With over 8,000 average monthly searches alone for ‘road trip’ in the UK, automotive experts at Harwoods Group have researched and found the best national park across the UK for all those looking to take a scenic road trip. 

The automotive specialists created an index ranking ALL 15 of the UK’s national parks, factoring in search data, social media interest, TripAdvisor, and EV charge point data to find the top 10 national parks for an EV-friendly road trip.

With the highest ranking in our Index, the Peak District is the best national park in the UK. The Peak District, located in central England, is renowned for its stunning landscapes, diverse terrain, and rich cultural heritage. It is one of the UK’s most popular national parks, attracting visitors with its picturesque villages, sprawling moorlands, limestone valleys, and rugged peaks.

According to TikTok views over the past 12 months, #PeakDistrict has received a whopping 73 million views! Along with this, according to Google data, the term ‘Peak District’ is searched for 76k times a month, and there are more than 2.2 million hashtags on Instagram devoted to the British national park, showing its popularity as a great destination to visit!

Within the Peak District, there are numerous attractions and landmarks worth exploring. Our research uncovered Mam Tor as the most popular point of interest within the Peak District, followed by Chatsworth House, a stately home with beautiful gardens, and the historic market town of Bakewell are among the popular cultural destinations. The area is also renowned for its numerous caverns and caves, such as the Blue John Cavern and Speedwell Cavern, which offer visitors a glimpse into the region’s geological history.

Snowdonia is the second-best national park in the UK

Snowdonia, located in North Wales, is a stunning national park known for its majestic mountains, including Mount Snowdon, providing breath-taking views and outdoor adventures like hiking and climbing. It’s also possible to reach the summit of Mount Snowdon by train, making it an extremely accessible mountain for all members of the family! So it comes as no surprise that the diverse landscape that encompasses serene lakes, enchanting valleys, and captivating waterfalls, all home to a rich variety of wildlife, led to this Welsh national park being ranked as the second best in the UK.

Scoring 90 in Harwoods Groups index ranking, just 4 points shy from the Peak District, #Snowdonia has gained 42 million views on TikTok in the last 12 months and more than 1.2 million hashtags on Instagram!

Alongside its natural wonders, Snowdonia boasts a rich cultural heritage with ancient castles, charming villages, and a tapestry of Welsh folklore, making it a perfect blend of nature and history for visitors to explore and enjoy.

Lake District named the best national park for EV drivers and ranked the third-best national park

Located in North West England, the Lake District is one of the most popular and scenic national parks in the United Kingdom, ranking as the overall third-best national park in our Index. With 181,000 monthly searches, it is the most searched for national park and has 4 million hashtags on Instagram.

Known for its stunning natural beauty, characterised by a landscape of rugged mountains, serene lakes, dense forests, and picturesque valleys, the Lake District is often considered one of the most beautiful regions in the UK. This beauty has been a source of inspiration for many famous poets and writers like William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and Beatrix Potter, and even most recently, Taylor Swift!

An extremely popular national park, our research revealed that the Lake District has the best infrastructure for EV drivers, with 18 charge points. The Lake District also has 8 car parks equipped with EV charge points, making it the UK’s best park to recharge your vehicle while recharging your own batteries! Parking in one of the dedicated bays allows you to recharge your EV while spending time enjoying some of the park’s many outdoor pursuits like hiking, mountain biking, kayaking and more.

Emma Moody, Sustainable Transport Adviser for the Lake District National Park Authority said: “In the Lake District we’re aiming to be a net zero National Park by 2037 and visitors can help us look after this special place. We continue to encourage people to travel to and around the park by public transport, however travelling in electric vehicles presents a real opportunity to lower the National Park’s carbon footprint. Our ever-growing network of electric charging points reaches from Ravenglass in the west to Ambleside at Windermere, giving people a wider choice of sustainable travel options.”