Best National Wildlife Refuges
120 places · 120 rated by visitors · ranked honestly, never by who pays.
These are the best places we track for national wildlife refuge visits, ranked purely by real visitor approval. We show every qualifying place; any without enough reviews yet carries an Insufficient ranking data marker instead of a guessed score.
Top of the list right now: Mass Audubon's Ipswich River Wildlife Sanctuary at 98% approval.
- Mass Audubon's Ipswich River Wildlife Sanctuary
- Currituck National Wildlife Refuge
- Oregon Islands National Wildlife Refuge
- Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center
- Red Creek Wildlife Center
- Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge
- Billy Frank Jr. Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge
- Tanganyika Wildlife Park
- Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge
- Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge
- Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge
- Lion's Den Gorge Nature Preserve
- Seven Islands State Birding Park
- Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge
- Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center
- Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center
- Sachuest Point National Wildlife Refuge
- Magee Marsh Wildlife Area
- Schlitz Audubon Nature Center
- Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge
- Salato Wildlife Education Center
- Egmont Key National Wildlife Refuge
- Forsythe Wildlife Refuge Visitor Information Center
- Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge
- Saint Marks National Wildlife Refuge
- Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge
- Seney National Wildlife Refuge - Main Unit
- Mass Audubon Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary
- Cedar Cove Conservation & Education Center
- Elizabeth A. Morton National Wildlife Refuge
- Woodford Cedar Run Wildlife Refuge
- Loess Bluffs National Wildlife Refuge
- Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center
- DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge and Museum
- Holgate Wildlife Refuge
- William L. Finley National Wildlife Refuge
- Horicon National Wildlife Refuge
- Parker River National Wildlife Refuge Gatehouse
- Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge
- Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge - Concord Unit
- Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge
- Norman Bird Sanctuary
- Horicon Marsh State Wildlife Area
- Desert National Wildlife Refuge
- Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge
- St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center
- Trustom Pond National Wildlife Refuge
- Lee Metcalf National Wildlife Refuge
- Mattamuskeet National Wildlife Refuge
- Necedah National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center
- Wolf Creek National Fish Hatchery Visitor And Environmental Education Center
- Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve
- Claire D. McIntosh Wildlife Refuge
- Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center
- Maxwell Wildlife Refuge
- East Point Audubon Sanctuary
- Nathaniel P. Reed Hobe Sound National Wildlife Refuge
- Wildlife Rehabilitation Center of Northern Utah
- Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge
- Global Wildlife Center
- The Wild Animal Sanctuary
- Colorado Wolf and Wildlife Center
- John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge at Tinicum
- Bay Beach Wildlife Sanctuary
- Maine Wildlife Park
- Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center
- Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge
- Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge
- Oatland Island Wildlife Center
- Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge
- Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge & Visitor Center
- National Elk Refuge & Greater Yellowstone Visitor Center
- Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center
- Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge
- Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge
- Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge
- National Elk Refuge
- Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge
- Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge Center
- Havasu National Wildlife Refuge
- Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge
- Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge
- Eastern Shore Of Virginia National Wildlife Refuge
- Aransas National Wildlife Refuge
- Woodlands Nature Station
- Salt Plains National Wildlife Refuge
- Kofa National Wildlife Refuge
- Red River National Wildlife Refuge
- Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge
- Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge
- Russell Peterson Wildlife Refuge
- Wertheim National Wildlife Refuge
- Gilcrease Nature Sanctuary
- Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge
- Keepers of the Wild Nature Park
- Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge
- Humboldt Bay National Wildlife Refuge
- Forks of the River Wildlife Management Area
- Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge
- Black Bayou Lake National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center
Showing the top 100 of 120.
Common questions
How many places are on this list?
120 places, 120 of them rated by visitors.
What is the top pick for national wildlife refuge visits?
Mass Audubon's Ipswich River Wildlife Sanctuary leads with 98% approval from 1,168 reviews.
How does ParksRanked decide the order?
By real visitor approval only. Membership reflects our curated selections from the directory; no advertising or partnership ever influences the ranking, and sparse-data places are clearly marked.