Visit US National Parks for Free in 2026!

#LoveYourNPs

Mark your calendars — on ten dates in 2026, the US National Park Service is offering free admission to all national park units! Dates are scattered throughout the year: Presidents Day, Memorial Day, Flag Day, Independence Day weekend, National Park Service birthday, Constitution Day, President Theodore Roosevelt’s birthday, and Veterans Day.

All of 2026’s entrance fee-free dates are listed on the NPS website. 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 2026:

February 16: Presidents Day
May 25: Memorial Day
June 14: Flag Day
July 3–5: Independence Day weekend
August 25: 110th Birthday of the National Park Service
September 17: Constitution Day
October 27: President T. Roosevelt’s birthday
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 had a goal: to visit all 63 US national parks. We completed that goal in 2025 and continue to revisit some of our favorites! 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!

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.