I’ve traveled to 25 US national parks. I’ve traveled to all of these national parks on a budget, most trips costing under $1000 total. In today’s blog post, I’m giving you my top 10 tips for visiting national parks on a budget so that you can make your dream trip a reality too.
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Choose The Right National Park Pass For You
My first tip for visiting national parks on a budget is to choose the right national park pass for you. Often, you’ll read that the America The Beautiful annual national park pass is the best and cheapest pass to visit the national parks. While that’s partially true, the annual park pass only makes sense financially if you plan to visit more than two national parks in the next year. Otherwise, you’re better off paying per park.
A standard park pass costs around $35 depending on your vehicle type (see prices here). This standard park pass is valid for 1-7 days (depending on the park), so if you are only visiting one national park on your trip, this is the most cost effective way to go. The America The Beautiful annual park pass costs $80 for US residents and is valid at all national parks plus some additional federal parks for an entire year. I highly recommend buying the America The Beautiful annual park pass if you’re visiting more than two parks in the next year. If not, get the standard park passes. Also, definitely check to see if you qualify for any other discounted or free park passes, such as the senior passes, disability passes, military passes or fourth grader passes.
Pick The Cheapest National Parks To Visit
My next tip to take a budget-friendly national park trip is to choose the cheapest national park for your trip. Believe it or not, there are a few national parks that have no entrance fees, making them cheaper to visit than the typical fee parks.
Here are the US national parks that don’t have an entrance fee:
- Biscayne National Park.
- Channel Islands National Park.
- Congaree National Park.
- Cuyahoga Valley National Park.
- Gates Of The Arctic National Park.
- Gateway Arch National Park.
- Glacier Bay National Park.
- Great Basin National Park.
- Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
- Hot Springs National Park.
- Katmai National Park.
- Kenai Fjords National Park.
- Kobuk Valley National Park.
- Lake Clark National Park.
- Mammoth Cave National Park.
- New River Gorge National Park.
- North Cascades National Park.
- Redwood National Park.
- Voyageurs National Park.
- Wind Cave National Park.
- Wrangell-St. Elias National Park.
Although, note that you may be subject to other costs at these fee-free parks like transportation, parking, camping permits, backcountry permits, tours, etc.
Visit National Parks On Free Days
In addition, there are various fee-free days for US national parks that grant free entrance to all of the parks for all US residents. So, if there is a fee national park that is on your bucket list, you can still save money by visiting that park on one of these fee-free days. The specific dates change every year, so you can find the most up-to-date national park fee-free days here. However, even though you’ll definitely save money on entrance fees, keep in mind that the parks will be extra crowded on these days too.
Visit Multiple National Parks In One Trip
Aside from entrance fees, another one of the best ways to visit the US national parks on a budget is to road trip through multiple national parks in one trip. This way, you can check multiple national parks off your bucket list while only paying for flights, accommodations and transportation once. Some of the best national parks to see in one trip include the Washington national parks (read my guide to see all three Washington parks in one trip here), the Utah Mighty 5 (check out my epic Utah road trip itinerary here), Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks (check out my Grand Teton and Yellowstone weekend trip itinerary here), the southern California national parks (like Death Valley, Sequoia and Joshua Tree National Parks) or the southern Alaska national parks.
Consider Camping Instead Of Hotels Or Airbnb
Next, one of your biggest expenses on national park trips is usually accommodations, especially if you’re used to staying in hotels or airbnbs. Hotels and airbnbs are typically very expensive near the national parks because of supply and demand. Hotels inside the national park boundaries, which often book up months in advance, are historic and prime real estate, which means they cost upward of $300-$500 per night. While cheaper than hotels inside the park, decent hotels right outside the park boundaries are also typically well over $100-200 per night. Airbnbs are great when you need 5+ beds and/or a kitchen, but you should plan to spend thousands if you want to go the airbnb route.
Instead, consider camping. I know camping isn’t for everyone, but campsites inside the national parks will only cost you around $25-35 per night on average for a basic campsite. Campsites outside the national park boundaries can be even cheaper (or free, which I’ll tell you about next). This one tip to visiting national parks on a budget could literally save you thousands of dollars. Be sure to book your campsite as early as possible, though, as they do sell out.
Stay At Free Campsites Outside The Parks
Speaking of campsites, my favorite way to visit the national parks on a budget is to stay at free campsites outside the park boundaries. Yes, free! These free campsites are primitive (meaning no facilities or hookups), so you’ll have to be mentally prepared to rough it a little bit. But, did I mention these campsites are free? My favorite websites to find free campsites are Campendium, Freecampsites.net and The Dyrt. When looking for a free campsite, the closer to the park boundary, the better. You’ll want to stay as close to the park as possible to minimize drive times to and through the park. Some of the free campsites I’ve stayed at have even bordered the national park (like this one next to Joshua Tree National Park).
Car Camp
What is the cheapest way to see the national parks? Car camping on free campsites! You can car camp (meaning, sleep in your car) in designated paid campsites too. But, if you’re on a tight budget, I highly recommend car camping on free campsites like the campsites I previously mentioned. I personally prefer car camping over tent camping for a few reasons: privacy, comfort, and protection from the elements, wildlife and bugs. Furthermore, car camping is one of the most cost effective ways to camp because you don’t need much camping gear to get started. In fact, you could even use a quilt from home instead of a sleeping bag if you wanted to. You can read all about my SUV car camping setup for maximum comfort here.
Buy Groceries
Eating out inside the national parks is very expensive. Prices are inflated for supply and demand, which will leave you paying $10 for a latte in some parks. I wish I was kidding. Obviously, it’s fun to dine out at the national park restaurants once or twice, but expect to pay upwards of $30 per person per meal. Instead, I suggest buying groceries at the beginning of your trip. You can steal my exact road trip grocery list here that I use for every national park trip.
By buying groceries, not only will you save money on your daily breakfasts, lunches and dinners, but you’ll also allow more room in your budget for trail snacks, fun treats, specialty pre-made coffees and fun drinks that you might not normally splurge on. Additionally, groceries are often a lot more practical on national park trips than eating out because then you can easily pack lunches for hikes and spend more time sightseeing rather than eating.
Use Credit Card Points For Basically Free Flights
Another one of my favorite ways to save money on national park trips is to use travel credit cards points to book basically free flights to the airport closest to the national park. For example, last year, I booked our flights to Glacier National Park for $5.60 each from our small hometown in Wisconsin using United miles earned through a new card welcome offer. For another example, last month, I booked our flights to Rocky Mountain National Park for $5.60 each using United miles from the same welcome offer. The flight fares themselves were free for these national park trips. We just had to pay taxes and fees. Check out all of my travel credit card tips here.
Leverage Travel Credit Card Benefits
Finally, on the same note, make sure to leverage all of your other travel credit card benefits too if you have a travel credit card. For instance, some travel credit cards offer hotel credits or free night certificates that you could put toward your national park trip. Likewise, some travel credit cards offer bank portal travel credits that you can put toward car rentals, hotels or even flights. Last year, I used the $300 annual travel credit that comes with our Capital One Venture X card to cover almost the entire cost of our rental car for our road trip through Death Valley and Joshua Tree National Parks. We also car camped on free campsites this entire trip, which means that $300 travel credit covered not only our car rental but also our accommodations for the whole week.
Now, you’re ready to visit US national parks on a budget! Want to know exactly how I travel on a budget all the time? Learn more in my Budget Travel Bible ebook.
More Budget National Park Trip Tips
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Epic 7 Day Itinerary For Glacier National Park
How To Get More Credit Card Points Without Spending More
Save These National Parks On A Budget Tips
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