdlife. The region is a haven for migratory and resident birds of the desert. Many eagles, harriers, falcons, buzzards, kestrel, and vultures are spotted here. The park also hosts a collection of fossils of animals and plants of 180 million years old. Some dinosaur fossils of 6 million years old have been found in the area.

Best time to go: October - March

Expect to see: Desert fox, Bengal fox, desert cat, wolf, hedgehog, blackbuck and chinkara, spiny-tailed lizard, monitor lizard, saw-scaled viper, Russell's viper, and common krait.

The Kutch, Mumbai, and the Caves of Ajanta & Ellora

Gir National Park, Gujarat

Established in 1965, Gir National Park and Wildlife Sanctuary encompasses a total area of 545 square miles and is considered one of the most important protected areas in Asia because of its biodiversity. The entire forest area is dry and deciduous which provides the best habitat for its 523 lions and more than 300 leopards, and an ideal landscape to view these magnificent creatures in the wild.

Best time to go: March – June, September - November

Expect to see: Asiatic lion (pictured above), Indian leopard, jungle cat, striped hyena, golden jackal, Indian gray mongoose and Ruddy mongoose, and honey badger, chital, nilgai, sambar, four-horned antelope, chinkara, and wild boar.

Mahatma Gandhi Marine National Park, Andaman Islands

Mahatma Gandhi Marine National Park is made up of two major island groups - the Labyrinth Islands and the Twin Islands - and received its designation in 1983 to protect marine life such as the fringing corals and nesting sea turtles prevalent in the area. Tarmugli, the largest of 15 untouched islands, is covered with thick mangrove vegetation, sand covered beaches, uprooted trees, and sheet rocks.

Best time to go: March – June, September-November

Expect to see: Angelfish, giant robber crab, lion or scorpion fish, grouper fish, butterflyfish, and surgeonfish are some of the endangered fish species that one can see here. Apart from fish, one can find a good number of reptiles, birds, and mammals. Tourists can experience imposing coral reefs through boat and snorkel and take a dip to witness the exquisite marine life.

Central India and the Wildlife

Bandhavgarh National Park, Madhya Pradesh

Bandhavgarh National Park derives its name from the most prominent hillock of the area, which was said to be given by Hindu Lord Rama to his brother Lakshmana to keep a watch on Lanka, hence the name Bandhavgarh (meaning Brother's Fort). This park, with its large biodiversity and dense tiger population, makes it one of the best places to spot a tiger in the world. The park also has a large breeding population of leopards and various species of deer.

Best time to go: October - March

Expect to see: Royal Bengal tigers, barking deer (pictured above), nilgai, Indian wolf, striped hyena, caracal, chital, spotted deer, and Indian leopard.

Kanha National Park, Madhya Pradesh

Kanha National Park is one of the tiger reserves of India and the largest national park in Madhya Pradesh. It is ranked among the top 10 “Famous Places for Tourists.” The park has a significant population of Royal Bengal tigers, Indian leopards, sloth bear, barasingha, and Indian wild dog. The forest depicted in the famous novel by Rudyard Kipling, The Jungle Book is based on jungles within this reserve.

Best time to go: November–May

Expect to see: Kanha Tiger Reserve has species of tigers, leopards, wild dogs, wild cats, foxes, jackals, spotted deer, sambar, gaur, barking deer, sloth bear (pictured above), and the four-horned antelope. Recently, mouse deer have also been discovered in the tiger reserve.

Deccan and the North Kerala

Bhagwan Mahaveer Sanctuary and Mollem National Park, Goa

Bhagwan Mahaveer Sanctuary and Mollem National Park contains several important temples dating to the Kadambas of Goa (dynasty that ruled Goa from 10th to 14th century CE), as well as numerous waterfalls such as Dudhsagar Falls (pictured above) and Tambdi Falls. The parkland is also home to a community of nomadic buffalo herders known as the Dhangar.

Best time to go: March–June, September-November

Expect to see: Wild mammals recorded in the sanctuary include the leopard (particularly the black variant), barking deer, Bengal tiger, bonnet macaque, common langur, civet, flying squirrel, gaur, Malabar giant squirrel, mouse deer, pangolin, porcupine, slender loris, sambar, spotted deer, wild boar, and wild dog.

