While the 63 national parks spread across the U.S. are an inextricable part of American culture, visiting all of them is by no means a cheap endeavor.
Many are not easy to access without a car and, along with the usual travel and accommodation costs of going to so many states and territories, the parks themselves also charge visitors fees at different points in their visit. Sometimes this is exclusively for “extras” such a spot on a camping site but, increasingly, parks have been either raising or introducing entry and parking fees amid overcrowding.
Related: I visited two of the country's most underrated National Parks — here's what it was like
The most expensive national park in the U.S. is, as travel journalist Stephen Hanson recently identified in a fare comparison, the Gates Of The Arctic National Park & Preserve in Northern Alaska.
Veronika Bondarenko
This is the most remote (and often most expensive) national park to visit
Often dubbed the “most remote national park in the U.S.,” the Gates of the Arctic has no entry fee but is incredibly costly to get to due to its location in the far north of the Arctic. Without direct road access, the only way to get there is to fly from Anchorage to the nearest small settlement such as Kotzebue or Anaktuvuk Pass by charter plane. The Arctic terrain also means visitors often need to hire guides, pay inflated prices for the limited accommodation and bring special gear.
More Travel:
- A new travel term is taking over the internet (and reaching airlines and hotels)
- The 10 best airline stocks to buy now
- Airlines see a new kind of traveler at the front of the plane
“While many beautiful national parks in the US are well worth a trip despite their remote setting, Gates of the Arctic National Park & Preserve requires a particularly dedicated resolve from any traveler who wants to visit,” Hanson writes. “Though prices can vary depending on the length of the trip and the destination, passengers can expect to pay anywhere from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars for a ticket.”
Channel Islands National Park off the coast of Southern California is the country’s second-most expensive in the U.S. for a similar reason. The five Channel Islands sit in the Pacific Ocean and can only be accessed by ferry from Ventura Harbor. Depending on the time of day and year, the three-hour ferry ranges in price from $60 to $120 (the park itself, once you get there, has no entry fee.)
These national parks are also very expensive (here is why)
Parks that are easily accessible by car but have high entry fees due to overcrowding include Yosemite in California’s Sierra Nevada Mountains and Glacier National Park on the border between Montana and Canada’s British Columbia.
Both parks charge each vehicle coming in a $35 entry fee on top of additional additional fees for staying there overnight. In 2021, Yosemite raised the camping fee from $6 to $10 per person to keep up with the cost of running the park amid growing numbers of people who started visiting as part of their local travels during the pandemic.
“Visitors should be prepared to spend more money on gas and set aside an entire day for travel when heading out to the park,” Hanson writes of Glacier National Park. “Upon arriving, visitors to Glacier will have to pay a $35 entry fee.”
