The $100 US national parks fee for visitors: which parks, who pays

Since 1 January 2026, visitors from outside the United States pay much more at the country's best-known national parks. At 11 of the most visited parks, every non-US resident aged 16 or over is charged a $100 nonresident fee, on top of the normal entrance fee. At the same time, the annual America the Beautiful pass split into two prices: $80 for US residents and $250 for everyone else. This page belongs with the USA travel guide and works out when the fee, the pass or neither is the cheaper way to see the parks.

It affects international visitors, including people on an ESTA or a visa, and residents of Canada or Mexico driving over for a holiday. It does not affect US citizens or permanent residents. The rule comes from the National Park Service, and everything below follows its pages, including the fee pages of individual parks. It is guidance on rules and arithmetic, not a promise that a given gate will behave the same way on a busy morning.

The nonresident fee comes from an executive order that directed the Secretary of the Interior to develop a strategy for appropriately increasing entrance fees and recreation pass fees for nonresidents. The Secretaries of the Interior and Agriculture then created the fee and the two-tier pass. It is a per-person charge, not per vehicle, so a car with four foreign adults pays the fee four times.

The official sources are the NPS passes page and its nonresident fee FAQ. The fee counts per park. Visiting Zion and Bryce Canyon on the same trip means paying the standard entrance fee and the $100 at each of them, unless you hold a pass that covers it.

The fee applies only at the parks on the NPS list. They are among the most visited, which is why almost every classic western road trip touches at least two of them.

Arches, Canyonlands, Death Valley, Joshua Tree and the Great Smoky Mountains are not on the list, so the extra $100 does not apply there. The NPS names no other park for the fee. Some listed parks also run timed-entry or reservation systems in peak season. The NPS passes page says some parks use a timed entry system to manage vehicle traffic, that reservations are typically made available through recreation.gov on a rolling basis, and that it recommends booking well in advance. Those reservations are separate from the fee. For Zion's permits and shuttle, see the Zion guide, and for a short Utah plan, the Zion in 2 days itinerary.

A practical reading of the list: Sequoia and Kings Canyon appears as one entry, Yellowstone and Grand Teton appear as two separate parks, and the NPS pages say the fee applies at each. Plan on paying at every listed park you enter unless a pass covers you.

The America the Beautiful pass has always covered entrance fees at national parks and many other federal recreation sites. From 1 January 2026 there are two versions of the annual pass. The Resident Annual Pass costs $80 and is for US citizens and residents. The Non-Resident Annual Pass costs $250 and is the only America the Beautiful pass sold to anyone else.

Annual passes bought before 1 January 2026 are honored on their original terms. The NPS says a valid Annual Pass purchased before that date is valid for 12 months from the time of purchase and covers the entrance and nonresident fees for the holder and travel companions. All the other America the Beautiful passes, such as the Senior, Military and Access passes, are for US citizens and residents. Park-specific annual passes also tend to be limited: the Zion and Bryce Canyon fee pages list their park annual pass at $70 for US citizens and residents, so a foreign visitor's realistic pass is the $250 one.

Passes are non-refundable and non-transferable and cannot be replaced if lost or stolen, and the holder must show valid photo ID with each pass. That matters for groups: the holder has to be present, and a pass cannot be lent to a friend who drives a second car.

The system relies on showing ID. To buy the $80 Resident Annual Pass, you need proof of US citizenship or residency. The NPS names a US passport, a US government (state or territory) driver's license or state ID, or a permanent resident card, also known as a green card. For digital passes, the purchaser shows photo ID at the time of use. If the purchaser is not eligible for the resident pass, they are asked to upgrade to the nonresident one, and the checkout language spells out the eligibility and ID requirements.

The NPS pages name only those documents. If you are a foreign student or temporary worker living in the US and your documents are different, ask a ranger or check the NPS FAQ before assuming you can use the resident rate, because the safe assumption is that the three listed documents are what the staff expect.

