Mark your calendars — on seven dates in 2025, the US National Park Service is offering free admission to all national park units! Dates are scattered throughout the year, including Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, the first day of National Park Week, Juneteenth, Great American Outdoors Act Signing Day, National Public Lands Day, and Veterans Day.

All of 2025’s entrance fee-free dates are detailed in this press release. What great opportunities to explore your national parks! In addition, special NPS events in your area are posted on a searchable calendar.

Here’s a quick look at the entrance fee-free dates for 2025:

• January 9: National Day of Mourning for President Carter
• January 20: Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
• April 19: First Day of National Park Week 
• June 19: Juneteenth
• August 4: Great American Outdoors Day
• September 27:  National Public Lands Day
• November 11: Veterans Day

You may have read our National Parks – America’s Best Idea post, or you may have seen our list of the national parks we’ve visited, or you may have just noticed that we have a lot of posts about national parks. It’s because we have a goal: to visit all 63 US national parks. We’re making progress, too: we’ve visited 60 of them so far, and plan to complete our goal in 2025! Each park that we’ve been to has been worth visiting, and we’re sure you won’t be disappointed if you visit one. And you can’t really go wrong with free entry!

One park left on our list is fairly easy to get to: Congaree. But we also have two backcountry parks in Alaska that will take a little more effort (and a little more cash!) to get to. But we’re going to do it!

Here are the parks left on our to-visit list:

Congaree
Gates of the Arctic
Kobuk Valley

We highly recommend setting travel goals for yourself and your family. Goals get you motivated and give you a focus. It’s fun to plan and make steps toward a goal as well, and goal setting and taking the steps to complete a goal are great lessons for kids.

We realize that setting a goal to visit all 63 national parks might be a little too much for some folks, but you can start small. Try setting a goal to visit one new place each year, or try a new kind of vacation: maybe a home exchange or a camping trip. Or maybe your goal could be to accumulate enough frequent flyer miles to take a trip to a fun destination in five years. Once you’ve got your goal, start taking the steps to make your goals a reality. If you’ve already got a goal, evaluate how well you’re doing on getting there! And please, share your goals in the comments section.

We hope that you get a chance to enjoy one of your national parks soon, whether it’s for a week or a weekend!