Travel Tips

Travel Tip: Free National Park Day

Every year, the National Park Service offers free entry to more than 100 national parks across the country to honor special events and occasions, and this year is no exception.

Upcoming free dates include April 21-29 in celebration of National Park Week and June 9 for Get Outdoors Day.

In the fall, you’ll get free entrance on September 29 to commemorate National Public Lands Day and November 10-12 in celebration of Veteran’s Day.

Several of the big-name parks are participating, like Yosemite, Yellowstone, and the Everglades. To beat the crowds and still enjoy some natural splendor, you also want to check out some of the less-crowded sites, like Capitol Reef National Park in central Utah, which is known for its brilliantly colored rock formations and Montana’s Glacier National Park for its alpine meadows and glacial lakes.

Of course, that doesn’t mean that things are free once you get inside the park. You’ll still have to pay for concessions like food and lodging.

But don’t forget you can also save by purchasing an annual pass, which gets you year-round access to the national parks, rivers, forests, and all other sites in the National Park System.

For more great outdoor ideas visit our Adventure Travel and Sports section.

And check out the rest of our Daily Travel Tips here.