With 2026 simply across the nook, vacationers are already planning their nationwide park holidays. However some issues are set to alter subsequent 12 months.
Like previously, there will probably be a number of fee-free days for 2026. Nonetheless, the designated days for these will look a lot totally different. Nationwide parks can even develop into dearer for worldwide guests, and annual passes can even are available a brand new digital format, amongst different adjustments.
“This 12 months we’re making it simpler and extra reasonably priced for each American to expertise the sweetness and freedom of our public lands,” Secretary of the Inside Doug Burgum stated in a video posted to X. “These adjustments replicate our dedication to affordability so that each household from each nook of our nation can share within the surprise and abundance of our public lands.”
These are the key adjustments nationwide park guests ought to concentrate on heading into 2026.
Price-free day adjustments
There will probably be 10 fee-free days in 2026, an increase from six in past years. However except Veterans’ Day on Nov. 11, 2026, these are utterly totally different from the times chosen in 2025.
The fee-free days for 2026 embrace:
- Presidents Day: Feb. 16
- Memorial Day: Could 25
- Flag Day and President Donald Trump’s birthday: June 14
- Independence Day weekend: July 3 to five
- The a hundred and tenth birthday of the Nationwide Park Service: Aug. 25
- Structure Day: Sept. 17
- Theodore Roosevelt’s birthday: Oct. 27
- Veterans Day: Nov. 11
Subsequent 12 months, the NPS received’t have fun Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Juneteenth, the primary day of Nationwide Park Week, the anniversary of the Nice American Outdoor Act or Nationwide Public Lands Day by waiving entrance charges as they did for 2025.
Reward your inbox with the TPG Every day publication
Be a part of over 700,000 readers for breaking information, in-depth guides and unique offers from TPG’s specialists
The Division of the Inside additionally plans to restrict fee-free days to U.S. residents solely, prohibiting worldwide guests from taking benefit.
Not all nationwide parks have each day charges. Some, like Nice Smoky Mountains Nationwide Park, don’t cost an entrance price however do cost for different providers, corresponding to parking. Others, like Arkansas’ Scorching Springs Nationwide Park, are free year-round.
New prices for worldwide guests
Beginning Jan. 1, it would develop into dearer for non-U.S. residents to go to the most well-liked nationwide parks, according to the DOI. That’s because of a $100 price the Nationwide Park Service plans to impose on high of regular entrance charges in what the Trump administration has known as “America-first pricing.”
“These insurance policies be certain that U.S. taxpayers, who already help the Nationwide Park System, proceed to take pleasure in reasonably priced entry, whereas worldwide guests contribute their justifiable share to sustaining and enhancing our parks for future generations,” Burgum stated in a press release.
This will probably be in impact for overseas vacationers 16 and older who go to one in every of these 11 parks: Acadia Nationwide Park, Bryce Canyon Nationwide Park, Everglades Nationwide Park, Glacier Nationwide Park, Grand Canyon Nationwide Park, Grand Teton Nationwide Park, Rocky Mountain Nationwide Park, Sequoia and Kings Canyon nationwide parks, Yellowstone Nationwide Park, Yosemite Nationwide Park and Zion Nationwide Park.
Worldwide guests who plan to go to a number of parks should purchase an annual go, however that can even price extra for non-residents ($250) than for many who stay within the U.S. ($80).
To implement the brand new rule, guests will probably be requested to current a U.S. government-issued picture ID at nationwide park entrances, KQED reported. If they do not have one, they might want to pay the elevated charges.
New digital passes and inclusions
For U.S. residents and residents, the annual America the Lovely go will nonetheless price $80 in 2026. New for subsequent 12 months, it is going to be out there as a digital download, which go holders can retailer on their Recreation.gov accounts, in a cell app or in a cell pockets.
Go holders preferring a bodily go can nonetheless order one, however please be aware that it’ll incur a further $7.50 cost for delivery and dealing with. Vacationers may also decide up a bodily go in particular person at greater than 1,000 locations nationwide.
Beginning in 2026, every go will embrace new entry for bikes, protecting two bikes per go.
New graphics for annual passes
In previous years, annual passes have included photos of wildlife or the pure surroundings that make America’s nationwide parks value visiting. Nonetheless, this 12 months, the DOI stated it would provide new “daring, patriotic designs,” together with photos of Trump himself.
Trump’s face will adorn the annual go together with a picture of George Washington behind him, in keeping with a rendering Burgum shared. Trump can even seem on the 2026 annual go for army members, through which he’s going through backward in a salute.
Authorized specialists have questioned the legality of putting Trump’s face on the annual go, as these photos are usually chosen via a yearly competitors, SFGate reported.
“The Nationwide Park Recreation Go legislation as written by Congress is evident and mandates holding a public competitors for the annual picture to assist educate the general public about nationwide parks and public lands, which clearly precludes utilizing the go and our parks as a political device,” Robert Keiter, a pure useful resource legislation professor on the College of Utah, instructed SFGate. “The parks are and needs to be a significant non-partisan venue for all the American folks, as articulated within the 1916 Nationwide Parks Natural Act.”
Going ahead, go holders preferring the previous go imagery ought to make their buy rapidly. Every go is legitimate for 12 months from the date of buy via the top of the identical month the next 12 months. Vacationers who buy a go in December 2025 will have the ability to use it via the next 12 months.
Associated studying: