How you can visit National Parks For Free in 2021

Are you planning upcoming travels for 2021?  With all the social distancing and COVID safe travel, Nationa Parks have been more popular than ever! You may want to schedule any National Parks trips around a free entrance day!

There are three main ways you can visit National Parks for free!  The National Parks have select free entrance days they offer to everyone on select days throughout the year.

2021 National Park Free Entrance Days: 

Entrance and usage fees will be waived at National Parks for five days in 2020. Entrance fees run from $5 to $25 per vehicle or per person (walk up/bike) so find the most expensive park nearby to get the most value out of your free day!

• January 18: Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
• April 17: First day of National Park Week (a weeklong event held at parks across the country)
• August 4: One Year Anniversary of the Great American Outdoors Act 
• August 25: National Park Service Birthday 
• September 25: National Public Lands Day
• November 11: Veterans Day

These days will be busy so be sure to get there first thing in the morning when they open! And check out some of my other National Park reviews to help you decide where you would like to go for your free visit.  Did you know, the prices for National Parks may go up to $70 per car on high volume months to help maintain infrastructure and maintenance so take advantage before the fees go up drastically?  Prices would go up in places like Joshua Tree, Yosemite, Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, and more!

Check two guides to two of our favorite parks near to us – Yosemite and Pinnacles National Park.

A great way to visit these parks is by renting an RV and hitting more than one at once too! Check out the post/podcast about the Summer road trip we took.

MORE WAYS TO GET IN FREE

The SECOND WAY that can get you into the park for free is that you must have a child currently in the 4th grade (or if summer coming out of 4th grade or going into 4th grade)! And because of COVID – they extended the pass so 5th graders also have free access to Interior public lands through August 2021.

The National Parks have a great program called “Every Kid in a Park” that allows any 4th grader to obtain a free year-long National Park pass that also gets in their carload or all children under 16 and up to three adults for free if walk-up.  In a fast 2 minutes online just answering a few fun questions with your 4th grader and entering your zip code, you get a paper pass to print out which you then can exchange for an actual hard plastic pass at your first visit at any National Park site!  We have used it 8 times already this year with my 4th grader!  Go register now at https://everykidoutdoors.gov

So grab your kiddos, grab your camelbaks, walking sticks (love these ones or grab some sticks on the trail!) and some yummy snacks and get out there and enjoy our Nation’s beautiful parks!!!

The pass works for any National Monument, Park, or Site within the National Parks system.  It does not work with State Parks.

Official rules

• The pass is for U.S. fourth-grade (or home-school equivalent) students.
• The pass is good for the current school year and expires August 31 of the end of that year.
• Students can’t transfer the pass to anyone else. See more online. 

*BONUS THIRD WAY TO GET IN FREE:  If you are a current member of the U.S. Military, you can get a FREE Annual pass for all National Parks and Recreation Sites by showing your Common Access Card or Military ID.  Glad that the government is showing gratitude in this way to all members of the military!