The price to enter a national park is never steep—and you don’t feel bad paying it since you know it goes towards upkeep—but now and then it’s nice to take advantage of a free day. In 2025, there are six days, spaced roughly every couple months, when you can enter without paying.
For context, general admission at Yellowstone and Yosemite is $35 per car plus all its occupants (this is when that third row comes in handy), good for seven days, while at Acadia National Park in Maine, there’s no flat vehicle fee but instead a standard pass which costs $20-35 per person. At Great Smoky Mountains National Park, there’s no entrance fee, but you’ll need a parking tag for your car if you stay longer than 15 minutes, which is just $5 a day or $15 for the week.
If having free entry is the sign from the universe that it’s time to go to a national park, then our work here is done. You’ll be so happy to experience the calm and restorative beauty of nature, a place to set your phone aside and just listen to the birds.
The first free day for the national parks in 2025 is January 20, right around the corner. That’s in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. The full list of free days includes:
- Monday, January 20 — Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
- Saturday, April 19 — First Day of National Park Week
- Thursday, June 19 — Juneteenth National Independence Day
- Monday, August 4 — Anniversary of the Great American Outdoors Act
- Saturday, September 27 — National Public Lands Day
- Tuesday, November 11 — Veterans Day
Incredibly, about three-quarters of our 400 national parks do not charge admission anyway. This year was the first year that Juneteenth became a national park free day, and it continues in 2025. Previously, there were only five free days per year.