US national park fees for international visitors

National park fees for international visitors changed on 1 January 2026. A visitor who is not a US resident now pays a $100 non-resident fee per person aged 16 or over at 11 of the busiest parks. That surcharge comes on top of the normal entrance fee.

The alternative is the $250 non-resident pass, which covers a whole car for 12 months, surcharge included. For almost any road trip that reaches two of those parks, the pass is the cheaper choice.

The figures below come from the National Park Service's pages on non-resident fees and passes, checked on 26 October 2026. The policy itself was set out in the Department of the Interior's announcement of 25 November 2025.

Which national parks charge the $100 non-resident fee?

Eleven national parks charge the non-resident surcharge. They are the ones most international trips are built around:

• Acadia (Maine)
• Bryce Canyon (Utah)
• Everglades (Florida)
• Glacier (Montana)
• Grand Canyon (Arizona)
• Grand Teton (Wyoming)
• Rocky Mountain (Colorado)
• Sequoia and Kings Canyon (California)
• Yellowstone (Wyoming, Montana and Idaho)
• Yosemite National Park (California)
• Zion (Utah)

Every other park charges residents and non-residents the same. Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the most visited, charges no entrance fee at all, only a parking tag the pass does not cover. Arches National Park, Canyonlands National Park and Capitol Reef National Park are not on the list. On a Utah road trip, that leaves three of the five national parks with no surcharge. In California, Death Valley National Park and Joshua Tree National Park charge everyone $30 a car.

The national park surcharge comes on top of the entrance fee, not instead of it. At Zion, Bryce Canyon, Grand Canyon, Yellowstone and Yosemite a private car pays $35 for seven days. A car carrying two adults from abroad therefore pays $35 plus $200, or $235, to enter one park. Children aged 15 and under pay neither fee.

No Park Service page says how long the $100 lasts. Recreation.gov sells it attached to each park's seven-day entrance pass. The reasonable reading is one surcharge per seven-day visit to a park, not one per trip through the gate. Treat that as an inference until the Park Service states it.

What does the $250 non-resident pass cover?

The $250 non-resident national park pass is the America the Beautiful pass at its 2026 price for visitors from abroad. It covers entrance fees at sites run by six federal agencies, every national park among them. At the eleven surcharge parks it also covers the $100 fee.

The pass belongs to one named person, who must be present with photo ID each time the car goes through a gate. It runs for 12 months, to the end of the month of purchase in the following year. Nobody can transfer it, refund it or replace it if lost. Anyone may buy it; the Park Service says only that it is intended for non-residents.

When does the non-resident pass pay for itself?

The non-resident pass pays for itself at the second surcharge park, for a couple and for a solo traveller alike. The table works through the classic Southwest trip: Zion, Bryce Canyon and Grand Canyon, with two adults in one hire car.

With the pass the same trip costs $250, a saving of $455. Adding Arches, which charges $30 a car and no surcharge, raises the trip without the pass to $735. The pass price stays unchanged. A solo traveller pays $135 at one surcharge park and $270 at two. The arithmetic points the same way.

The only trip where paying at the gate wins is one surcharge park and nothing else: $235 for a couple, against $250 for the pass. Our Southwest national parks loop passes through three of the eleven, and the Zion guide covers the park where most of these trips begin.

Our guide to the best national parks in the USA compares what two adults pay at the 12 most visited parks.

How do you buy the non-resident pass from abroad?

The easiest way to buy the non-resident pass is the digital version on Recreation.gov, for $250. It works on a phone straight away. You can buy it before the flight, alongside the ESTA most visitors from Europe need anyway. Recreation.gov offers no physical card with the non-resident pass and does not ship cards to an international address.

Park entrance stations and more than a thousand other federal sites sell a physical card, for a traveller who would rather hand over a card than show a phone. The US Geological Survey store also posts physical passes, for $250 plus $7.50 in fees. Its page does not say whether it ships outside the United States, and delivery can take three weeks.

Whichever form it takes, the name on the pass must match the photo ID shown at the gate. The person named on it has to be in the car at every park.

Who counts as a US resident at the park gate?

A US resident, for park fees, is a US citizen or permanent resident with one of three documents. Those are a US passport, a driving licence or ID card from a US state or territory, or a green card. A visitor on a tourist visa or an ESTA is not a resident, however long the stay.

The resident pass costs $80. The senior, military and access passes, once cheap or free, are now for US citizens and residents only. A digital resident pass bought by someone who turns out not to qualify has to be upgraded to the non-resident pass at the gate.

Do the 2026 free entrance days include visitors from abroad?

The free entrance days in 2026 are for US citizens and permanent residents only. On those days a visitor from abroad still pays the entrance fee and, at the eleven surcharge parks, the $100 per person.

The 2026 dates are 16 February, 25 May, 14 June, 3 to 5 July, 25 August, 17 September, 27 October and 11 November. Timed-entry and reservation fees still apply on free days, even for residents. The 2027 holiday weekends that fill the parks are listed in Best time to visit the USA.

Which national parks still need a reservation in 2026?

Reservations are a separate system from fees. Fewer parks use them in 2026 than in earlier years. A pass does not replace a reservation where a park requires one.

Recreation.gov handles every one of these. The Rocky Mountain and Angels Landing systems release slots on fixed dates, so they belong in the plan before the flights, not after.

Can you pay cash at a national park entrance?

Many park entrances no longer take cash, so a card is the safe way to pay. Bryce Canyon, Grand Canyon, Yosemite, Glacier, Grand Teton, Everglades and Big Bend take cards only, as do Rocky Mountain's entrance stations and Arches. Zion and Yellowstone still accept cash.

The park fee pages list credit and debit cards without excluding foreign ones. Before the trip, check whether your own card charges a fee on payments in dollars. A two-week road trip can put several hundred dollars of park fees on it.