Joining a tour does not avoid the fee. The NPS says the $100 fee also applies to nonresidents in commercial tour groups, in groups operating under commercial use authorizations and in concessionaire tours at the 11 parks, unless they use the Non-Resident Annual Pass. The pass covers the pass holder plus three additional nonresidents aged 16 and older when they are part of a commercial group. The NPS adds that tour companies are expected to know the number of nonresidents and pass holders before they reach the entrance. Ask your tour operator whether the $100 per person is already in the price you were quoted, and whether the operator expects you to carry a pass.

The 2026 fee-free dates on the NPS list are 16 February, 25 May, 14 June, 3 to 5 July, 25 August, 17 September, 27 October and 11 November. For a foreign visitor they save nothing, and parks can be busier on those days. Nothing in the NPS rule changes for the other days of the year.

The NPS offers three routes. Physical passes can be bought or picked up in person at over 1,000 federal recreation sites, which it recommends. You can order a physical pass online from the USGS Online Store, but those orders may take up to three weeks to be processed and delivered, so the NPS suggests ordering at least three weeks ahead or picking up in person instead. Or you can get a digital pass from Recreation.gov, which can be saved to a phone and used immediately.

Payment methods differ by park. The Yosemite fee page says the park accepts major credit cards and mobile payment services and does not accept cash, and the Grand Canyon page says credit or debit cards only. Zion prefers cards but also accepts cash. Because the pass is a single purchase that covers several parks, the first park of the trip is the natural place to decide: if your route includes two or more listed parks, a digital pass bought in advance means the entrance station only has to check your ID.

The vehicle fee at Zion, Yellowstone, Yosemite, Grand Canyon and Bryce Canyon is $35 on each park's NPS fee page, with the Zion page giving the standard entrance range as $20.00 to $35.00. Walking or cycling in costs $20 per person, and a motorcycle costs $30. Standard passes are valid for 7 days at Zion, and the Yellowstone, Yosemite and Grand Canyon pages list seven days as well. Add the $100 per person aged 16 or over, and the picture looks like this.

The rows use the $35 vehicle fee and the $20 per-person walk-in fee from the park pages plus $100 per adult at each listed park. For a single park, paying at the gate is slightly cheaper for one or two adults. From the third adult in the car, or from the second listed park, the pass wins, and the gap grows quickly with more parks or more people.

Who should not buy the pass: a couple visiting one listed park, a solo traveler on a one-park trip, and anyone whose route sits entirely in unlisted parks such as Arches or Joshua Tree. Under-16s pay no nonresident fee, so a family of two adults and two young children costs the same at the gate as a couple. Who should buy it: a group of three or more adults in one car, and anyone whose route touches two or more listed parks, such as Yellowstone with Grand Teton, Yosemite with Sequoia and Kings Canyon, or the Utah and Arizona loop of Zion, Bryce Canyon and the Grand Canyon.

Two cars means two passes, because the pass covers the vehicle it travels in. At sites that charge per person, one pass covers the holder plus three adults, so a group of four walking in together is covered by one pass. A hiking group of five is not. For northern routes, see the Yellowstone and Grand Teton fees guide and the Yosemite page, and for New England the Acadia in 3 days plan and its Cadillac Mountain reservations guide.

Do not assume the vehicle fee covers the nonresident fee, because the $100 is charged per person on top of it. Do not buy the $80 resident pass without a US passport, driver's license or green card, because the check happens at the gate. Do not count on a fee-free day, since nonresidents pay as normal. Do not order a physical pass online less than three weeks before the trip, because delivery can take that long. And do not skip the arithmetic for the route you actually plan: adding or dropping one listed park can flip the answer.

Before you travel, check the ESTA rules for entry to the United States and each park's own page for timed entry and road conditions. National park roads often have no mobile coverage, so compare the options in the connectivity guide, and keep health cover in mind with the travel insurance guides, since US medical bills are among the highest anywhere. For linking parks without driving, the transport guide explains what exists and what does not.