While not all of the country’s 63 national parks charge an entrance fee, the number of locations that do (or have increased their fee drastically) has been rising.
Wyoming’s Yellowstone, Utah’s Zion, and Joshua Tree in Southern California are some of the parks that recently raised their entrance or campground fees—in some cases by more than 75%. Other parks, including Acadia and Glacier, have been working with a timed-entry system that charges a nominal fee of a few dollars but requires visitors coming during peak hours to register their visit ahead of time.
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Want to visit a national park sans entry fee? These are the free days for 2025
Every year, the National Park Service (NPS) marks days in which parks that would usually charge an entry fee waive it. The 2025 schedule, per the government agency’s website, lists six such free days, starting with Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Jan. 20, the first day of National Park Week on April 19, and Juneteenth on June 19.
The free days during second half of the year are the anniversary of the Great American Outdoors Act on Aug. 4, National Public Lands Day on Sept. 27, and Veterans Day on Nov. 11. While the waived amount affects only the entrance fee rather than things like campground or facility reservations, it can still save visitors $35 per vehicle at Yellowstone, Sequoia, Grand Teton, and Yosemite, $30 at Canyonlands and Arches, or $25 at Grand Sand Dunes or Saguaro.
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Parks like Gateway Arch National Park in Missouri and Carlsbad Caverns National Park in New Mexico charge $3 and $15 per person, respectively — this entry fee will also be waived on the free days in 2025.
“Come experience the national parks!” the NPS wrote to promote the new schedule. “All National Park Service sites that charge an entrance fee will offer free admission to everyone.”
These national parks are officially the most expensive to visit
Popular national parks like Yosemite and Great Smoky Mountains tend to see especially large crowds on the free days.
While rankings of national parks by the cost of visiting them differs widely based on how the latter is calculated (due to the remoteness and the cold-weather gear required, Alaska’s Gates of the Arctic is often considered the most expensive in the country to visit), parks in the highest entrance fee tier include Acadia in Maine, Bryce Canyon in Utah and Everglades in Florida — all charge an entry fee of $35 per vehicle.
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For those planning multiple visits or a trip in which they check of multiple parks, NPS also sells annual passes.
The aforementioned national parks that charge a $35 pass per vehicle also sell annual passes at $70 per vehicle (in which the holder can bring any guests they choose) while there is also the America The Beautiful pass covering entrance fees at any parks managed by the NPS, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and U.S. Forest Service. These cost $80 per person with certain discounts offered to seniors and current and former military members.
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