About a quarter of the country's 400 or so national parks, monuments, historical sites, seashores, forests, and other areas normally charge entrance fees. But there's a long tradition at the National Park Service (NPS) of making those parks free to enter for at least a few days across the calendar year.
In 2016, during the Obama administration, the Department of the Interior gave people 16 free days, enabling low-income travelers to access public lands. In 2017, the final year planned by Obama's team, travelers got 10 free days in which to explore the U.S. national parks.
By 2018, the first Trump administration had chopped the list of free days down to only four.
In 2026, the number of free days will be back up to 10—but with some big catches. More on those in a second.
Here are the days on which entry to U.S. national parks is free in 2026:
February 16, 2026: President’s Day
May 25, 2026: Memorial Day
June 14, 2026: Flag Day
July 3–5, 2026: Independence Day weekend
August 25, 2026: 110th birthday of the National Park Service
Sept. 17, 2026: Constitution Day
Oct. 27, 2026: Theodore Roosevelt’s birthday
November 11, 2026: Veterans Day
Although the NPS has the power to suspend the fees it collects, vendors and concessionaires don't have to suspend theirs. So on these days, you still might have to pay for options like camping, boat launches, transportation, parking, and tours. That's normal.
National park free days now based on who you are
Now here's the caveat. For the first time, the federal government is stipulating that free entry will be "for U.S. citizens and residents only."
In its announcement, the Department of the Interior did not specify how park rangers will inspect every visitor's papers to determine where they live, nor did the government explain what documentation must be provided or what happens if a group is comprised of a mix of residents and nonresidents.
The Trump administration did announce that "nonresidents without an annual pass will pay a $100 per person fee to enter 11 of the most visited national parks, in addition to the standard entrance fee."
The Interior Department said the new, extremely high admission price was "to help support the care and maintenance of America’s parks."
Never before has the U.S. government made the free-entry days exclusive to people who reside in the United States. Free days have always been approached as a celebration available to everyone as a method to share the splendor of America's natural resources and to stimulate tourism.
In 2025, Pauline Frommer wrote a detailed calculation of how much economic benefit is poured into the American economy by the country's national parks. If you do the math, the profit the national parks generate exceeds what we spend on them by many billions of dollars.
We imagine a lot of park rangers won't take kindly to (or even have time for, given mass firings) demanding residency documents from vacationers, so there's a good chance many people will simply be waved past the gates.
The Department of the Interior claimed that the June 14 Flag Day opening was also in honor of "President Trump’s birthday." Never before has any previous administration honored its own living leader with a free day.
The anniversary of the National Park System itself has been honored with free days, as is Presidents' Day. But never a living politician. Nevertheless, for June 2026, Trump's administration replaced Juneteenth on the free day calendar with a free day that partly honors himself.