Silent Valley National Park, Kerala

Silent Valley National Park is one of the last undisturbed tracts of South Western Ghats mountain rainforests and tropical moist evergreen forest in India. The absence of cicadas creates an eerily quiet setting in which to discover some rare species of flora and fauna. Silent Valley is home to the largest population of lion-tailed macaques, an endangered species of primates.

Best time to go: December - April

Expect to see: Tigers, leopards, elephants, lion-tailed macaques (pictured above), malabar giant squirrels, plus over 1000 species of flowering plants and another 110 species of orchids. More than 400 species of moths and 200 species of butterflies have been catalogued here. The 128 species of beetles deserve a special mention since 10 of them were previously unknown to mankind.

Kerala and Tamil Nadu

Gulf of Mannar Marine National Park, Tamil Nadu

The Gulf of Mannar Marine National Park is a protected area of India consisting of 21 small islands (islets) and adjacent coral reefs in the Gulf of Mannar in the Indian Ocean. The park has a high diversity of plants and animals in its marine, intertidal, and near-shore habitats. Public access inside the Park is limited to glass bottom boat rides

The park includes estuaries, mudflats, beaches and forests of the near shore environment. It also includes marine components such as coral reefs, seaweed communities, sea grasses, salt marshes and mangroves.

Best time to go: October - March.

Expect to see: Dugong (pictured above), a vulnerable marine mammal, is the flagship mammal of the park. It is an important habitat for bottlenose dolphin, finless porpoise, spinner dolphin, common dolphin, Risso's dolphin, melon-headed whale, and Dwarf sperm whale, as well as larger whales including sperm whale, minke whale, Bryde's whale, Sei whale, and critically endangered species including humpback whale, fin whale, and blue whale.

Periyar National Park, Kerala

Periyar National Park and Wildlife Sanctuary is a protected area that serves as an elephant and a tiger reserve. The park is a repository of rare, endemic, and endangered flora and fauna and forms the major watershed of two important rivers of Kerala - the Periyar and the Pamba. The park attracts thousands of tourists every year for safari, rafting, and other activities. It also houses the Mangala Devi Kannagi temple, an ancient temple that welcomes pilgrims only once a year on Chaithra Pournami Day.

Best time to go: December - March

Expect to see: An important tiger and elephant reserve, other mammals you might spot while visiting the park include the gaur, sambar, wild pig, Indian giant squirrel (pictured above), Travancore flying squirrel, jungle cat, sloth bear, Nilgiri tahr, lion-tailed macaque, Nilgiri langur, Salim Ali's fruit bat, stripe-necked mongoose, and Nilgiri marten. In addition, more than 266 species of birds and 45 species of reptiles are found in the park. More than 160 butterfly species are found here. This includes the largest butterfly of South India, Southern birdwing.

Kolkata and the North-East of India

Indravati National Park, Chhattisgarh

Indravati National Park derives its name from the nearby Indravati River and is home to one of the last populations of rare wild Asian buffalo. With a total area of approximately 2799 km2, Indravati attained the status of a national park in 1975 and a tiger reserve in 1983 under the famous Project Tiger of India, to become one of the most famous tiger reserves of India.

Best time to go: mid-December to mid-June

Expect to see: Wild Asian buffalo, gaur or Indian bison (pictured above), nilgai, blackbuck, chausingha (four-horned antelope), sambar, chital, Indian muntjac, Indian spotted chevrotain and wild boar. Large predators are represented by tigers, leopards, sloth bears, dholes (wild dog), and striped hyenas. Smaller mammals include flying squirrel, porcupine, pangolins, rhesus monkeys and langurs among many others.

Kaziranga National Park, Assam

Kaziranga National Park hosts two-thirds of the world's great one-horned rhinoceroses and is home to one of the highest density of tigers among protected areas in the world. The park also supports a large breeding population of elephants, wild water buffalo, and swamp deer. Kaziranga is recognized as an Important Bird Area by BirdLife International for conservation of avifaunal species.

Best time to go: November to April

Expect to see: Much of the park's terrain consists of swamp and grasslands, making it the perfect habitat for one-horned rhinoceros (pictured above), wild elephants, tigers, buffaloes, gaur, monkeys, deer, otters, badgers, leopards, and wild boar. The birdlife is also impressive with thousands of migratory birds arriving at the park every year from distant lands as far away as Siberia.

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Whether you are searching for the majestic Bengal tiger or rare wild Asian Buffalo, taking in the diverse flora and breathtaking scenery, or looking for an afternoon of adventure on land or water, India’s national parks have everything you need to make your visit one to remember.