Recreation Gov Scraper

Recreation.gov (recreation.gov) is a US recreation reservation and discovery platform for campgrounds, permits, timed entry, activity passes, visitor centers, facilities, and recreation areas. This actor collects structured detail data from Recreation.gov search and detail pages.

Introduction

The Recreation Gov scraper starts from search URLs or supported detail URLs and extracts structured data for multiple Recreation.gov entity types.

Supported entity types:

• recarea
• timedentry
• permit
• campground
• activitypass
• treepermit
• visitorcenter
• facility

Use Cases

• Market research: Track public recreation inventory, destinations, and offerings across parks and forests.
• Destination discovery: Build structured datasets for campgrounds, permits, timed-entry products, and visitor facilities.
• Content monitoring: Watch changes in public descriptions, metadata, and detail content over time.
• Analytics pipelines: Feed BI tools, dashboards, and internal warehousing with structured Recreation.gov data.

Input

Provide the following fields:

• startUrls (array, required): Recreation.gov search URLs or supported detail URLs.
• maxItems (integer, optional): Maximum number of detail items to extract per original list URL.
• proxyConfiguration (object, optional): Apify proxy settings.

Notes:

• If a startUrl is a search URL such as https://www.recreation.gov/search?q=yosemite, the actor collects detail items from the search results.
• If a startUrl is a supported detail URL, the actor extracts that single detail page directly.
• maxItems is enforced per original list URL.
• The exact data structure can vary between entity types because Recreation.gov contains multiple kinds of pages and entities.

Supported detail URL patterns:

• https://www.recreation.gov/gateways/:id
• https://www.recreation.gov/timed-entry/:id
• https://www.recreation.gov/permits/:id
• https://www.recreation.gov/camping/campgrounds/:id
• https://www.recreation.gov/activitypass/:id
• https://www.recreation.gov/tree-permits/:id
• https://www.recreation.gov/camping/poi/:id

Input Examples

1) Search URL

{
  "startUrls": [
    {
      "url": "https://www.recreation.gov/search?q=yosemite"
    }
  ],
  "maxItems": 20,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true
  }
}

2) Detail URLs

{
  "startUrls": [
    {
      "url": "https://www.recreation.gov/gateways/1076"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://www.recreation.gov/permits/445859"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://www.recreation.gov/camping/campgrounds/10083840"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://www.recreation.gov/camping/poi/245535"
    }
  ],
  "maxItems": 0,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true
  }
}

Output

Each dataset item contains fields like:

{
  "url": "https://www.recreation.gov/camping/campgrounds/10083840",
  "entityId": "10083840",
  "entityType": "campground",
  "name": "Yosemite Creek Campground",
  "description": "Yosemite Creek Campground is closed for the winter...",
  "latitude": 37.8263,
  "longitude": -119.5983,
  "parentId": "2991",
  "parentName": "Yosemite National Park",
  "city": "Yosemite National Park",
  "state": "CA",
  "countryCode": "USA",
  "orgId": "128",
  "orgCode": "NPS",
  "phone": "209-372-8502",
  "email": null,
  "directions": "Follow signs from Yosemite National Park...",
  "timeZone": "America/Los_Angeles",
  "address": "YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, CA, USA",
  "isReservable": true,
  "createdDate": "2018-06-14T00:00:00Z",
  "updatedDate": "2026-03-10T19:45:37.705963Z",
  "extraData": {
    "facilityId": "10083840",
    "facilityType": "STANDARD",
    "activities": [],
    "links": [],
    "rawData": {}
  }
}

The extraData field contains additional entity-specific information. Its structure can differ depending on the type of Recreation.gov entity being scraped.

Why use the Recreation Gov Scraper?

• Multi-entity support: Works across Recreation.gov gateways, permits, timed-entry pages, campgrounds, facilities, and more.
• Structured output: Produces normalized top-level fields with flexible extraData per entity type.
• Per-URL limits: maxItems is enforced per source list URL.

FAQ

• Which URLs are supported?
  Recreation.gov search URLs and the supported detail URL patterns listed above.

• Does it support pagination for search results?
  Yes. The actor continues collecting results until all items are processed or maxItems is reached.

• Can it scrape a single detail URL directly?
  Yes. Supported detail URLs can be used as startUrls.

• Do I need proxies?
  Not always, but proxies are recommended for larger runs and better stability.

Need to scrape other travel and attractions platforms?

Check out our other scrapers:

• Booking Attractions Scraper.
• Booking Cruises Scraper.
• Booking Taxis Scraper.
• AXS Event Scraper.

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Need help or want a custom solution?

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Image Credit

Image credit: recreation.gov.